They say you shouldn’t mix business with pleasure. And I disagree. It can be done, and done well. SugarRae is a perfect example of it being done well.

This is the blog of Rae Hoffman, affectionately known in the blogging and SEO world as SugarRae. Or maybe you know her better as the queen of SEO. She has proven herself in a mostly male industry and she kicked all their a$$es at what she does.

I first met Rae way back in 2001 when I started working from home. Yes, we met at WAHM.com ~ crazy, right? We used to hang out in the chat room with a few other work at home regulars and we would all bounce ideas off of each other every Wednesday night. I miss those Wednesday night chats, but we’ve all come so far since then and I think we all manage to stay pretty busy. Rae has definitely gone far, and learned a lot and most of it self taught. She’s my internet hero!

So, what are you going to find at SugarRae? Well you’ll hear tidbits about SEO and on the very same blog you’ll hear endless rants about things like the online poker ban and Rae’s extreme dislike, okay hatred, for Bob Saget.

And that’s just the tip of the blog-berg. (Coined a new blogosphere phrase there maybe? -lol-) Anyhow, if you’re interested in what goes on inside a serious SEO expert’s mind then check out SugarRae. I am convinced she is one of the few sane SEO experts out there, and I know she is not going to try to sell you a ton of useless crap. I’d trust her with my very tiny marketing budget any day.

I think I was surfing through a blogroll list when I stumbled into this blog last week. This blog is an extension of a main site, a feature which I’m sure I’ve mentioned previously that I love. Adding a blog to an already existing site is a fantastic idea, it adds interactivity and gives your visitors insight into all the things you want them to know. It’s a friendly welcome, as if you are standing there to greet them with an outstretched hand and inviting them in for a cup of coffee.

Here you will find 7 wonderful women blogging together about faith, family, food, fun, and fashion. In no particular order. The goal of the blog is to inspire and empower women all across the blogosphere. I found the post titled “just keep swimming” to really be inspiring and true to a lot of things and a great reminder that perseverance is a powerful thing. I can almost hear myself singing “just keep blogging” in my own little Dory the fish voice inside my head.

The voices of these women come together greatly to create this fun boomer blog. And the blog design is fun too! I know I am a broken record here when I say this, the header is taking up valuable page real estate. As you can see in the screen shot above the header alone takes up half of the visible page, maybe even a little more than half. I do love the fixed width, that part is just right. and the header matches up to the content width, but it’s just too overpowering, we don’t get to the meat of the blog right away. And there’s plenty of juicy goodness on this blog to read, Flaunt it!

Just for the heck of it I scrolled down some and took this screen shot to show how much more content would be put in front of a viewer’s eyes just by changing the size of the header. With the amount of space I left at the top all the original elements could still be included, visualize with me for a moment. The image of the women and stars would be justified to the left of the “Boomer Babes Rock” and though it would be smaller it would still give off plenty of fun vibes that I see in this blog.

We see three post titles instead of just one, three smiling blogger faces instead of just one, and lots more good things!

Additionally I have to admit that I’ve added several of the books these wonderful authors have written to my wish list at Amazon.com. I can’t wait to check those out too. Particularly catching my eye was The Woman I Am Becoming … maybe because I am quickly approaching 30, that magical age where we question everything and anything in our lives.

I am blog surfing while I have some downloads processing on the other computer. In my link hopping I ran into this blog, and found it quite enjoyable because it’s what a blog was originally meant to be about …. life and stuff.

Here, there is No paid blogging. No getting sidetracked with other stuff. A place where its not about the ratings. Or the Page Rank. Or the linkage or linky love.

Not that a blog even has to be about anything, it doesn’t. But a lot of times we all get so wrapped up in blogging for pay, and blogging for traffic, and all the other internet catches that lure us in. We forget that we are all just people and sometimes blogging can serve more of a purpose, become an outlet, and fill a need in our lives.

At Quiet Time with Carolyn you’ll find tidbits of every day family life. There are bits and pieces about what’s going with the family, books, and just everyday thoughts. Most recently there was a bit of pie baking going on at her house … and you might be surprised a little by who made the pies. And they were for a good cause so that’s even better!

The only thing on this blog I would suggest changing is the very large image because it pushes the content down almost below the fold. However, seeing that this blog is of a personal nature that isn’t as much of a concern, so it can stay or go. That’s the good thing about writing for yourself! Stuff like above the fold and below the fold, and content width, and all those silly details we tend to worry about don’t matter anymore.

I want to encourage you to stop and take a moment to consider your blogging. What does it mean to you? What purpose does it serve? Are fulfilling a need for others, or one for yourself? Is it successfully meeting that need? Are there any changes you want to make in what you’re currently doing? Or if you’re like me you might find yourself wanting to add a new category or a new subdomain to an already existing blog just to have a special space to write certain thoughts.

I found this blog earlier this week while I was looking for coupon codes, thus the title Everybody Loves Coupons. This blog is actually part of a main website, Ultimate Coupons where you’ll find loads of coupon codes and discounts and great savings info. I love to see this in a website! Whenever I go somewhere I admit that I do look for a blog, and if there’s a blog I generally go check out and leave a comment and add it to my feed reader if I like what I see, which in this case I did

Adding a blog to an existing site is a great way to add interactivity and connect with your readers, clients, customers, whoever is visiting your website! There are a few options you can use to do this. Ultimate Coupons took the folder route, as you can see their web address for the blog is http://www.ultimatecoupons.com/blog - the slash blog means that it’s a folder they created within their upper level directory. Another option would be to create a subdomain, for example http://blog.yourdomain.com. Either option is good, you just need to choose what’s right for you and your website.

Back to Everybody Loves Coupons. I found lots of awesome stuff on the blog, like the current contest to win a Nintendo Wii! Which of course I entered because my kids would love it … I would encourage you to enter too but that would just be more competition for me! LOL no really do enter, I love getting into blogging contests. Another great feature to add to your blog or website - a contest! It creates even more interactivity, builds links, and keeps readers interested and coming back to see what happens next.

Halloween is just around the corner so there’s a special Halloween Coupons page all set up to help you prepare to do your best spooking! I love the use of the pages to draw attention to the holiday themed coupons, it’s fresh and current and great use of a page and the top nav bar.

So go meet Andrew, and check out all the great deals while you there. You might even win a Wii! Happy Blogging!

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If you’ve ever been to work at home research website or small business starting discussion website of any kind chances are you’ve heard Lynn Terry’s name mentioned at least once. If you haven’t, well then I’m mentioning it now so yes you have. LOL Lynn Terry is a full time Internet Marketer with over 10 years of experience in online marketing and home-based business.

My favorite part about Lynn’s blog and forums is that she is very realistic. If something is hard she will tell up front that it’s hard. She’s not afraid to admit that even at her level of success she needs help with certain things, and she tells what those things are. A lot of internet marketers want you to believe that it’s easy and it happens with the wave of a wand. She also doesn’t try to over explain things or load her posts with jargon and keyword stuffing, she talks to you like a normal person so that it makes you want to grab a cup of coffee and sit down and read some more, as if you were sitting in the living room talking about it in the middle of the afternoon.

I’ve learned quite a few things from reading Lynn’s blog ClickNewz. One of the things I learned about was PayPerPost, one of the paid blogging companies. I signed up under Lynn after reading about it on her blog one day. She has some great advice about affiliate marketing and how to get started. All with a realistic outlook on what to expect when you’re just getting started. I’m always on the lookout for anything that Lynn reviews and recommends because I know that she likes programs and products that are easy to use and beneficial to your business and/or website.

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