After months of struggle and hope, deceit and satisfaction, doubts and fears, ups and downs…well, you get the point… here I am. My 100th post. It might not seem a lot, but it’s something for me. And every little progress I’ve made so far has been important to me.

I want to thank my readers, my commentators, my subscribers (are there any? Well I’m sure there are at least 2), my mom, my dad, my husband, my 3 kids, my cat, my neighbours (Gracias)… Just kidding!

To “celebrate” this small feat, I have found some videos for you. So enjoy!

This is to show you there are far worse things that can happen to you than having written 100 posts on your blog!

1.   You could be chased by 100 people!

         

    
2.  You could have 100 voices that sound like this:

3.  You could have been deprived of these fabulous 100 inspiring pictures: 

I hope you liked it, I’m looking forward for the 200th post!
              

On a less serious note (not that this blog is very serious itself), here is a list of reasons to start blogging that will hopefully make you smile:

1. You have a rare toenail disease/a talking dog/a fat wife/bad breath/a shoe fetish and you want the world to know about it.
2. You have just learned English and you’re so excited, that you want to show everybody how well you can spell: “Toody I wake up, eat too bread, and go work tishort factory. Ecsiting! I vill kip you inform on my progres, mor abaut me tumorou. P.S: I niuw at dis, so if you faund any wrong speled words pleeeeezz contact me or live a mesage hire. I tri learn English so help my. The use of spel check not good, too mauch red and hard too falow. Tahks!”
3. You’re a 300 pound man with an alter ego named Dolly, that likes to bake, wear pink and blog about cupcakes and aprons.
4. You are 14 and want the world (your high-school) to know who your BFF’s are, and what others can do to get on the list.
5. You really think we’re being invaded by aliens and have to warn the world somehow.
6. You are actually a cat that just learned how to talk (and type), so why not start a blog? You can call it something like…i can  has cheeseburger? I promise you cat, people will come and read your every word!
7. If you’re not crazy or a cat, just start a blog about cats and crazy people. This should be fun… If you do, I will come visit.

You know any more reasons? What was your crazy reason to start blogging?

    I had these weird ideas about blog promotion that I will share with you. You might laugh, or you might even try them out. If you do, please let us know how that worked out!

Can there be such a thing as free real-world promotion? Many of us are scared to promote our blogs in the real world, because it seems to be so expensive to buy ads and all that… so we limit ourselves to the blogosphere, where promotion is mostly free and easy from the comfort of our homes. But what if real-world promotion could also be… free? No expensive ads, just a few wacky ideas…

        1.   Keep a permanent marker with you at all times. Whenever you happen to be in a public bathroom, write something interesting on the walls/doors and your URL at the bottom: “Why are you reading this? Read this instead: www.megavegalicious.com”. Or write under the usual “Annie + John = BIG LOVE” this “Read all about it here: www.megavegalicious.com”. Or anything else funny. The marker can also be used on other surfaces, but don’t destroy public property :-))

        2.   Make a cheap rubber stamp with your URL and maybe a catchy phrase. Go to the bank, take out as many hundred bills as you can, and then stamp all of them. Then just simply put them back in the bank. Then ask for other hundreds and so on. You’ve noticed people write anything on bills. When it’s on a hundred dollar bill/or a fifty for that matter,  it’s more likely it will be read. Put that money back in circulation and there you have it, free advertisement for unlimited time, all over the country, and for an unlimited number of people. If you stamp something like “Win here: megavegalicious.com” they might just come.

        3.   Buy cheap balloons from your local market, as many as you want. Inflate, and write your URL on them. Then tie them to trees, fences, bus stops, or give them to kids. Everybody loves balloons!

        4.   Buy plain cheap white t-shirts in bulk, and then write your URL and maybe a catchy phrase with: permanent marker, special paint for t-shirts (cheap in stores) or iron-on letters.  Wear one when you go out to buy groceries or at the mall. Give some away. If there’s something like “I know I’m sexy, please stop staring - megavegalicious.com” on it, people will wear it. Give some to Salvation Army/make donations.

        5.   Write a catchy post on any subject that would interest a large number of people, and make it sticky, place it on your sidebar or anywhere visible. Then print out lots of ads about it. Make it short and use big letters for words like FREE. Then place the ads on the windshields of cars. For example, write a short post about you local Walmart. How good/bad it is, what’s new there, addresses and phone numbers, add some free coupons. Then print out small ads that say something like “FREE Walmart coupons/info about your local stores - megavegalicious.com” , go to a busy local Walmart and place those on cars, hand them out to people and stick them in the bathroom. They already shop there, so they might be interested.

        6.   Buy peanuts/candy in bulk. Pour them in some containers, ad spoons in each. Make/buy small white paper bags, and on each add your stamp with your URL. Now you’ve seen those kids that sell all sorts of stuff outside stores to make some pocket money or people selling stuff to raise money for different causes? Find some kids in your neighbourhood that want to do that, or some fund raisers. Give them free stuff like that that they can sell, provided they use your personalized little bags with your URL on them. From an XLarge bag of peanuts they can sell maybe more than 20 little bags for $1 each, and people buy if there’s a fund raiser. There’s no work involved for you, and you can even develop a long-term relationship with a non-profit organization/fund raiser (like a school, church, animal shelter etc.), that would benefit both.

        7.   One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Make sticky ads with your URL and stick them to junk laying around everywhere. Just look around and you’ll find your “canvas” to “paint on”, abandoned stuff that nobody uses anymore but is still there, in the public view. For example, an old abandoned car, a piece of anything that fell off and nobody bothered to throw away, a couch that was left on the sidewalk for people to grab, the big trash cans in your apartment complex, etc. Add a phrase like “I know I’m trashy, stop staring!”, “Please take me home”, “They abandoned me!!!” or anything funny will attract more attention.

        8.   For holidays, print out lots of small images related to the holiday, and, of course, add your URL on each. For example, for Valentine’s you can make more than 20 small red hearts from just one piece of printing paper. Make colored Christmas trees, Santas, pumpkins, bunnies, flags, there are so many holidays to choose from, thank God. Distribute them in public places, stick them on windows, etc. I think this is a good idea, as they won’t be considered “spam” and removed right away, if it’s cute and people are reminded of the holiday spirit they will more likely like it and leave it there until after the holiday. You can run your “Marry Christmas!” campaign for a few good weeks!

        9.   Write a short one-page pamphlet with jokes/interesting facts/info and include your URL. Print out as many as you can, make holes at the top, tie a bunch together with string, and tie them in public places like on poles, bus stops, fences, trees, anywhere.  This way the wind won’t blow them away, and people can just remove one from the string. Everybody will surely be interested enough to take one, and they will soon dissapear. Write interesting, funny stuff and add “If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit www….” or ” More here: www….”.

        10.   One hand washes the other. You do something for me, and I’ll do something for you, it might just bring you some free advertisment in the real world.  Go to a local store (maybe one that’s related to your blog’s niche - if you write about computers, Internet, blogging etc. why not go to a computer store) and ask them if you can put some of those take-one-with-you small ads there, or leave your business cards/pamphlets at the cash register. In exchange, if you have a car for example, tell them you will put a big banner on your car’s door with their business ad, for free. Or you can advertise for them on your blog, put a big advertisment sign in your yard, etc. You might reach a new audience interested in your niche this way.

I hope you’ve enjoyed some of my wacky ideas, if you have more please let us know, maybe I’ll write some more and give you the credit, of course! And if you try any, I would be more than interested to hear about it!

If you’ve enjoyed this post, please consider voting/submitting to places like Stumble, Delicious, Blogsvine, Reddit, Technorati or anywhere else. You would do me a great favour! Thank you.

           I’m very new at blogging, and not ashamed to admit that… I don’t know what the hell I’m doing! But am constantly trying to learn something from other bloggers, so here’s a list of what I’ve learned so far:

          -1-   You think you know…but you don’t! You think blogging is a piece of cake, anybody can do it! Yeah, sure. After a few weeks, you want to give up. It’s lots of hard work even getting a handful of people to read your trifles!

          -2-    Traffic is a word that will completely change meaning. When you’re trying to get to work and are stuck in it, you’ll think “I wish my blog had traffic like this. Then I could make some money, quit my job, and never have to be stuck in it again!”.

          -3-    You have to give some to get some. You want comments, visitors, reviews, links…Don’t wait for them to come to you, it will never happen. Start networking, visit and comment on as many blogs as you can, and join forums.

           -4-    So you thought you can completely be yourself, no more rules to obey, like in real life? Things I’ve learned that matter a lot: pleasant personality, nice attitude, communication skills, tolerance, politeness, respect, good grammar and vocabulary, etc. All this make you or brake you. If you thought you can freely express yourself, be rude, write and do whatever you want, you’re wrong! You are in front of a harsh audience, that will not come back if you offend them in any way. So you have to be very careful about what you put out there, and how you present yourself…

          -5-    Posting often is very important. Of course, blogs that do well don’t need to post every single day, or week for that matter, people will still come. But if you’re a beginner, you have to make a good impression and give people something to read. Nobody will come back to your baby-blog if you post once a  month.

          -6-    Making your blog all about money, placing ads everywhere, including the header, gives a really unprofessional look.

          -7-    Simple is best. The design of the blog is crucial, and the simpler it looks, the best. Use light colors, don’t overdo with lots of artistic embellishments, don’t use flash and music. A custom design and a logo are good things to have.

          -8-    Writing about something. You see lots of bloggers rambling about nothing, posting about what they ate this morning and how their neighbour’s cat is in heat. Write about something people you don’t know would want to read, not just your friends, your family, your neighbours, or “nosy parkers”.

          -9-    Don’t rush into things. Sure, you’ve just started your very first blog, and want all the traffic and subscribers in the world. Now, please! Don’t spam people with your URL, write things like “Go here: http://myblog.com now!”, leave 100 comments every day without even reading the posts, just for promoting your blog: “Nice, dude! Now check this out: http://myblog.com !”.  Don’t get fooled into things like paid links, link farms or whatever they’re called, or use any get-traffic-fast methods. There’s no such thing as a magic formula for making your blog number 1 in the world over night! Constant work will slowly get you there.

          -10-   One last thing I’ve learned: go get some fresh air every now and then. I know this blogging business is taking over, but your brain really needs the oxygen. And helps to see things from a different perspective.

When I learn some more I’ll post it.

Any advice from you is greatly appreciated!

          I’ve found some interesting ideas on the blogs I visit, and I thought I’d share them here.

Alan from affiliateconfession.com   has posted an article about the 30 day blogging challenge. “I’ve found a way to dramatically increase the traffic to your blog and it only takes 30 days, but the benefits will last long past your initial month long time investment.”

This is what he proposes:

• to publish at least one post per day for 30 days straight
• to leave relevant comments every day on other related blogs

And this are the benefits you’ll see, Alan says:

• your blog will get noticed by search engines for action
• your readers will think of you as a real, serious blogger, and they will start commenting
• the challenge will train you to be a focused blogger
• the more you write the better you’ll get to understand what makes your blog work, and the more skilled you’ll get

Alan says you’ll see a dramatic increase in traffic, his site having went from 5 visitors a day to 180 visitors a day with a high of over 600 from one of his post getting a good Stumble.

One other blogger, namely Tom Ross from pushstandards.com , got inspired by Alan’s challenge and made his own: the 7 day blogging challenge.  “After being personally inspired by the 30 day challenge I feel like sharing a similar idea of my own.”

Tom proposes:

• to leave a quality comment on 10 posts each day (preferably on different blogs)
• to comment on 10 related forums each day
• to always leave a comment on every post you read
• to try one new promotional strategy each day

You can see Tom’s approach doesn’t include having to post on your blog , but promoting your blog each day.

These are both great challenges, that I’ve already subscribed to. For me, Tom’s challenge proves to be somewhat more difficult, and time consuming. Since I might not have enough time to comment on so many different blogs and forums each day, I don’t know if I’ll make it. But it’s definitely worth trying.

So I invite everyone to take on this challenges and comment , please, we’re all interested to hear the results!