Barbara Feldman: Online Publishing

What Are Your Topic Requests?

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Online Publishing, Anyone?

As you read this, I'll be in San Francisco speaking at the first annual ADSPACE conference for small to mid-size publishers about Adsense and other contextual advertising. I am on... Continue reading "Online Publishing, Anyone?"

I'm a Mommy Blogger Too!

I have been sitting on the sidelines admiring what Susan Carraretto* has done with 5 Minutes for Mom and their Ultimate Blog Party 2009, when it occurred to me, "Hey,... Continue reading "I'm a Mommy Blogger Too!"

Facebook Wall Photos for St. Patrick's Day and Pi Day

Yesterday I created a few Facebook wall photos for a new Surfnetkids project. The project is no where near done, but I'd love some feedback. Are you on Facebook? Have... Continue reading "Facebook Wall Photos for St. Patrick's Day and Pi Day"

Facebook's New Terms of Service

Facebook's new Terms of Service have created a firestorm across the web, as bloggers and Facebook members sound off on whether this is completely evil or no big deal. Here's... Continue reading "Facebook's New Terms of Service"

What is Twitter? Part Two

So, seeing as I have only skimmed the surface of Twitter, and have not specifically addressed many of the more technical issues, here are some additional resources. But first, a... Continue reading "What is Twitter? Part Two"

What is Twitter? Part One

Twitter is commonly called a micro-blogging platform, because it limits all posts (called tweets) to 140 characters. Another way to look at Twitter is as broadcast text messaging. Instant Messaging... Continue reading "What is Twitter? Part One"

Got Twitter?

What's new here? Yesterday afternoon I added our President Barack Obama coloring page to the American Presidents collection over at www.FreeKidsColoring.com. Those of you who have my Coloring Page of... Continue reading "Got Twitter?"

Surfnetkids Widgets for Apple Dashboard

I don't think I've mentioned it before, but about six months ago I got my first Apple computer: a Mac Book. I don't use at my desktop (which is still... Continue reading "Surfnetkids Widgets for Apple Dashboard"

Funny Reason to Hate Away Messages

Most email newsletter publishers probably agree with me: email away messages (aka email vacation messages) are evil. We hate them because every time we publish a newsletter, our inboxes are... Continue reading "Funny Reason to Hate Away Messages"

My Social Media Usernames

Although I've been playing with a variety of social media platforms (such as Twitter and Facebook) for awhile, it occurred to me yesterday, that I never published all my social... Continue reading "My Social Media Usernames"

Random Daily Quotes

I had a hard getting back into the swing of work on Tuesday, after a long 4th of July weekend off. One thing I did get done though, was to... Continue reading "Random Daily Quotes"

Two More Free PDF Creators

I've written about alternatives to Adobe Acrobat for PDF creation before, and wanted to add these resources: Google Docs and Doc2PDF. Google Docs is a free online word processor that... Continue reading "Two More Free PDF Creators"

I Got a Facelift!

On Tuesday I had a milestone birthday, and yesterday I got a facelift. Okay... it wasn't my face exactly, but rather the Surfnetkids Content Widgets for websites: Daily Factoid, Daily... Continue reading "I Got a Facelift!"

Google Sites

Although this will appear in my "Internet Tip of the Week" blog next week, I decided to share it with you here, because I think it will be a great... Continue reading "Google Sites"

Do You Use RSS Feeds?

I added a few new RSS feeds to the site this week. For example, each post with comments, now has a comments feed. And each category also has a feed.... Continue reading "Do You Use RSS Feeds?"

Where I Welcome My Twitter Feed to My Blog

I've always been a bit phobic about upgrades, so I am happy to announce that this blog has been successfully upgraded to the latest version of Movable Type. The only... Continue reading "Where I Welcome My Twitter Feed to My Blog"

Google Subscribed Links FAQ

I have been bombarded with questions about the new Surfnetkids Google Subscribed Links program, so I thought I would answer a few of the most common questions for everyone at... Continue reading "Google Subscribed Links FAQ"

Subscribed Links

Today I unveiled the Surfnetkids Subscribed Links program in cooperation with Google. Sign up for free (over at Google) and add my expertise to your Google searches. As a subscriber,... Continue reading "Subscribed Links"

Education Quotes Now Have a Home

The number one request from subscribers to my Light a Fire Educational Quotes email list, was "Is there a searchable database of the quotes?" And, although the site is not... Continue reading "Education Quotes Now Have a Home"

Tags, Tag Clouds and Folksonomy

Today's rambling is about tags, folksonomy, and the sharing of knowledge. This is a topic that is both completely simple (a "tag" is a user-created label or keyword) and complex... Continue reading "Tags, Tag Clouds and Folksonomy"

Amazon Widgets

Amazon now has single page where they list all their widgets. Some are strictly for Amazon affiliates, while others can be used by everyone. Here's a sample Product Cloud widget,... Continue reading "Amazon Widgets"

Blog Rush

As an entrepreneur, I read a lot. One of the online marketers I follow is John Reese, who has just announced a traffic widget called BlogRush. It is a free... Continue reading "Blog Rush"

AdSense Secrets Exposed

You've seen this guy's ad everywhere. It's the one with the headline "What Google Never Told You About Making Money with AdSense!" This guy, Joel Comm, promises all sorts of... Continue reading "AdSense Secrets Exposed"

RSS in Plain English

Lee LeFever and his Common Craft company have done a terrific job explaining RSS in the following "low-fi" video. The "low-fi" is their tongue-in-cheek way of describing their refreshing paper... Continue reading "RSS in Plain English"

Submit Your Sites

In addition to the hours I spend scouring the Net for educational sites and writing reviews of the best of them, did you know that Surfnetkids also publishes reader-written reviews?... Continue reading "Submit Your Sites"

Student Denied Teaching Degree over MySpace Photo

Stacy Snyder was denied a teaching degree, and was instead granted a degree in English, by the administration at Millersville University last summer. The reason was a photo on her... Continue reading "Student Denied Teaching Degree over MySpace Photo"

Agloco Toolbar Being Released

Agloco (the free membership site that lets you earn while you surf the Net) will be releasing its toolbar this week. They are rolling it out in stages, with the... Continue reading "Agloco Toolbar Being Released"

Internet Tip of the Week

Ta Dah! It's not a boy. It's not a girl. It's a brand new website: Internet Tip of the Week. For the past five years, I have been writing a... Continue reading "Internet Tip of the Week"

Adsense Reports on Treo 700p

Anyone else out there interested in getting their Adsense revenue reports on their mobile phone? Specifically I wanted mine on my brand new Treo 700p. I was very disappointed when... Continue reading "Adsense Reports on Treo 700p"

What is Social Bookmarking?

Social bookmarking sites (such as Del.icio.us or Sharing Links) allow users to create shareable or private online bookmarks. Not only is it a great way to store your own bookmarks,... Continue reading "What is Social Bookmarking?"

Embed Google Video

Both Google Video and YouTube now allow you to post their hosted videos on your own site. The YouTube code is listed directly on each YouTube page, but the Google... Continue reading "Embed Google Video"

Stella Awards

Since the bulk of my experience has been with self-publishing online, I rarely venture into the topic of traditional book publishing. But my friend and colleague Randy Cassingham (who has... Continue reading "Stella Awards"

What Online Publishers Can Learn from Game Theory

Last week I removed the banner and leaderboard ads from the top of my Surfnetkids.com site to see if my AdSense revenue would increase. I didn't do an A/B split... Continue reading "What Online Publishers Can Learn from Game Theory"

Wireless Security

A couple of times a year, I attend an Internet entrepreneurs conference hosted by a small group I belong to. (Don't ask me about it ... I can't say anything... Continue reading "Wireless Security"

Tips on Testing a New Server

I am currently testing a new server for my flagship site Surfnetkids.com. The transition has been difficult, probably more so because I so feared moving. But a few days ago... Continue reading "Tips on Testing a New Server"

AdSense eBook Exposed

I've written about Joel Comm's "AdSense Secrets" ebook before, but today I wrote a longer letter with more details about my experience with his book. You know the guy I'm... Continue reading "AdSense eBook Exposed"

Google AdSense Teleseminar

My friend (and "What Google Never Told You About Making Money with AdSense" author) Joel Comm will be revealing his strategies for exploding AdSense revenues live, Thursday, July 21st. This... Continue reading "Google AdSense Teleseminar"

A Tribute to Corey

A colleague of mine, Corey Rudl, recently passed away, and in honor of his memory, his company is donating a portion of sales to a special charity that helps young... Continue reading "A Tribute to Corey"

Make Money Online

I've often repeated that money is made in publishing, not writing. By that I mean: Do not sell your writing for a dollar a word (or worse yet, pennies per... Continue reading "Make Money Online"

Claim Your Feed at Feedster

To increase exposure for my RSS feeds, I am "claiming" them at Feedster, which is a registration process that proves that I am the legal owner of the feed. I... Continue reading "Claim Your Feed at Feedster"

Use Free RSS Feeds on Your Site

Adding fresh daily content to your website with RSS feeds is either incredibly easy, or frustratingly difficult, depending on your technical knowledge and how your website is set up. The... Continue reading "Use Free RSS Feeds on Your Site"

Torrents and Bit Torrent

BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer (P2P) software tool that distributes download bandwidth among those who are downloading. The problem with offering large files from your website is that a surge in... Continue reading "Torrents and Bit Torrent"

Buy Barbara Coffee

My newest mini-site Buy Barbara Coffee is the result of the intersection of many forces. First, after reading Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, I realized that my readers' desires to... Continue reading "Buy Barbara Coffee"

Email Overload Makes You Stupid

Research from King's College London University has found "the IQ of those who tried to juggle messages and work fell by 10 points -- the equivalent to missing a whole... Continue reading "Email Overload Makes You Stupid"

Tweaking Google AdSense

There are two kinds of webmasters: 1) those that put Goggle AdSense on their sites and collect checks 2) those that put Google AdSense on their sites,and tweak it, and... Continue reading "Tweaking Google AdSense"

Pew Survey on the State of Blogging

Two recent surveys by Pew Internet & American Life Project confirm the growing importance of blogs: 8 million American adults say they have created blogs blog readership jumped 58% in... Continue reading "Pew Survey on the State of Blogging"

Ads in RSS Feeds

I was recently interviewed by Tara Calashain of Research Buzz on the topic of ads in RSS feeds. To support one of my points, I was trying to find examples... Continue reading "Ads in RSS Feeds"

Revenue for Growing Site?

Hi Barbara, I teach full time as an elementary school teacher in Coffs Harbour Australia. I have a hobby site that I maintain. It is starting to become very popular... Continue reading "Revenue for Growing Site?"

Daisy-Chaining Ad Networks

Now that online advertising is springing back to life, it's time to re-evaluate and optimize your use of ad networks. An ad network is a broker that sells online ads... Continue reading "Daisy-Chaining Ad Networks"

Public Domain Photos

Thanks to my buddy Chris White for this tip to FREE (i.e. public domain) photos: PDPhotos.org. Read the copyright page for all the legal details. And for info on how... Continue reading "Public Domain Photos"

Tracking Pixels in RSS Feeds

Dear Barbara, I am trying to get RSS tracking installed using AdTrackZ, which I see that you have reviewed along with other similar ones. I know you can put in... Continue reading "Tracking Pixels in RSS Feeds"

Parsing RSS Feeds

Most of my discussion of RSS in this blog (and other publications) has focused on: 1) using RSS as a personal tool to read headlines and newsletters 2) or, on... Continue reading "Parsing RSS Feeds"

Falling Snowflake Effect

Dear Barbara, How did you get the falling snow flakes on your snow page? Thanks, Jacki Dear Jacki, This is done with Javascript. It is the same script I used... Continue reading "Falling Snowflake Effect"

Website Designer?

Hi Barbara: I think your site is great and your newsletter is a treat. Thank you for all of the hard work you put into both efforts. It is inspiring.... Continue reading "Website Designer?"

Finding Keywords

I have written about keywords before (see What's Hot, What's Not.) But I've been a Wordtracker subscriber for five months, and I think I am just starting to understand how... Continue reading "Finding Keywords"

My Collaborators

Dear Barbara, The movie is beautifully done. In fact, I'd love to know who your collaborators, if any, were--visual, photographic, musical?--for possible recommendations. (That's if you can make the names... Continue reading "My Collaborators"

A Challenge to Myself

I just posted a "charity donation with trial subscription" challenge to my newsletter audience. I have set a goal of 300 trial subscriptions in 10 days. This is a huge... Continue reading "A Challenge to Myself"

Clipart.com

Dear Barbara, I would like to find a place where I can obtain children's graphics appropraiate for ages 7-12. I need to use the graphics for cards we sell. Most... Continue reading "Clipart.com"

Comments in a Blog

Hi Barbara. I found out about your site though SWEPA....I love the blog setup, especially the comments links. However, I can't locate the program you used for it. Could you... Continue reading "Comments in a Blog"

Google AdSense: CPM or CPC?

Although the Google AdSense agreement prohibits publishers from disclosing CPM or CPC figures to others, it is important that you calculate these rates for yourself. And once you've done that,... Continue reading "Google AdSense: CPM or CPC?"

RSS Readers

Although Surfnetkids usually shies away from tech topics, I just finished a Surfnetkids column on free blogging tools/hosts. It won't be posted to my site for two weeks, but when... Continue reading "RSS Readers"

Google AdSense

I've never seen anything spread so fast in all my life. Google AdSense contextual text ads are everywhere! Many say they are the greatest revenue boon to content-rich sites since... Continue reading "Google AdSense"

Six Free Blogging Tools

Blogging is all the rage now, isn't it? This week I am researching journal writing for my Surfnetkids column. And although I haven't decided how much of my column I... Continue reading "Six Free Blogging Tools"

What exactly is "run-of-site?"

I got an email from an advertiser this morning who had a question about the definition of "run-of-site." He thought "run-of-site" meant that his ad would appear on every page... Continue reading "What exactly is "run-of-site?""

Fun Way to get a Logo Design!

I've outsourced a few coding/writing jobs at eLance.com, where you post a job description, and freelancers bid. But the concept at DesignOutpost.com is completely different. Instead of having to hire... Continue reading "Fun Way to get a Logo Design!"

"Web site" vs. "website"

Although I've used "Web site" for years, recently I find myself gravitating toward "website." Now, when I look at my work, I see inconsistencies everywhere --- and it's driving me... Continue reading ""Web site" vs. "website""

Online Publishing