Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Some things I've learned about blogging

This is another post that I wrote eons ago. I actually wrote it back in 2007 or 2008 when I first started my blog. Anyway, better late than never.

Nothing earth shattering, just some observations that I've made.

One of the biggest things I've learned is that you should stay true to your blog. My other blogger blog is supposed to be a personal finance blog. That blog has lost its focus big time. I have a blog on my own domain which will be strictly personal finance. My personal finance categories include school, because it's personal growth and directly impacts my finances. I may change the title of that blog to reflect the fact that it's not just personal finance related anymore.

I've also learned that I am at the mercy of Google for getting my blog indexed. This blog has no rank since it's brand new. Hopefully when Google does their next update I'll go up to a 1, or better yet a 2. The higher your page rank, the more visitors you have. People are also more likely to link to you and help promote your blog.

While SEO (search engine optimization) is important, it's not the deciding factor on what you should blog about. You want to make your blog easy to find. SEO helps with that. Imagine your blog being #1 on Google search for whatever term people are looking for.

I've learned lots of other things that I will take into consideration, and attempt to put into action. I'm trying to put all of these things together to make me a better blogger. That benefits everyone. I become a better writer and my blog becomes more interesting to read.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

I need a realistic furniture budget

My bedroom set is done, toast, finito -or however you spell it, and you get my drift. I need a new bedroom set. I got it when I moved into my current place. I thought I was moving out of town so I didn't want to spend a lot of money because I didn't plan on taking the furniture with me.

Then a lot of things happened and I decided to stay put. But I still have this cheap awful furniture. The mattress is worn and it needs to be replaced. I am not buying another piece of furniture as long as I'm in my current place. However I need a realistic budget as to how much new furniture will set me back.

I'm thinking of going piece mill and buying one thing at a time and doing a build-a-bedroom if you will. That way I can totally control the costs and I don't have to buy anything unless I have the cash. Before I make any final decisions however, I need to know what it's really going to cost me. I saw a bed for less than $600 but I still need mattress. No box spring because of the design of the frame. I also saw an entire set that would set me back over $2k which I absolutely do not have.

Maybe I'll go out in the next couple of weeks to see what I'm up against.