LinkShare is another good affiliate network that I frequently use. Linkshare reminds me of Commission Junction, they have similar affiliates to promote. It’s surprising that I haven’t seen many bloggers use and promote Linkshare.

Using Linkshare

LinkShare is a pretty basic affiliate network with tons of different affiliates to promote. The reason I joined was that there was so many big companies you can promote, like Target, Toys R Us, Walmart, Office Depot and more.

A huge plus for me using Linkshare has been the “private offers” I’ve received. Several of the affiliate programs offer incentive to those who are promoting their product or service. Netflix has opted me into special programs where I make more per lead. SpySweeper has a contest going on for affiliates who increase their sales by a certain amount.

Some of the affiliates have been very hands on with those promoting them and it’s definitely a huge plus for me.

Linkshare Tips

Another great attraction is there is no minimum you need to get paid. However, this means some checks may be a little small. They don’t offer paypal.

For new Linkshare users I recommend starting at the Consumer and Affiliate promotions in your dashboard. There are a list of all the affiliates that are doing special promotions. Start there and make your rounds!

There are over 500 “online retailers” available to you on Linkshare, so don’t be shy. Start applying to any affiliate that looks interesting to you.

Apply to lots of affiliates in your niche. I’ve been declined by several affiliates that I definitely could of promoted and made money with. However they won’t always approve you. Have a back-up plan!

LinkShare. does have an affiliate program that pays $1.50 per person that you refer. It’s not much, however as I’ve mention I haven’t seen many bloggers promote it, so you could make a little on referrals.

Click here to become a LinkShare Affiliate!

Some social media websites, like Digg, are becoming increasingly difficult for bloggers to have their articles go popular. I have been using alternatives which have worked fine for us. Now that you know the basic rules for social media sites you can be successful on any social media website. Here are three that you may not know about, that are perfect for bloggers.

Post On Fire

Post on Fire is a new one that I have started using. At first it’s always difficult to start using new sites like this, because essentially you need people to vote for you. The plus however is that you don’t need an account to vote, so you can have your visitors vote for you. It only takes 5 votes for your story to go popular.They have the basic categories, business, blogging, health and technology. There is something for everyone.

Blog Engage

Blog Engage is a social media website that I found on the bloggeries forum. However, this one needs a little work. The owner is pretty hands on with the website, but it needs some adjustments. The last post to go popular was 4 days ago. It takes 7 votes to go popular and obviously not many are getting that many votes.However this social media site is a little more complete. It has a blog as well as a forum. With some small adjustments this website can be a great place to promote your blog posts.

Blogging Zoom

Blogging Zoom is the most popular of the three. I’ve actually already written about Blogging Zoom: BloggingZoom Burning Bloggers. Yes, it was a bit negative. A while after this post, Vic actually apologized, unbanned us, reinstated my account, and asked me to come back. So everyone deserves a second chance, right? I’ve actually just installed the Blogging Zoom WordPress Plugin that adds a Blogging Zoom button to your post (that you can get here).

Blogging Zoom is a little harder to have your post go popular. It looks like it takes 15 zooms to go popular. It’s a little confusing as there are posts from 30 days ago on the front page. However, it’s a plus that you don’t need an account to vote on the post.

Have you used any of these social media websites? If so, how was your experience?

Don’t forget to vote for this article at PostonFire, Blog Engage, and Blogging Zoom!

With Delores’ recent trouble with Sphinn, I thought I’d write a quick guideline to follow for social media and social bookmarking sites. Here are six basic rules and tips for a successful social media user account.

Always Read Their Rules

Each social media website will have a different set of rules. This is a given, but sometimes I am guilty of not following this one. However, the most important rules you’ll generally find in more than one place.Pay special attention to the “rules” on the post submit page. These are most important.

Have a Profile Picture

A common thought on user profiles without pictures is that they are “spammers”. I like to keep the same picture on all of my profiles. This not only helps users recognize me, but hopefully also vote for my articles. If they liked what I submitted before, they should again.

Make “Friends”

After uploading my profile picture and updating other information, I start adding friends. Usually it’s people that I recognize. Sometimes I just add people who are voting on and submitting similar content.

Stay On-Topic

Don’t submit your posts in the wrong categories. If it’s being submitted in a certain category, make sure it’s that category.

By not following this rule it will only force moderators to adjust or remove your post. This can lead to getting banned.

Don’t Create Multiple Accounts

Many social media websites don’t allow you to have more than one account. So don’t do it. If you do, don’t link them together with the same homepage. And don’t name them similar, example, profile1, profile2, profile3, etc.

Don’t “Spam” / Submit Good Content

Social media users want quality articles to read, especially on the main page. Even some of my posts that have hit the front page haven’t received the best responses. It’s all up to opinion however. Digg users are by far the hardest and most likely to “bash” your article.

I strongly recommend NOT submitting each of your posts to the same site. It can do more harm than good.

All in all, it’s pretty easy to have a good user account standing on any social media site. Let’s recap. Read the rules, put a picture on your profile, add friends, stay on topic, create only one account, and don’t spam!

One thing you cannot ignore about your blog is backing up the data. You don’t want to wake up to find your hosting mess up the backups and you have lost all your data.

Relax. I know just the thought of that would make a hard working blogger like you shudder.

I had written a detailed post here on different ways of backing up your blog. See if you find it something you can use or at least get you thinking in the right direction.

One such way is using an online blog backup service such as BlogBackupOnline.com. At the time of writing that post, it was a beta service and they stayed in beta for almost a year and now they have come out of beta. BlogBackupOnline is a cool service that lets you backup your blogs for free (up to 5MB). The great thing about this service is that it takes no technical knowledge to set up your blog backup.

You sign up for a free account, provide them the url of your blog and they will take care of the rest.

Now, they are in a mode called Freemium which means they are still free for most starter blogs with less than 5MB of data. But, they are also ready to cater to bloggers who want to back more data as well who require technical support.

Professional account will include:

• 50 MB of storage
• Support for backing up content linked from your blog
• Support for restoring your blog
• Email support
• $4.17 per month ($49.95 per year)

Enterprise account will include:

• 1 GB of storage
• Support for backing up content linked from your blog
• Support for restoring your blog
• Phone support
• $8.30 per month ($99.95 per year)

You have nothing to lose by trying out this free service and can sleep tight knowing you won’t lose your blog content. Again, it is always wise to have multiple backup strategies but this will be a good start if you don’t have any at the moment.

For more technology tips, subscribe to ShanKri-la feed.

First of all, Happy Easter to all BAYB readers! Hope you have a great time. Are you ready for new blog competitions? It’s simple and easy, as always. All you need is your blog and a bit of luck…

$25 from AlosBlog

You can win $25 at AlosBlog. To enter do either (or all) of the following things: subscribe to his RSS Feed (by mail or reader) and write a blog post about this contest linking to the site homepage. Winner will be selected randomly.
Ends on April 6th.

1 Year of Free hosting

Your chance to gain free hosting (worth $95.40) for one entire year. It’s the new prize offered by Contestu.com, a great site to find blog contests. You can gain points by doing the following things: subscribe to his RSS feed and send him the secret code (+3), subscribe to his RSS feed by mail (+5), write a post about this contest using a related anchor text (Blog Contests, Contests, Win Prizes, Win Stuff, etc) and linking to the contest page (+10), leave a comment and tell what you have done (+1).
Ends on March 28th.

1000 Entrecard Credits

An interesting amount of Entrecard Credits from the Digital Lounge. To enter you have many options: subscribe to his RSS feed by email, fave the blog on Technorati, Stumble upon any of his blog posts, blog about Digital Lounge or any of his posts with a linkback to the homepage.
Ends on March 31st.

If you’re looking for blog contests, if you want to promote your own competition, don’t forget to visit About Blog Contests!

I found a new site, Homepagle, that has the makings for being an interesting way to market your website or blog. If your sneaky, like me.

Create Your Homepage

When I first visited this website it was one of the moments. Those moments in which you tell yourself “Why Didn’t I Think of That?” Then I began to think how I could use this to help me. When creating your own homepage you can upload an image if you want to. It’s basically Google with a customizable feature.

Why not upload a banner promoting your website or blog? This may not impact anything if you just use it for your own homepage, but think bigger. By putting a network of computers as that it can be effective. Another great way to advertise your website for free!

Now all they need now is to put your own “favorite” links and websites and rss feeds. Add my homepagle as your homepage!

It’s been hard to find time to blog! However I’ve been able to manage to keep updated. With starting more and more new blogs I find myself blogging almost 24/7.

If this is your first Comment Friday we give one lucky person a free weekly blogroll spot as our “blog of the week“. Along with that we are also giving that winner 200 entrecard credits.

With the launch of my newest blog, My Recipe Stash, I can’t imagine doing another. If you were to start another blog, what would it be about? What niche would it be?