This is a great post and hits me exactly where I am. I don’t want to be an SEO expert, I just want to write.

BUT, I also want people to read what I write so I guess I’ve got to appease Google.

Thanks for the great information.

You know well I have spent some solid hours with Dave talking about his efforts and what it means to him to help others. I put him in the same league as the Rowses and the Garretts when it comes to offering up actionable hints that can totally change your game.

And as for you, Miss Diels – you reignite my writing smarts when they’re wriggling about on the ground, pounding their angry little fists into the dirt. Which is just as well, because that’s what I get paid for (not the dirt bit).

The very BEST of luck to you both. Those stats are sky, Diels. But you gotta aim for the angels…

These little changes will have a big impact down the road, especially if make it a habit.

anyhow – i’m wondering if you might be willing to share a few keywords you’re finding that work for you. your blog is such an inspiration to me because it’s so experiential, outside-the-box, and um, i would think, difficult to do SEO on.

anyways, SOLD. thanks for the rec!

Thank you for so much encouragement, Kelly! I’m looking at the injury my RMT diagnosed as a reason to spend more time on development. So, yes, this is a good thing.

And I have commited my time every evening to make progress in no less than three things. They may be small, they may be big, but they will have to do with any three of: general fitness, triathlon training, belly dancing, my daily blog post (this one is my gift to myself that I almost never miss), developing a website for John, developing a new website for myself, increasing my connections and “influence” online, managing/furthering my business, managing/furthering John’s business, and there’s a little sidenote that sometimes I have to use it to manage my household….bills still need payin’! Sometimes the progress is tiny, but there is always progress, and it’s starting to get very exciting – which makes me wish I had that much more time and that much more energy to do even more.

Last night I re-did John’s Twitter background, (feel free to take a look and tell me what you think http://twitter.com/johndeak ) using the basic design layout & colours that we’ll implement on his site. I requested some feedback and all of it was positive. Thesis: I have some colour codes for you!

And today I used my lunch break to read the first 4 chapters of BPE (no, I haven’t done the exercises yet – I don’t really have any pillar posts). It’s wonderful to read: interesting, compelling, understandable…. very much like having a chat with Dave. I love it. And I’ve already started determining which parts John has to do for his own posts, and which parts I’ll manage for him. Very cool.

I feel like I’m on a roll right now…..alas, back to work I must go.

I just have to say another huge THANK YOU to Kelly and Dave. You and a few others have planted this seed that is growing in leaps and bounds, and I know that I would not be here if it weren’t for you. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

When I’m broke, I can’t think straight. I can’t be creative. Having a Day Job and having SECURITY was absolutely essential to getting my blog off the ground.

And having time constraints can be an advantage. Only have 1-3 hours a day for your blog? You’ll use them. You’ll make them sacred, because if you miss them, you can’t catch up.

Let your house be a mess. Turn off your cable. Put your friends on notice.

This MISSION stuff is tyrannical. It demands everything. It demands sacrifice.

And it is so worth it.

I have several half-finished pieces about this: about how I cooked up a blog and a business on 2 hours a day, while juggling a day job and raising two kids with next to no help.

I’m going to have to finish these pieces. I get these kinds of questions all the time, and I convinced that every single liability or obstacle can be reframed as an advantage.

Broke? You’ll be real motivated to get some cash.
Single mom? You’ll be real motivated to get some cash.
Hate your job? You’ll be real motivated to get some cash and get out of it.
Very little time? You’ll guard that time ferociously and make it sacred. You’ll *use* it.

You’re already doing these things – you’re carving out time to train for your triathlon, so you know about small victories and incremental progress.

Apply that same philosophy and discipline to your blog. Consider it training for self employment.

It can be done. But it is an incremental, tiny little bit at a time. It is a commitment to two hours a day, every day, no exceptions.

You’re so close. You just have to do it, and keep doing it, and then do it some more.

And the best advice I ever got on this subject – when I told her all the same things you’re telling me – was from Danielle LaPorte, who told me these two things:

Believe.

Jump.

Really, the list of things I need to let go are as follows:
eating (and all of the time-gobbling activities that go with it)
keeping my house habitable
workin’ for the man

I figure if I can completely stop any one of those three I can start to make some *significant* progress.

btw, we truly appreciate your sacrifices to keep Website In a Weekend going! Thank you!

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~