Attracting a Blog Audience

Posted on April 18, 2007 by The Giddy Tigress

When I first started blogging, I have been cracking my head as to how to attract an audience to my blog.  A good audience who would be able to appreciate what I have to say and who can contribute to the interest I hope my blog can generate.  There’s no point in starting and maintaining a blog with no one visiting it, right?  Having posted a blog entry and putting my heart and soul into it and finding that there are no comments on it is akin to speaking to a wall, i.e. no response whatsoever.

In my quest to building and maintaining a blog audience, I stumbled on this fabulous article from the SponsoredReviews blog: 27+1 Tips for Building and Maintaining a Blog Audience.  This article very intelligently sums up all you need to know in order to generate an audience and most importantly, to get your blog audience listening!  For a blogging newbie like myself, this article has fantastic tips which are obvious, yet sometimes elude us.  In my opinion, the two most important tips are to have a well-designed blog which is legible and is not an eyesore and also to listen to your audience.  After all, if you cater to what your audience wants, you definitely will not go wrong, will you?

The article details a valuable tip about enabling comments on your blog, however another tip which I have found to be most useful is to start commenting on other blogs, especially blogs which are relevant to your own.  This would trigger the audiences from another blog to check out your blog and find out what you are offering.  However, do leave meaningful comments which are substantially eye-catching enough to attract the attention of blog readers.  This would go a long way in maintaining your credibility in the blogosphere.

And if all else fails, one can also promote oneself by paying another blogger to write about you!  In fact, you could build a good readership by spending just a couple of bucks!  With SponsoredReviews.com you can actually create your very own public profile page to let the world know about your blog; a form of self blog-advertising I would say!  This public profile page is unique for each blog you own and is yours to customize and describe, for example, my blog’s public profile page looks like this.  Who knows, someone might check out your profile and ask you to review their blog for them too!

Posted in Blogging, Rainmakers | 1 Comment

A Gastronomical Weekend

Posted on April 18, 2007 by The Giddy Tigress

My family made a southbound trip last weekend
It was certainly miracle we left Penang at ten!
Made a quick stop at Bidor for lunch
Wan ton mee and char siew pau: yummy food to munch

Our weekend was spent in Mutiara Damansara
Home of The Curve and yes of course, Ikea
We stayed at the Royale Bintang, so shopping was easy
No complaints there, we even had a flat panel TV!

Saturday night we had dinner at Italiannies
Excellent food which was oh-so-yummy!
Dessert at New Zealand Ice Cream, we savored every bite
Then some light shopping before we called it a night.

Buffet breakfast at the hotel in the morning
A hearty one at that and ever so filling
Some shopping before lunch to aid our digestion
Some Ikea and Aussino fulfilled our temptations!

As an encore to our gastronomical adventure
To Manhattan Fish Market, we chose to venture
Lunch left us thoroughly full and very sleepy
Off home to Penang from a mighty enjoyable journey!

Posted in Close to Heart & Home, Drooling & Cooking, Relax & Celebrate | 4 Comments

My Own Book?

Posted on April 18, 2007 by The Giddy Tigress

Since I started blogging, I have been told that I should get a part-time or second job in writing.  In fact, I had previously submitted several online articles just because I love writing and putting my thoughts to words; there’s something about seeing it on paper that excites me so.  Well, now there is a chance I can realize this dream of mine sooner than I think.  With a publisher like AuthorHouse, I can now use their AuthorCentric Self-Publishing Process to achieve my book-publishing goals in a speedy and professional manner.  Wow…imagine seeing a book authored by my good self sitting on a shelf in a bookstore!

At AuthorHouse, I am now able to obtain a Free Self-Publishing Guide, together with advice from author advocates who can guide me through the entire publishing process.  This would be great for a newbie like me, who knows nuts about publishing.  Going by the many positive testimonials, this is definitely the haven for all authors from all genres: getting books published in a simple yet effective manner. 

Posted in Rainmakers | 2 Comments

Pedal Car Racing, anyone?

Posted on April 18, 2007 by The Giddy Tigress

Have you ever heard of pedal car racing? Or even pedal cars, for that matter? I for one, have not heard of it until yesterday! Make way for the pedal car all the Ferraris and McLarens … here’s an alternative which does not contribute to noise pollution….albeit not as speedy! Check out what a pedal car looks like:

A pedal car is also known as a quadracycle, a recumbent-bicycle or (I like this one) a human-powered vehicle (HPV for short). Since these are human-powered vehicles, they do not burn any fuel and are thus environmentally-friendly and pollution-free. In fact, this is one kind of “car” that schoolkids can “drive” as a form of exercise.

This coming August 19th, the Penang Turf Club will organize the 1st Malaysian Pedal Car Race in conjunction with Visit Malaysia Year 2007. Ain’t that cool? Can you just imagine all these pedal cars moving along the streets of Penang, drawing curious stares and attracting all the attention in the world. It’s gonna be an eight-lap relay race with 10 cars on the grid. What’s more, there are 2 backup cars in case of breakdown or accidents.

So mark your calendars…you don’t wanna miss this. If anything, be reminded that there will be a lot of roads closed on that day!

Posted in Relax & Celebrate | Leave a comment

Beauty Secrets

Posted on April 17, 2007 by The Giddy Tigress

After reading Shooi’s blog post on homemade hair conditioner and Paris’s recommendation on homemade makeup remover, I thought about all the different homemade remedies I had also used, all in the name of beauty.  Yes, I am a self-professed vainpot and will try anything and everything, just to see if it works.  Is that crazy or what?

Hair

  • Use beer as hair conditioner.  Seriously!  Shampoo your hair as normal and then massage a can/bottle of beer through your hair.  You’ll be left with the shiniest hair ever.  A few years back, I discovered that I had several cans of beer in the fridge and I wasn’t sure if it had already expired, so I used it on my hair to condition it.  Boy was I impressed by the results!  Come to think of it, my hair probably needs some beer treatment now… No need to spend a fortune in the salon 🙂

Face

  • For a quick face mask, mix 2 tablespoons of honey with oats and a zest of lemon juice. This will tighten your pores and give you a glowing complexion.  Of course the concoction could be a little sticky but just bear with it for about 15 minutes.  Go watch TV, listen to music or come on over and read my blog! Heh heh….
  • For an even quicker face mask, just apply egg white to your whole face.  This one was taught by my Mom, and although it doesn’t smell as nice as the honey one, it does its job just as well.

Eyes

  • To counteract dark eye rings and puffiness, try either a slice of cucumber over each eye OR a used tea bag over each eye (it would be better if you placed the used tea bag in the fridge for a couple of hours before use).  You will feel an immediate cooling effect and believe it or not, you will feel relaxed.  I kid you not.

Unfortunately, I’m still trying to find household remedies for cellulite though.  When I do, I’ll let y’all know?

Posted in The Fairer Sex | 4 Comments