Clean, Clean, Clean and Paying It Forward

I've been cleaning out the office, sending invoices, shredding, throwing old stuff away all morning, preparing for tomorrow's 1/1/1 stargate and new start to a new year (see Stellar Shaman or The Cosmic Path for more on the stargate).

So now I'm looking at my blog and wondering if cleaning it will help. The most common areas that need cleaning in a blog are the sidebars.

Obviously, most of the items on my right sidebar are for monetization sake, but does anyone ever look over there? I've got some great coupons that offer affiliate payments, the offer from Widget Bucks that gives me a referral fee (and you $25!), links, Technorati favorites panel, sign up for email and RSS feeds; but is there too much?

I recently took off the WidgetBucks items for sale because it seemed to make my page load very slowly. So I did clean that. And I think I'll get rid of the Auction Ads all the way down there at the bottom. Maybe it would be better to go to a 3-column that lets me separate linkies from monies.

I did sign up for Crazy Hip Blog Mamas and their link roll after seeing it on another site, and it does give you lots of reciprocal links and is easy to install. And for the New Year, I'm going with a pay it forward method.

Some of my Blogging Goals for increasing popularity and monetization include:

1 - Comment more on other blogs. I signed up for the group Commit to Comment on Blog 365, and I think it is a great idea.

2 - Visit those who visit me. Again, an idea from Commit to Comment, but also holding up your end of the bargain.

3 - Share the Link Love. Send me a note if you want to link up!

4 - Donate to sites I read regularly. I just sent a PayPal to What's Up On Planet Earth, and plan to donate to one of my regulars at least once a month.

5 - Take advantage of coupons/affiliate offers on other blogs. I did use a 10% off coupon on another blog during the holidays, knowing full well that the blog owner would get an affiliate fee. But it didn't cost me anything and in fact saved me 10%! From now on, when I purchase online, I'm going to try to find a coupon on one of my blog buddy's sites.

6 - Number 5 includes books! As a writer who hopes to publish a book one day (Soon), I'm going to purchase at least one book per month.

If you'd like to share your monetization strategy for the new year, leave a comment, or let me know if you'd like to guest post.

And don't forget to sign up for email or RSS feed : )

Thanks
Lisa