This is my first blog project. This blog was originally tagged "Your Financial Freedom", but it's really just a diary these days.
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Steve over at Moneywell asked me recently if I had an update on Dragon Naturally Speaking, since my last post on DNS. In that post I used Dragon Naturally Speaking software (Version Eight) and I was quite happy with it.
However, I eventually started going back to hunting, punching, and erasing again. Why? - because by the time I strap on the headphones, plugin the headset and spool up Dragon, I can have a post completed and published already.
Where I think Dragon Naturally Speaking speech recognition software can be used most effectively, is when a person has trouble typing. It’s perfect for those of us who can’t type quickly, and for those of us who write content all day. For blogging, I don’t type all day. I only post when I’m in the mood, or there is something I feel like commenting on.
For a full time blogger, who is posting for 6-8 hours a day, Dragon Naturally would be ideal. Maybe if I was blogging that many hours a day, I would be hiring others to blog for me 
Never know…..maybe someday.
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I know it sounds crazy to those of us who are making a few pennies or dollars a day from their web sites or blogs, but it really is astonishing to see what a blog can do when it really takes off. There is great article on Michael Arrington, the founder of TechCrunch, and what his blogging has brought his income to. He now makes around $60,000 USD per month, and growing. Like I said, that seems unattainable for beginners, but what if you could make just a portion of that with your blog? It’s all good. Pays your mortgage, rent, car loan, child support, food & expenses. It all depends on your lifestyle.
Anyway, thought you might really enjoy reading that article.
Terry
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It might be what they call Smart Pricing. Smart Pricing was started by the Google Adwords/Adsense teams to protect Adwords advertisors from being fleeced. There is a good piece over at Allman’s Money Traffic blog with some of his theories on Smart Pricing. Although I agree with the basic theory he lays out, I believe there are many more variables at work when Adsense puts ads on your web site.
Of course you want good traffic and high click through rates, but there is more to it then that in my opinion. I think that publisher history and track record come into play as well. This is not a popular theory, and for good reason. Say we dabbled in what I call “crap sites” that hold very little value, and were made simply for gathering clicker traffic. Say we did that on a string of sites. It’s possible the web site reputation can come into play here as well. Tell you the truth, I hope I’m dead wrong on that guess, or stab in the dark, because I too have dabbled in crap sites when I started out.
All I know, is that creating a good site or blog, with rich and original content, is the key to almost everything. Once again I’ll say it - don’t bother trying to game Google Adsense, Google Adwords, or the search engines at large. Just post content that is 100% original, and can be of use to your readers and visitors. Eventually that approach will help you get big traffic and big paying Adsense ads on your site.
One last note on Smart Pricing. I’ve always believed that creating one site, and focusing hard on it is the way to go. Stay with that one site for months before you even think about moving on to another one. If you put in a solid effort on one of your domains, the search engines will notice, your visitors will notice, and other webmasters will notice. This way you can compete in some of the most competitive keyword markets online.
