Tomato Recipes & Fresh Salsa Recipe

Ahhh summer. It's that time of year when all the tomatoes are starting to get ripe, and the tomato recipes MUST come out. I don't know about you, but we always seem to have an abundance of tomatoes every single year. My garden just grows out of control! I guess that's a major plus to living in the heart of the midwest. ;)

If you need some ideas for what to do with all those tomatoes, see Fresh Tomato Recipes and also my favorite - Garden Fresh Salsa Recipe.

Enjoy!

Leftover Recipes

Since I've been posting so many recipes over the last week or two, I figured it was about time for some leftover recipes. Included on the following page is leftover recipe and ingredient ideas that will hopefully stretch your dollars as far as they will go.

See Leftover Recipes by Idea Queen.


P.S. - Be sure to see the "Fried Rice" recipe at the bottom of the page. It's one of our favorites around here!

Starting Your Own Home Business

Well, I finished my Internet Marketing Articles page all fixed up. Like the final page? I'm pretty happy with it ;-)

I know I have a handfull of those articles that I need to "fix up" a bit but, I have another page I've so been wanting to work on but never got around to it. Then after I read Lesson 1 in Cricket's SEO class I realized I HAVE to work on this page. It's bringing in some good traffic just the way it is but I think I'll take today's tip and make it (+) better.

It (+) you ask??

"Every page on your site must focus on ONLY ONE PRIMARY TOPIC."
-Quoted directly from Cricket's SEO class....

So, I'm starting with something that looks like this:
http://www.mommyshelperonline.com/start-your-own-home-business2.html (This is just a copy of what I'm fixing so you can see the original when the real one is done.)

As you can see on this page ... I have how many topics on one page? There's quite a few there. Then you'll notice that each opens to another website with more information. Now, I'm going to set up each business on their own page.

I'll let you know when it's done :)

Apple Recipes

While it may not quite be the time of year for apple recipes since you tend to use more apples in the fall, I thought I would post these recipes a little early. Why not? You can get any variety of apples at just about any time of year.

So because this is one popular fruit, I've put together a page of recipes that feature apples as the main ingredient. This includes the best apple pie recipe that's been highly requested by friends and family.

See Apple Recipes by Idea Queen

Easy Potato Recipes

Pan fried, deep fried, baked, or boiled.......how many different potato recipes can you think of? If you are stumped as to what to do with all those potatoes you bought on sale, there are several recipes and ideas listed on this page:

Easy Potato Recipes by Idea Queen

Best Fried Chicken Recipes

Have a package of boneless, skinless chicken and have absolutely no idea what to do with it? You may be sick of baking chicken, so while these recipes aren't exactly healthy, they are a change is regular routine. In moderation, these fried chicken recipes can help spice up your dinner menu. Listed on this page are only my best ideas, and things I've tested time and time again.

See: Best Fried Chicken Recipe Ideas

MommysHelperOnline.com Makeover

Have you ever heard the saying ... the cobbler's children have no shoes? That's how I often feel with my businesses, websites etc. I spend so much time focusing on helping others that my websites often get put on the back burner and end up suffering in the end.

So, between knowing this already, Kara's encouragement and the help of Cricket's SEO Class, I've decided it's time for a full-site makeover for MommysHelperOnline.com. I already have the content, and already have a decent amount of traffic. Why not optimize it to it's fullest?

What I've done so far is picked some of my most visited sections to start with. I'll be honest, I'm not sure if I should have started there or not. Should I have started with the less visited pages first? That's a question that only time will tell.

Okay, now to catch you up a bit as to what I've done so far...

I started with my Internet Marketing Articles page. When I started with this page I had literally over 43 articles listed there with nothing more than links to each article. What can I say but "what a waste". 43 articles on the subject of Internet Marketing. That is quite a large spectrum to cover in one section. So, I took that section and broke it down into 5 smaller categories.

Increasing Online Traffic
Email Marketing
Offline Advertising
Marketing with Blogs
Marketing with Press Releases & Publicity

After I broke all those articles down to their own categories, I also changed my google ads a bit. (Tip: Don't make your google ads all "fancy". Simply keep them like all visitors would expect them to look like. Visitors are used to the blue underlined links. These are what they click on.)

I also changed each of my headings to the < h2 > header. Did you know that the seach engines don't pay any attention to any headers other than < h2 > and < h1 >?

I chose to indent each article excerpt with a < ul > code to make it easier on the eyes.

As of today, those category links above have not been changed. I'll post my progress as I optimize each of those pages.

Easy Pork Chop Recipes

Pork chops are great any time of year, which is why it's a regular menu item around this household. While I prefer to cook Iowa Chops, sometimes I'll sneak in a regular chop. At Idea Queen I've listed my top two favorite recipes, plus a few BBQ recipes I found in my collection.

See: Easy Pork Chop Recipes by Idea Queen

Stay at home or work?

I recently read this article that finally shows both sides of the story. Do you stay at home with your kids, or do you go out and work? Many have regreats regardless of what they decide. The obvious solution is working at home, but that can be a challenge on it's own.

Read this interesting article here


Me, I choose both. I stay at home with my kids while making a living. It hasn't been an easy road, but I have zero regreats. However, this isn't the choice for everyone. I fully believe in freedom and making your own decisions no matter how many people there are telling you it's wrong. Everyone is different with different needs.

I look back at my own childhood and realise how good I really had it. My mom went to work very early in the morning, being out the door before 6am (and me with her when I was younger). However, she was done for the day around 10am or earlier being a postal clerk in a small town. So she was always there when I got off the bus after school, and was able to do all kinds of things with me durring the summer. Did I mention she was a single parent? We were never hurting for money because she had a job that paid full time while she only worked a few hours a day. Proof that you CAN provide for your children while assuming the duties of a stay at home mom. I really do believe it's possible to create your own destiny. Whatever you choose to be, it IS possible!

Easy Pot Roast Recipe

Don't laugh - there are some out there that have never made a roast! It really is one of the most easiest meals out there to make, and produces tons of left overs (but we'll get to the leftover recipes later).

I've posted directions on cooking a roast, as well as ingredient ideas on Idea Queen. This page was just updated last week, so if you haven't seen this page lately and need some roast ideas, you might want to take a look!

See Easy Pot Roast Recipe

Easy Pasta Recipes

When pasta goes on sale, I stock up. Actually, I stock up any time I go to the store just to keep up with my son's high demands of pasta for every meal. He doesn't always get it, but we make sure to make some type of pasta dish at least once a week. Hey, if he's eatting lots and it's healthy food, I'm all for that!

Because we always have tons of cheap pasta, I've come up with lots of easy pasta recipes. Some are better in the summer, some better in the fall. Some I'm sick to death of, but that's another story. All the recipes are on my "Idea" site. If you have anything to add, please let me know!

See: Easy Pasta Recipes at Idea Queen

Recommended SEO Class

Nearly 3 years ago I took a class on search engine optimization. It was a really good class, and I made a lot of money optimizing my own affiliate pages and ranking #1 for almost all of them. Unfortunately, the search engines made some changes and no longer liked pages with nothing but affiliate products and I was dropped back down to square one. No fault of the SEO class, because all they taught was how to optimize sites. I just missed (or ignored) one important point - search engines like content, not tons of links.

Fast forward to 2006, and I'm doing alright. Not near as good as was before with my "automated income", but better than before the class. I keep using the lessons that were taught in that class several years ago and it's worked alright for me.

But then last month I came across some high recommendations for Cricket's SEO class. All I can say is this - WOW. There's so much that wasn't taught in the old SEO class I took back in 2003, probably because these are new discoveries. I am simply amazed at what I've been learning, and almost every lesson is something new to me. I also picked up a book called The Copywriter's Handbook for help on content, and it's make a huge difference in my writing abilities. It went extremely well with the content lessons in Cricket's class (put simply, the book I got was the full information on writing sales letters, and cricket's class outlined tips for web specific writing ...the book and the lesson fit PERFECT together!)

While the jury is still out on my official results because I was working on a brand new site (still waiting for it to be officially indexed, it's only been about 2 weeks since it was officially finished), I did use a few lessons to make some minor changes to a few other pages. I just couldn't wait, and decided editing a few things here and there while waiting for the next lesson wasn't going to hurt anything. The small changes I made on an established site took me from #76 all the way up to #30 for my keyword. I wasn't even applying everything to this particular page, just making small changes on the side for better conversion rates. That right there was proof enough for me that this class is awesome!

So if you haven't already clicked on that link above, DO IT NOW! You will not be disapointed in this class!

Add more recipes to the list!

Even though I got a total response of zero to my last request for recipes, I figured I might as well post the updated list of recipes I need. Who knows, maybe someone out there is just waiting for the chance to post their ONE recipe and it didn't fit into the last list.

So anyway, if you have a recipe that would fit on either of these pages, please let me know. Of course full credit for the recipe will be given plus a link back to your website or blog.

The two updated sites in need of more information are:

Easy Potato Recipes
Apple Recipes

These are both pretty wide topics, so if you have any suggestions, tips, or recipes they would be very helpful!

Recipe Project

I can hear the yawns already. No, this isn't another boring "send me your recipes for a new site or page I'm working on". This is a little different, so read on....

I'm working on more exposure for Idea Queen, which does happen to have a recipe section. It's not your normal list of recipes though. The recipes aren't step by step, but rather ideas to start recipes from. I do have some exact ingredients posted on some, but these pages are more for the experienced cook, or the cook that likes to play by their own rules.

So here's what I need - content for each of the current pages I'm about to list. You can give me exact recipes, tips, or anything else you think would fit on these pages. I will of course give you proper credit to your website or blog. (Come on now, I know you want a few extra links pointing to your blog or site! This is easy stuff too!). While not required, a little post in your blog bragging about and pointing to your featured comment, recipe, or tip would be helpful. :)

Here are the pages that need help. Please read them and see what you could add:

Easy Pasta Recipes

Easy Pot Roast Recipe

Fried Pork Chop Recipes


Easy Baked Chicken Recipes

Fried Chicken Recipe Ideas
(This page needs more tips than recipes!)

You can send your tips, recipes, and ideas along with your name and link to contact@momsmarketonline.com

Look forward to reading your submissions!

And the castle doors open...

One very special friend of ours, Lauren Haugh, has been busily working HARD to open her brand new website (or should I say castle) called www.MomsOnlineRetreat.com. Kara and I have been personally helping her in creating "The newest online hideout for moms who just want to get away for awhile and focus on themselves, their own hobbies and interests." (And we ALL NEED this once in a while, right?)

The grand opening of Lauren's castle is today, March 10th, starting at 9:00 A.M. EST. There will be guided tours of the old castle, an opportunity to chat with the Retreat Coordinator herself, as well as many other moms who may share your interests and/or hobbies. Be sure to stop by and wish Lauren a congratulations on her most unique website, www.MomsOnlineRetreat.com. She'll be in the Public Chatroom - Retreat 1 until 10:30 P.M. EST located at http://www.momchats.com/chat/chat-room.html

From the Retreat Coordinator herself...

We are still in the process of renovating this old castle, to create an escape for Moms to focus on their hobbies, their interests, and themselves. If you have been following our progress, we thank you for your patience. And as you enter for the first time, we ask that you pardon our dust, as parts of this old castle have taken longer to modernize than we anticipated.

We are celebrating all day long, with an online Open House at
www.MomChats.com in Public Room - Retreat 1.
Just create a user name~no need to register. Choose "Retreat 1" from the Public Rooms menu and click "Chat".

We will have guided tours of our Retreat Wings, special appearances by some of our Resident Experts, and of course games, and prizes!

Schedule of Events

We will have several presentations throughout the day. To help you decide when you might be most interested in attending, scheduled event times are below, listed in Central Standard Time:

10:00 A.M. ~ Our doors will officially open, and our Retreat Coordinator will be there to welcome you.

11:00 A.M. ~ Val Selby, Owner of www.busymommawellness.com will be conducting a Webinar on Stress Management. After all, isn't every Mom trying to manage stress on some level?

12:00 P.M. ~ Meet the Coordinator in the Galley for lunch, or brunch, depending on where you're coming from. Don't worry, breakfast is served all day long in the Galley.

1:00 P.M. ~ Kara Kelso, co-owner of Prairie Soy Candles will be showcasing her highly scented soy wax candles that we will be carrying in our Candle Shoppe. She will also to available to answer any questions you may have about the products.

2:00 P.M. ~ Cassandra Stanley, co-owner of TC & Co. Bath Body & Home, will be here to talk about her beautifully unique, handcrafted products we will carry in the Bath and Body Shoppe. All of the items are made from scratch, and are great for dry, sensitive skin.

3:00 P.M. ~ The Retreat Coordinator will be conducting a guided tour of the site. This will be your chance to hear more about the origins of Mom's Online Retreat, current features of our Retreat Wings, and what we have planned for the future as well.

4:00 - 6:00 P.M. ~ Happy Hour(s)! Wonder through the site, stroll through our Shoppes. Have your friends meet you there, and go on your first Online Retreat!

6:00 P.M. ~ Our Retreat Coordinator is also an Independent Consultant with Top Line Creations scrapbook supply company. She will be showcasing TLC's newest product line - Hot Fudge. So come for a late afternoon snack, or dessert, depending on your time zone.

7:00 P.M. ~ We'll have another guided tour of Mom's Online Retreat. For anyone who was not able to attend earlier in the day, AND before LOST comes on! Though we will have it on in The Towers!

8:00 P.M. ~ For our West Coast Retreaters, our Retreat Coordinator will be available to answer any questions you may have, in case you missed our earlier presentations. She'll be talking about the features of the site, and the products we'll be carrying in our Shoppes.

9:00-11:30 P.M. ~ After hours party! For anyone who hasn't been able to make it all day-the Retreat Coordinator has agreed to stay through to give everyone who wants an opportunity, to chat with her, and many other Moms who may have had to wait until the kids were in bed to go on her Retreat!
Set aside some time to join us for the festivities! Plan your first Online Retreat!

We'll see you there!