This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Contest Factory for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Personal working spaces are considered by many people to be a reflection of their personality. Many of you have seen well organized cubicles, decorated with appealing plants and comfortable furniture. There are, of course, exceptions to these eye-appealing cubicles.

Perhaps you know of a messy coworker, or perhaps you are the guilty party. Messy, unorganized cubicles can be an eye sore and promote a sense of dissatisfaction from coworkers. Sometimes the mess isn't necessarily a reflection on the inhabitant, but hectic schedules and over commitment to multiple projects can result in little or no time to maintain a healthy and appealing work space.

If you know of such a cubicle, you now have the opportunity to reverse the unappealing character of your working environment. The new Pimp My Cube Contest is now online and is offering a few fortunate winners the opportunity to make over their cubicle. If you or your coworker is in need of new furniture, better organization, enter today for the chance to win one of the following prizes:

• New high end computer system
• New Desk, Chair and Decorations
• New Entertainment Package with high end stereo, espresso machine etc.

Are you ready? If so, here is how you can qualify for one of these great upgrades:

1. Visit the Pimp My Cube Contest website and upload a video of your messy cubicle
2. Invite your friends, family or coworkers to visit the site and vote for your entry

Yes, it is that simple! The more people you get to comment on and vote for your entry, the greater the chances for you to win the grand prize, valued at $1200! Even if you don't win the grand prize, there is still a chance to win a $200 prize, selected at random. But don't delay! The contest period is from 12/5/11 at 12:00PM to 1/31/12 at 12:00PM.

Speaking of the future, 2012 looks like it will prove to be another profitable year for bloggers seeking to monetize their online efforts. While it may appear that our economy is still struggling to move forward, the online marketplace is beginning to show signs of rebirth.

While this site has been down, we’ve continued to monitor a number of the appealing income sites that benefit bloggers. Activity is picking up across all of those sites and it looks like, for now, payouts are on the rise. Over the coming weeks and months we will highlight which of these we are most impressed and pleased with.

The blogosphere also continues to grow, in contrast to what was predicted in many places last year. No, the number of bloggers simply is not shrinking. If you look at the number of blogs being registered on sites such as Technorati, you will see that total continue to rise.

Many people are also beginning to shed their “amateur hour” approach to blogging and have been taking the advice of professional blogs, such as BlogConduit. Content is becoming more concise and the research behind the writing more sound. Of course there remain a number of blogs that seem to be written by pre-teens in their parent’s basement, the majority of the blogs we have been following are improving greatly.

Here’s looking forward to more great things ahead in 2012!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Snapdragon by Qualcomm for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Qualcomm Stadium, named after a popular and telecommunications company, was temporarily renamed from December 18th, 2011 to December 29, 2011. The name was changed to Snapdragon Stadium in order to highlight Qualcomm's new smartphone processor. These powerful Snapdragon processors by Qualcomm are the digital brains inside mobile devices made by manufacturers such as Samsung, LG, Nokia, and HTC.

The temporary renaming of the stadium elicited quite a bit of interest and excitement from football fans in and around San Diego, California. The stadium has existed as the Qualcomm stadium since 1997, so imagine the surprise when, after 14 years, a new name appears. Marketing and branding is always a key to success for manufacturers of any product, but renaming a stadium is a very visible strategy that has brought increased recognition of the Snapdragon line of processors.

Imagine the number of football fans that walked into that stadium with their own smartphones. Two high profile bowl games were played during this temporary renaming, giving exposure to hundreds of thousands of fans. The promotion of Snapdragon likely caused many fans to take a moment to look at their own phone and see if their product was powered by the name brand highlighted in the new name of the stadium.

As a professional blogger, you recognize the importance of brand recognition in driving traffic to your site. You may not be able to achieve the renaming of a stadium for your own blog, but perhaps there is some visible way for you to accomplish such marketing success in your level of the playing field. But while you're at it, take a minute to look at your own smartphone to see if your product is powered by the Snapdragon line of processors by Qualcomm.

Before one can make a set of clear and positive goals for the next year, it is important to examine your accomplishment of the goals you (hopefully) set for 2011. This is an important step because doing so will help to better identify your own strengths. Not only in setting and achieving goals, but in determining what strengths you have had and what weaknesses you need to work on.

Have you been making regular and relevant posts to your blog? Have you achieved the financial needs you set for yourself this year? How about getting the kind of traffic you had hoped for? There are a great number of ways to increase your readership in 2012, but if you are having difficulty identifying what you succeeded in during 2011, your first goal should be to set real and tangible goals.

All successful businesses thrive when they operate from a business plan and a clear set of business goals. If you are trying to profit from your blogging efforts, you have a business. Today, being the last day of 2011, is not too late to set the right path for your efforts in the coming year, but don’t put off doing so any longer. Even if you set a hard goal target to develop a list of goals by the end of the week, set a specific day and set your mind to making that a priority.

For those who have not set goals in the past, it may seem petty to try to do so now, but I would be willing to bet that at the end of 2012, you will be glad you did!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Contest Factory for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Business moves fast, especially for many small businesses. Sometimes the end result of drumming up business and chasing leads is that you are left with little to no time left for keeping your office neat and tidy. If you've been looking for a chance to spruce up your office digs, that time has come, for some fortunate winner of the Pimp My Cube Contest.

Just imagine what your workspace would look like with one of the following:

• New high end computer system
• New Desk, Chair and Decorations
• New Entertainment Package with high end stereo, espresso machine etc.

It's simple to enter for your chance at one of these great grand prizes, or a $200 second prize gift card. All you need to do is make a short video of the messy office, then write a short entry on why you think the space needs an upgrade and comment upon how Contest Factory could help you in that effort.

Once you submit your entry, increase your chances to win by inviting friends, family and coworkers to visit the contest website, post comments and vote for your entry. Each visit will result in extra sweepstakes entries.

If you are interested in having Contest Factory judges evaluate your entry, don't delay! The contest period began on December 5, 2011 and only lasts until January 31, 2012. If you want to learn more, watch the following short video:

Thankfully the good people at Google are  responsive and as soon as all of the malicious code was detected and eliminated, it only took a few days for a site review and all was past. At least that is what I thought. As soon as the hacker attack was solved on my individual site, some catastrophic failure plagued my web host and the servers fell offline one-by-one. It does look like things have finally turned the corner, but months of potential income has been lost by them and their clients. Safe, reliable hosting is an absolute that cannot be compromised.

For those of you who are visiting BlogConduit for the first time, or return readers that have weathered the storm, we say thank you!

Apparently I garnered the attention of someone with genuine hacking skills that for whatever reason doesn’t like my sites. I have been combating attacks against all of my blogs since August. Past attacks were a nuisance, but the attacker shifted his strategy in this latest round and did quite a number on all my blogs. So much so that Google had classified all of my sites to be malicious attack sites and blocked them.

The amount of time I have for blogging the last few weeks has been spent defending the site, cleaning up malicious code and making efforts to tighten security. I don’t know if all that I have done will be enough to keep this anonymous coward away from me again, but for now things are back to normal.

This post brought to you by Straight Talk. All opinions are 100% mine.

Imagine having some extra spending money in your pocket. That may be a stretch of the imagination for some people these days, but it is a reality that can happen if you choose your cell phone provider carefully. Why spend upwards of $100 for a phone plan, not to mention signing a committal to pay that $100 for a year, two or even more?

With Straight Talk you can receive the benefits of unlimited, monthly service for only $45. This service will allow you to Call a friend as often as you like and includes text, picture messaging, and the web, Hook, line and sinker. If you keep this plan for an entire year, your service will only cost you $499. No w compare that to other national phone plans! With Straight Talk you will also enjoy zero activation or reactivation charges, or termination fees. Now THAT is what I call freedom!

You may be wondering, "With a plan price so low, what kind of phones can I expect to use?" With Straight Talk, you will enjoy the same kind of phones available with the other, more expensive national plans. Yes, you can still enjoy Android on Straight Talk! All the way from $10 reconditioned phones up to feature-rich smart phones.

General Interest

John Drapper presents Getting a Mortgage or Loan if you’re Self Employed posted at Being Self Employed Feed Update, saying, “If you are self employed it can be harder to get a mortgage or a loan but it’s not impossible. This post provide details on how to get a mortgage if you are self employed.”

Melanie Slaugh presents 10 Career Enhancing Social Networking Sites posted at Internet Service Providers, saying, “Social networking sites were originally created to connect people, but today’s sites do so much more. Everyone knows that successful careers are built on who you know. No matter what field you’re in, there’s a site for you.”

Sandra Campbell presents Most Important Credit Card Rewards for Small Businesses posted at Small Business Credit Cards, saying, “There are four primary categories of awards available with credit cards: travel, gasoline, cash back, and retailer rewards.”

James Bush presents Retirement Plan Options for Business Owners posted at 401k Calculator, saying, “Whether you are the sole employee or you employ several people, choosing the right retirement plan is critical to ensure that you are providing the optimum level of benefits while controlling your costs. This post outlines some options for the business owner.”

Rodney Maley presents Effective To Do Lists posted at Life-fficient.

Kate Croston presents 5 Ways the Brady Bunch Could Have Used Twitter posted at Internet Service, saying, “The Brady Bunch was a television situation comedy that aired for five seasons on the ABC network. It was a moderate Nielsen Ratings success, usually maintaining a spot in the Top 30. There were 117 episodes in all, and the first episode was broadcast in September, 1969. The basic premise was that two single parents, each with three kids, fell in love, got married and settled in the Los Angeles suburbs.”

J. Stephens presents Other Option to Franchise Financing | Franchise Financing | IncomPro Capital Lending posted at IncomPro Capital Lending, saying, “Incompro Capital Lending offers another option to Franchise Financing besides going to your local bank for a SBA loan. We have a relationship with a private investor that specializes in franchise financing. As you read below you will read that they can offer the optional SBA government backed loans or use a more conventional loan process. This lender has performed many loans for well know franchises like Midas, NAPA, Starbucks, Subway, and more.”

Alyssa robert presents 25 Incredibly Useful iPad Apps for Project Managers posted at Masters in Project Management, saying, “iPads and iPhones are useful for more than sending texts and launching virtual birds at targets. In the digital age, they can be used to keep your work manageable. These amazing iPad apps offer project managers a speedy way to get organized with scheduling, billing, managing and more right at your fingertips.”

Mark Pearce presents Knowing How to Choose a Melbourne Graphic Designer that Provides Quality posted at Renew Graphic Design, saying, “Melbourne Graphic Design company, Renew Graphic Design provides creative results through attractive visual presentation. Your business is presented through eye-catching graphic design. Hire these services for logo design, brochure design, business card design and even stationery art.”

Juliet Jones presents 10 Worst Business Decisions in History posted at Business Insurance, saying, “There’s no doubt that the creation of Netflix was one of the best business decisions of the last 15 years.”

Blogging

Nesher presents 3 Free chat widgets for Blogger Blog posted at Blogging for Good in the Modern World, saying, “If you are interesting in adding high level of interactivity to your Blogger Blog, you may consider embedding one of the free chat widgets to your web pages.”

aryantosaja presents I Know Business PTC (Paid to Click) is Not a Fraud | Webupon posted at Webupon, saying, “Ptc business that is paid if you do business every click on ads. payment to a member of the ptc business is very low and means of payment using paypal and alertpay. but remember, many businesses are classified ptc scam. and this is where I give tips on how to tell a business not a scam ptc.”

kanishtha Desai presents 50 Best High Paying Job Listing Sites for Executives and Professionals posted at Masters in Management, saying, “Earning a master’s degree in business or any other field can expand your horizons, not to mention increase your opportunities to land a higher salary. If you are interested in finding the best jobs for the highest pay, these incredible job sites will help you do just that. They are amazing resources to help lead you into your next career move.”

d andersen presents 8 Ways to Drive Traffic to your Blog by Writing about 8 Ways to Drive Traffic to your Blog posted at FLAMING PHOENIX OF FLAMES, saying, “The key to driving profit is traffic. What’s the key to getting traffic? Read on!”

Charles Chua C K presents 3 Business Concepts to Promote Your Blog Effectively posted at All About Living with Life.

JBY presents 3 of My Favorite Minimalist Writing Apps posted at Blogging Your Passion, saying, “I am a big proponent of “distraction free” writing. No matter what topic I am blogging about I love it when I get “in the flow.” Those of you who write on a regular basis know what I am talking about…”

Charles Chua C K presents 5 Effective Ways to Boost Your Alexa Traffic Rank posted at All About Living with Life.

Michael Donelly presents 50 Best Blogs on Bullying posted at Masters In Counseling, saying, “While fictional bullies onscreen are often amusing, bullying realistically is dangerous and can result in terrible and sad outcomes. These fifty blogs offer professional resources. blogs from firsthand experiences, and even places to seek anonymous help. These blogs are helpful but can not take the place of seeking help from medical or law enforcement professionals if needed.”

sokun presents Ramblings posted at Abidings.com.

Ted presents Online Marketing – Be a Game Changer! posted at Authority Articles, saying, “Every day working people are starting their own business whether they work at it part time or full time.”

Peter presents Starting a Blog: A Complete Guide to Setting Up Your First Blog | The Blogging Blog posted at The Blogging Blog.

Ahmad Hassam presents Autoblogging Blog Blueprint Report By Jason Potash and Jason Katzenback! | My Internet Marketing Reviews Blog posted at My Internet Marketing Reviews Blog, saying, “This Auto Blogging Blueprint is simple to implement and can generate a passive income of a few thousand dollars per month.”

CPF presents How I Found My Blog Niche: A Tutorial posted at Blogging Your Passion, saying, “How I Found My Blog Niche: A Tutorial by Craig Grella 09.20.2011 Thumbnail image for How I Found My Blog Niche: A Tutorial When I first started blogging I had no clue about finding my niche, but I remembered my high school english teacher’s daily mantra: “When you don’t know what to write about, write about not knowing what to write about!” Funny thing – it always worked.”

igor Griffiths presents Slower Than The Speed of Light posted at igor Griffiths, saying, “Although data may travel around the Internet at the speed of light, I discovered it’s not the same when it comes to your blog.”

vinman presents Internet Business Ideas To Start With posted at Internet Home Business Opportunities, saying, “Blogging is the best of starting your own business using online opportunities. You can use your spare time to create additional income. Get tips on business ideas to start with.”

Charles Chua C K presents Profit from the 7 Effective Ways of Classified Ads to Blog Productively posted at All About Living with Life.

Laura Backes presents 10 Ways FaceBook is like Little House On the Prairie posted at DSL Service Providers, saying, “Little House of the Prairie was a family favorite, when it aired on television and now is being enjoyed by a new generation through DVD’s and Netflix. The Ingall’s family and their small town neighbors in Walnut Grove provided good, wholesome entertainment for the whole family. When you survey your facebook feed, you may see some similarities between that old favorite and what you find on your modern day social media. Maybe things haven’t changed all that much after all.”

Robert presents The Ultimate Guide to Social Media Backlinks posted at Comments for My Multiple Incomes, saying, “How to get backlinks for your site using social media.”

Tarik presents How Robert Learned to Become Happy posted at Success starts today, saying, “Learn from Robert how to be wealthy while pursuing your financial goals rather than when achieving them. An inspiring story for all bloggers – share your comments.”

Income Channels

simond presents Making Money From a Website posted at True to Business.

Linda Rodriguez presents What is the credit score? posted at Credit Cards for Fair Credit, saying, “The most important credit score is the FICO score. FICO is named after the company (Fair Isaac Corporation) that created the credit algorithm that is generally used to assess a credit applicant’s credit risk. In other words, the better your FICO score, the less likely it is that you will default on your loan.”

Amber presents Making your Dream Of Freelancing a Viable Reality posted at Captured Technology, saying, “It can be terrifyingly uncertain to leave the security of a full time job and make the leap to freelance business without first knowing a thing or two about how to get started.”

Ted presents Earn Money On Craigslist With Your Internet Skills posted at Authority Articles, saying, “There are plenty of techniques to earn a living if you are happy to uncover some stones in your search. I think that lots of people lately have been laid off from their corporate jobs and still have exhausted their search through traditional means.”

Garish Wasil presents 5 quick ways to earn your first dollar (or more) online posted at Vast9 – Blogging Tips, Earning Money Online, Web 2.0, saying, “Fed up trying to make money online ? These 5 easy ways will help you make your first dollar online instantly. Don’t miss this.”
bill harms presents Blog Carnival – Submit an Article to a Carnival posted at Make Legitimate Money Online.

Marketing

Mark Pearce presents Getting the Right Image for Your Business with the Right Melbourne Graphic posted at Renew Graphic Design, saying, “Melbourne Graphic Design company, Renew Graphic Design provides creative results through attractive visual presentation. Your business is presented through eye-catching graphic design. Hire these services for logo design, brochure design, business card design and even stationery art.”

Anna Farmery presents 5 Essential Business Questions for Modern Marketers posted at The Engaging Brand.

Christine Kane presents 10 Advantages of Using Gmail for Internet E-mail posted at Internet Service Providers, saying, “Shopping for an e-mail service is akin to shopping for detergent at SuperDuperMart: a mile aisle with 5,000 products that don’t differ very much. The little differences, however, are what make the BIG difference, and e-mail shopping is the same way. Gmail might be termed “new and improved”, to the point where someone who feels trapped in a Hotmail or Comcast account might wish to consider a change. Some of the more salient advantages of gmail are listed below.”

Ted presents Creating Your E-mail Marketing Campaign posted at Authority Articles, saying, “First, you should make sure that you are taking time to understand what message you want to get out to your clients or your potential clients.”

danny presents Twitter as a marketing tool posted at Stimulating Discussions.

Jack Lango presents Game Changer DNA ? Becoming A Successful Internet Marketer! posted at Got Business Cards, saying, “It dose not matter in case you are a novice to the web marketing field or if you already have also a seasonal entrepreneur. You might very much benefit from Game Changer DNA e-course. It’ll widen your horizon and enable someone to build the skill sets and knowledge needed to succeed in this field.”

Steve presents How to Minimize Your Expenditure When Shopping for Business Logo Mats posted at Online Surveys for Cash, saying, “Generally there are many ways in which you are able to minimize your expenditure when shopping for logo mats. We’ll be looking at most of these. You will find the whole discussion highly useful if you are facing a state of affairs the location of to go shopping for logo mats.”

Erica Morgan presents 10 Tips for Using Twitter for Business posted at Internet Providers, saying, “Twitter has grown rapidly into a mainstream communication tool, and businesses and entrepreneurs alike are still figuring out how best to utilize the technology. As with any cutting-edge tool, people have to figure out how to use the tool properly without getting hurt.. The learning curve is steep, and new data is available every day that will continue to be used to propel the evolution of Twitter. Presented here are some tips that have already been tried-and-tested, and may help you establish your own successful business use of Twitter.”

Design

Betsy White presents Which Browsers Support HTML5? | Hudson Horizons Blogs posted at Hudson Horizons Blogs, saying, “Over the summer, the band OK Go, Pilobolus choreographers and Google revealed a dynamic music experience that gave users a taste of HTML5′s impressive capabilities with All is not Lost. The ongoing production of revising the current HTML standard, HTML4,”

Plugins

Nesher presents Editorial Calendar Plugin for WordPress from StressLimit posted at Blogging for Good in the Modern World.

SEO

Bob Winston presents Easy Backlinks And Top Rankings In Google posted at Backlink Energizer Review & Bonuses.

anasta presents Managing your business’ social media strategy posted at WordStorm, saying, “As you know, social media has completely changed the PR, marketing, advertising and media industries. However, it is important that a social media plan is developed appropriately, and is relevant to your company’s goals.”

Kate Croston presents 10 Reasons My Senior Parents Use FaceBook posted at Internet Service, saying, “It’s seven pm on a week night; do you know where your senior citizen parents are? There’s a very good chance that at least one of them is sitting in front of a computer with FaceBook on the monitor. Why there? Here are ten reasons that your senior parent is using FaceBook every day.”

Megan presents Increasing your PR ? Google Page Rank posted at eBay Auction Selling – Make Money Online, saying, “People make websites for many different reasons some people make them to keep a record of their life or thoughts and other people make websites to make money from.”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of blogging for profit using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: blogging for profit, blog carnival.