Archive for March, 2007
March 25, 2007· Filed under Blogging, Reflections
Alex Shalman of Practical Personal Development is teaming up with Aaron Potts of Today is That DaySimply Successful Secrets (remember my post) to find out what makes us tick - what our goals and dreams are - and to help us all discover the inner spark for success at the same time. What does that all mean? It means a new meme on Goal Setting!
Alex tagged me personally, so of course, I must help get this thing off the ground. And, goal setting is a really good exercise that should be done regularly. Alex asked for 5-10 of my wildest dreams. Hmmm… Let’s see.
Read the rest of this entry »
March 22, 2007· Filed under Blogging, Working from Home
When it comes to monetizing your blog, one of the easiest methods to set up is Google Adsense. However, if you have a “Mommy Blog” or other personal blog where the topics run the gamut, you may have trouble getting relevant ads to show consistently.
When I redid this blog, I decided to test something. I removed all the Google Adsense ads from the main page. Instead, I placed a block of ads at the end of the post on single pages and below the comment box.
Guess what? The ads being served on the individual pages are much better targeted to the content of the post. Not rocket science, I guess, but why did it take me so long to figure that one out? More and more of the traffic to this site is coming from search engines - and the pages those visitors are landing on are the single pages. With the ads being higher quality, the click through rate has also increased - dramatically.
What do you think? What techniques have you used that have shown a positive increase in your Adsense earnings? Leave me a comment and let me know.
Image SourceÂ
March 22, 2007· Filed under Blogging, General, Link Love
Today has been a technology day from you know where for me. My blogging schedule got completely thrown off, so I missed Wordless Wednesday and will now be a day late on my Essential Tools post at my business blog, too. Rather than continuing to whine any more, I will share a few of my favorite reads this week:
The Greenies Get Spring Fever -Â V-grrrl is an amazing writer - a true writer in every sense of the word. It doesn’t matter what she is writing about - it’s worth the read. This particular entry is about her kids and their need to jump start spring - complete with pictures.
Why Dads Should Read To Their Children - Be A Good Dad is a new read for me, but I will be back! It is fun to see the parenting challenges through the eyes of dad and having a sense of humor, too. Go check it out.
Embrace Imbalance -Gail Hahn gives us the green light to be a little out of whack in her post. It’s okay, we all go through it.
Here’s hoping that tomorrow will be just a tad bit more sane…
March 21, 2007· Filed under Technology
When I woke up this morning, I PANICKED! All of my sites were down - or “Suspended”. The hosting company I use has a very broken billing system and this was the problem.
If you are interested, you can read my open letter to HostGator at Essential Keystrokes. I am still steaming, but at least my sites are back up.
March 20, 2007· Filed under Family, Parenting, Reflections
I knew I was tempting fate when we decided to have a third child. Afterall, boy #1 was (and continues to be) as mellow as can be. Girl #2, is slightly more high-maintenance, but has a high tolerance for pain, blood, guts and dirt. Enter girl #3 - a bonafide drama queen!
Miss N was the perfect baby. She was quiet. She slept a lot. And she could entertain herself very well. Those days are long gone! As a five year old, who is preparing to start kindergarten in the fall, Miss N is testing my every last resolve as a Mom - on a daily basis.
Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adore my little princess. She is the one who loves to snuggle, draws me creative pictures, and is always singing a sweet tune.
However, I was not prepared for the book throwing incident at school last week. You know the one where she decides she is not going to share and hurls the book across the classroom then screams at everyone in the classroom?
How about the incident in the doctor’s office this morning, where she screamed at the nurse taking her “finger blood”? That was the longest 90 minutes of my life. She was so stressed about this appointment and literally had to be pinned down to give her the required immunizations.
Luckily, no permanent damage was done. We stopped at Toys ‘r Us and she spent her birthday gift card on the new Barbie Fairytopia movie. She came home, put on her fairy wings, tiara, popped in the movie and all was right again in her little world.
I will really miss her company during the mornings next year, but on the other hand, I have a big party planned for the first day of school.
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