Thank you, blog updates, etc.

Wow thank you so much to all 96 of you who took the survey. I am so so grateful! I know you probably get thrown lots of those types of things in your weekly surfing so I really appreciate you doing it for me. I don’t have any huge plans or announcements. Like I said I started this blog a while ago and am just letting it follow the twists and turns of my life. I want it to be a fun place for me to record all the good things in my life, but also helpful and entertaining for those who visit. Mostly so I can get feedback and keep a dialog going with my readers (who I love!). I am not planning on shutting it down any time soon, don’t worry!
I’m not planning on monetizing it more than I do now. I have Amazon Affiliate links through my blog because that’s where I normally get things. Amazon Prime = many unnecessary purchases. I had someone ask me about affiliate links. Basically I link to Amazon, you click on the link, you buy something (doesn’t have to be what I linked to), and I get a % of the sale. I don’t know the exact % and I don’t know all the ins and outs because I just haven’t taken the time to read up on it. I tried to figure out how much I’ve made from the blog since I signed up maybe three years ago? But I could only get the last four full quarters, and in those I made $31.86, so obviously I’m raking in the dough. Ha. That does not cover the cost of the blog because lots of people still come through my typepad blog and I pay for that monthly ($14). Plus domain name costs and server stuff I don’t understand. I’m trying to be transparent, can you tell? 🙂 I think the affiliate links are the least annoying way to get money from a blog. I could probably do a better job of them, but in the end I’m utilizing this space for myself and not an advertiser so whatever.
Hmm, what else. What some facts about you the reader? Well, the 96 of you that answered:
46.88% between 25-34 (and no one reads under 18, things are going to racy… well probably not)
13.54% are outside the US, and 25% are in Oregon, cool!
Most of you work full time, and exactly a third are carers.
31.25% don’t have kids, but some of you are trying or pregnant
I know, I know, the social media question got messed up, you could only pick one… and I forgot Instagram!
Over half of you found me through another blog (thank you, thank you for linking to me bloggers!) and I told 30.67% of you about it, because I have a big mouth I guess.
Pretty much every kind of post seems to be somewhat popular, with family & kids being a front runner (might have something to do with the above 30.67%….). So basically I can stay random and talk about whatever I like, sweet!
Most people find the site easy, which is funny because I don’t think it is. I don’t like how the categories are laid out, and I’d like a side bar to quickly get to some of my favorite areas. Someone mentioned frustration at only 3 entries per page. I changed it to 5, but it’s usually so picture heavy I hesitate to go further than that, as it will load slowly for most. Any other comments about the layout of the blog, please let me know!
I’ll work on the tutorials that nearly everyone wanted, as well as favorite product posts (I love reading those too).
Comments ranged from “it seems so real” to “it seems fake” I struggle with this, as I’m sure most bloggers do. I love celebrating positive things in my life, which I suppose isn’t too realistic, as life has good and bad. I’m just not interested in the negative right now. Oh occasionally I’ll rant about sleep, or talk about loosing a family member… but really I can’t complain too much about my life. Even if something annoys me, I have to admit I have to have it better than most. And for that I’m extremely grateful.
Other comments talked about how nice it is to feel connected to the me and my family though they are so far away (long distance friends and family members I suppose – I couldn’t see who took the survey, unless you left a note telling me it was you). I agree, one reason to keep the blog going for sure! Photography tips are wanted, I’ll try to share my favorites. Someone brought up random wednesday. OMG I loved that. It may have to make a comeback (see old Free Association Wednesdays here). More snippets of our home, thrifting finds, posts from phone, things I make for the girls, and crafts in general.
So you like me. And I like you. And I look forward to blogging another 1,569 posts (holy shit isn’t it crazy I’ve blogged that much?!?!)

Join the Conversation

2 Comments

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *