Due to the fact I launched my blog a little sooner then I had planned (my posts were starting to get dated) I haven't been able to post as much as I had originally planned. Lin and I have been spending hours every day trying to work out the kinks, neither of us are coders or web designers so it's a lot of trial and error. Poor Lin, due to the time difference, she wakes up with a list of questions and can you do this? Why is this not working, etc?
Mia has also been instrumental in helping my blog look so beautiful. The look is definitely a collaboration of her and I. Many hours spent on skype going back and forth, what do you think of this? Should I change this color slightly here? I'm going to move this here. And then you have my mini-mes. My original intent was to have a few to choose from when posting because I'm too lazy to look for new images every time I did a post and of course Mia took that ball and ran with it. I'm still getting new mini-mes in my email. Yay for Mia!
I'm very lucky to have friends like these two, spending hours, weeks and months helping me create this blog. They know I have big plans for this and they're there right by my side. I'm hoping to eventually have a mobile app and get my own URL.
Part of the reason I implemented the facebook plugin was so that you could post thru FB is one, it's easier, you don't have to log in or create a google account (and easier means you're more likely to post) and two, it's a way to promote the blog. When you post and publish it to facebook it makes it so that your friends will see it, which is a great marketing tool. Of course, I understand if you don't want to post everything on FB, I know I don't, so you also have the option of not posting to FB. Once you click on that, you shouldn't have to re-click it for every post. But those of you who do, I appreciate the publicity.
I've always planned on monetizing my blog (adding ads). Google Adsense is the main one most websites and blogs use because they are easy to use and work inherently with the system but they kept turning me down. The worst part is they wouldn't say why. I applied when I first created my blog so I thought it was because I had no posts. So this time around, I had posts, I had comments and I still got denied. I decided it was time to move beyond Adsense.
I tried really hard to find ads that weren't obnoxious. I know I hate that in a site. I tried Adgadget for about an hour but it was just too ugly and the banners that popped up are not something I would ever want to click on or expect my readers to click so I've gone with Amazon.
Amazon actually approved me right away. I just hadn't really done much research on how to add them to the site. I've been adding them at the end of posts if there was something organically I could add that would work with the post. I've also added an Amazon search bar and banner onto the site. I'm not used to asking for things (unless you're Lin or Mia, LOL) but if you are planning on ordering thru Amazon can you use my search bar or click on my banner to get there? I will get referral fees from that. If you click on any of my Amazon links and search around and buy something else, I will still get the referral.
Since I have Amazon Prime I buy a lot of things from Amazon, not just books. I ordered some Crest White Strips last night. I'm not asking you to buy something you wouldn't but if you do plan on buying thru Amazon I would greatly appreciate it if you bought it thru Leiha Talks. It won't cost you anything. The cost of what you buy doesn't go up. Amazon pays those fees. If you click on Amazon thru this blog it will take me one step closer towards world domination and isn't that something we all want?
