Almost everyone who reads this knows the story as well as I do. Times are changing. I have always put as much time and resources into bedlamfarm.com as I could, because I love it, I need it, it is the future, it supports my work, and it is the engine that drives much of my creative spirit. I call it feeding the blog, and feeding the blog keeps me writing, thinking, taking photos. Like most everyone reading this, my financial life has changed. The recession, changes in publishing, changes in my life – blah-blah-blah. It seems everyone’s financial life is changing, and we are all struggling to adjust to it. I am pleased that my creative life – my writing and photography – continues to grow in popularity and focus. And it has expanded – the blog, Facebook, You Tube, Twitter.
The blog remains my focus and the center of my creativity – and my life – and I have worked hard to keep it free even as the cost of everything about it rises and a writer’s revenue doesn’t. I think I’ve hit one good partial solution. I am negotiating with a premium dog food company – the food my dogs eat – that involves their putting a tasteful banner ad at the top of the website – separate from the photos and my writing.
It is an easy thing for me to do as I have been using this dog food and enthusiastically recommend it. I will get paid a small monthly fee and we will do a one month experiment starting in November to see if the company and I are comfortable. They will judge it’s success by click-thrus and coupon use, etc. I will see if it looks and feels right.
Secondly, I am adding a Google ad program to the blog entries alongside the new calendar and topic lists going underneath each blog entry. You will not see any change if you look at the main blog page but if you click on an entry you will see a calendar and list of recent topics and small tasteful ad links at the bottom of the page, also separate from the editorial content. Everytime you click on these – they will change as the content changes – I will get a few cents. This will go into effect in a day or so. I think it’s potentially a good solution. Maria has already begun this ad program on her website and she is pleased with the aesthetics and results. The blog has a lot of traffic and these adjustments could pay for some of the cost of bedlamfarm.com and some of the photography – cameras, lenses, equipment, software, flash drives. I am committed to keeping the blog free and to offering the photos free also to be used in any way people wish.
I wanted to give you all a heads-up so the changes will make sense to you. I think they will help me maintain the blog as it is and keep working to improve it. And thank you, as always, for coming along with me on this amazing trip.