Postcards from the Funny Farm

It has been an amazing 2007 for me at blogging. I have become comfortable with the craft and learned valuable lessons that help me communicate better with my audience. One thing I regret is not getting on the ad bandwagon up to now. I have even criticized it once or twice publicly which I see now was just plain arrogance.

I wanted to share the things I am doing this year from the get go to improve my rating and to hopefully make money on my blog. I still treasure the art of free-form blogging, so don’t expect that to change, but my wife and I both think it would be ideal if we could somehow generate revenue while we do the writing and networking that we love so much.

If you haven’t noticed already, there are now small ads at Postcards from the Funny Farm. I started with Adsense since they were the first to accept me. I am also currently waiting to see if Text Link Ads can sell anything on my site. As income is generated, I will pay back the community by a breakdown of where it came in from and how I did it. Right now there are no earnings.

With all the name, rss, and theme changing in the past months, my Technorati and daily traffic stats have suffered greatly. Some folks who used to comment everyday don’t show up as much, and I understand change freaks people out (I freak myself out in fact!) but the results are always very gratifying in blog content and visual presentation. To those on my blogroll who haven’t stopped in (btw thanks again to the regular die hards who never stopped) I say this: Things are gonna remain static for a while and as much as you can link to content my blog is highly appreciated. As you know, this increases Google “Page Rank” (mine currently is a 4/10 which is pretty good considering) and thereby, advertisers see me as a good investment. Plus, it gets content to a wider audience which, as far as goals go, was my “first love” with Postcards from the Funny Farm. Now, the question of all my posts in a day.

Does this new trend bother you? If so, please let me know. I highly enjoy my blog now as a “Tumblelog” where I am entering short posts throughout the day from various locations (even my phone and camera). I do see one potential problem with it however, finding the longer, more thought out prose articles may not be worth the effort to passersby and they might miss the good writing in between the tumbles. Here’s my solution: A new blog I named after my favorite plate: Cheese Enchiladas. I have back dated posts there from this blog that I see as my best writing and I am future dating new posts to be released on a weekly basis. To those who are bothered by the Tumblelog style of Postcards … but still like my writing and want to keep up, I recommend going to Cheese Enchiladas and subscribing there. You can always check in to Postcards when you’re feeling artsy or just looking for some non-traditional inspiration.

Okay, now for the grand finale as I move into te new year: my projected routine to achieve my personal blogging goals in 2008:

1. Write one amazing post per week on Cheese Enchiladas.
2. Publish once a week on BlogCritics (currently I am working with an editor on a post about the writers strike, I will always link these at Postcards when they are published.)
3. Write on PayPerPost a week (I will host these on Postcards)
4. Post a note or clip on 9Rules each week.
5. Reevaluate earnings with Adsense and TextLinkAds after 6 months (June 2008 - My 39th birthday)
6. Do interviews and guestblogs on other blogs wherever folks will have me.

For reference sake, here’s a list of my online “condos” where you’ll always find me hanging out this year:

Postcards from the Funny Farm
Online diary, Tumblelog, and Photoblog by Damien Riley
postcardsfromthefunnyfarm.com

Cheese Enchiladas
A Weekly Column by Damien Riley
postcardsfromthefunnyfarm.com/ecolumn/

BlogCritics
Author Page and Featured Posts
blogcritics.org/writer/damien_riley

Helium
Bio and Featured articles
http://www.helium.com/user/show/47930

9Rules
Author Page and Profile
9rules.com/my/rileycentral/

Damien Riley Tunes
My Original Recorded Music
myspace.com/damienrileytunes

To everyone who reads my stuff: God Bless and have a great last few days of 2007! Keep it fun and relaxed.

Damien

* To interview me or have me guest blog on your site, just email me the idea at: rileycentral at gmail dot com