My First Month
-Well, it’s been one month since I did a quiet soft launch. I had to make quite a few adjustments. I had to tighten security for the site to make sure hackers would not be able to invade my content. Do they seriously have nothing better to do than try to hack into a Home and Life website created by a single mom trying to provide a better life for others, as well as her own family? I had to disable any sort of registration, sorry, security of the site was much more important.
I implemented a navigation system that I hope will make finding content simple and easily. Right now content is low, but I figure in a year, there will be over 100 posts to sift through. Navigation for such a variety of Home and Life topics I felt needed to be broken down, in order to find the content you may be searching for. This also helps users be able to find content that may be of use and they just didn’t know it at the time. I love stumbling upon content I wasn’t searching for that I find useful, but hate having to dig for it.
I registered the site with Google. I have not submitted my site map as of yet, but hope to do it in October, after more content has been added.
Traffic is low, but that’s okay right now, seeing nearly 100 visitors a day is not terrible. That’s 100 people a day that may find something useful within the content. If each person can get only one bit of useful information I have provided, I am successful. Even reaching one different person each day is worth the time an energy I have put in to this site.
I haven’t made one cent, because I have not yet placed a lot of focus on generating an income. My focus has been on getting the site to function as I had envisioned it. My efforts have been hampered by my lack of income, because I simply have no money to make some of the purchases I’d like add content about. I want to get a few useful DIY projects started, that are quite useful, but don’t have the spare cash to do them right now. I’m trying to post at least 3 posts a week and want to have at least one new topic post each week. That’s only 4 a month and I’ve nearly doubled that this last month. I hope to be able to achieve the same results in September. I am reaching my personal goals I have set for myself.
My recipes are those I am currently making for my family, so I can post accurate detailed information and photos about the food. Once the weather is cooler, I will do a lot more baking and cooking, it’s just too hot for that right now.
My mind is sharp, but my body is telling me I just can’t do things I use to take for granted. Simple things such as walking is difficult. With each step I take I can feel it in my neck. The damaged nerves get aggravated and causes several side effects. Tremors get worse, my right forearm aches, my thumb, index and middle fingers on my right hand begin to feel like foreign objects attached to my hand and I just want to curl up and make the world go away. I can’t do that, because I currently have 3 of my four children living with me and counting on me. They need me and I just can’t let them down. If you have ever had nerve pain, you know what I’m talking about. I refuse to take prescriptions to mask the pain, so I have been concentrating more on my mind being able to ignore the pain and focus on other things, such as this Website. It has helped me a great deal and I’m happier than I have been in a very long time. I can work on it when I’m able and in time I hope it will provide me with an income at some point, that can help me make ends meet from month to month. It’s giving me hope and I feel more useful. Sometimes, that is the best medicine of all.
Monthly Goals- September
I hope to create at least four to five more sub-topic pages. Creating the photo links and banners are the most difficult part of this task. I know what I want and do not like to “make do”, even though I have, mostly because the content is much more important than the looks, so you may see things like this change. I have asked my talented, sixteen year old daughter, to draw a few for me, but she is quite busy lately. Eventually I hope to have her draw all of them for me. I would like to have at least 2 posts per sub-topic page once they are created. Pages I would like to do this month are; Pets, and DIY, for Life and Living, Quick Meals and Kid Friendly for the Food pages and Home Decor for House and Home.
I would also like to create my Local Shops and Services page containing information about some of my favorite places to shop or businesses that I personally would recommend to my readers. I hope others will share a few places as well with me, seeing as though I’m still pretty new to the area, at nearly 4 years. Holidays will be upon us before we know it and this page may be very useful to my local users.
Another page I feel I must add is my Support page. I don’t have any big plans for this, other than asking my readers to support me in any way they can, even if it’s just asking others to check out Notions and Needs. There will be many ways one can contribute to the site and help it grow. Keep in mind, your also helping a single mom with disabilities provide for her family. I want to be helpful to others and in turn it will be helpful to me. I really don’t have many options. The hype of blocking ads that are flooding websites such as this, concerns me quite a bit, it’s how most people earn money to compensate them for all the hard work involved in making content available to people that are using the web to attain information. Here is what was reported on the Today show just this week. Make note of the short ad that runs before you can view the report. I remember as a child, I always wished there was a way to skip all the commercials that interrupted the shows I watched on television. Those commercials play a vital role that allow the TV shows you enjoy to be broadcast to you. I will provide a future post that will allow you to surf the web and not be haunted by those ads that seem to follow you after your searches.
I personally would like to have one page containing my ads, thus keeping the rest of the site free of ads. Many people want something for nothing and never give any thought about supporting those who provide the information. Support sites you enjoy using in any way you can, so they can continue to provide their content. They are providing something of value, are you to give nothing in return? It doesn’t have to cost you anything more than a few seconds of your time to say thank you for their efforts.
I want to begin working on my first survey. Would like to have at least one each month. I want users to have a voice as well. I was originally going to do this on my Facebook page, however, it has not had much attention, wouldn’t make much sense to do that at this point in time.
I would like to say thank you, to all those who have visited the site and to those who return. You are making an impact that is changing the life of someone who desperately needed a change.
Thank You,
Patricia