Linkwithin ROCKS!

Now that I'm looking into sprucing up my blogs (and gosh do I have blogs! Check out my About page and tell me I don't have a too-many-blogs problem), I thought it would be good to add 'You may also like' widgets to them. You know, when you get to the end of a great article, you sometimes see other featured posts that make you continue reading more of what the blogger has to offer. That apparently reduces 'bounce rate'. Please don't ask me what 'bounce rate' is. I have no idea.

A quick search for such a widget turned up a free one, and in this case freebies can be goodies! The search also turned up a lot of other complicated ways to add HTML code to your website and I thought to myself, there HAS to be an easier way. This is Linkwithin. No sign ups, no ads, simple and it looks great!

Now please excuse me while I get Linkwithin on all my blogs. :)

Say hi to Princess, my Gram's pooch.  :)

xo Grace

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I'm BAAAAAACK!!

I decided that I am gonna give full-time writing/blogging a decent go (after much thought and careful consideration - including the fact that Spencer said 'ok')... so I have been working hard updating the links to all my blogs and reading up Problogger (Darren Rowse's) blogs on how to make money blogging.

In the past I've made between $30-$50 a month from Adsense ads, and surprisingly my review on Ebates, Fatwallet, Shopathome and Bigcrumbs is regularly referring readers to Ebates so I get about $10-$30 a month from Ebates (thanks readers!). My 'Health Matters' blog is getting quite a lot of hits, and I get a few emails every week from readers asking about weaning off steroids. Not much of this is converting into money unfortunately (very few Adsense clicks or donations), so if I'm going into writing full-time, I might have to cut back on giving free advice to these folks or figure something else out. Aside from that, Commission Junction, Linkshare and Amazon were the few affiliate programs I tried out, the former being the most 'lucrative' (about $10 a month on average).

Looking at what readers were looking for, I noticed that my reviews, and articles with rock solid content, got the most hits. So going forward, I'm going to write more reviews and how-to guides and place contextual ads to Amazon and other affiliates. This way, I get to share with my readers all my favorite things and hopefully they will buy them too! Yes, you too!! :p

That's it for now. Here's a flower for you!

Pink peony in full bloom in my garden

xo Grace


p.s. If you have enjoyed my Rants, Raves and Ramblings, please help support my blog by clicking on any ad and visiting my sponsors. Thanks!