Sunset over Sugar Creek
Happy New Year, everybody! Thank you for all of the Christmas wishes you left! I hope yours was merry. I’ve had a fantastic 10-day break from the blog, spent enjoying time with the kids, extended family and friends.
And of course, the number crunching. ‘Tis the season!
In thinking about this blog and what I want to do with it in 2008, there will be a few changes coming. I’ve thought long and hard about adding advertising to this site. I don’t want to annoy my regular readers. But a significant percentage of my traffic comes from Google Image searches. I’ve been thinking about how to capitalize on that, and help put hay in the cows’ mouths. So I’m going to give Google Ads a trial run. I’m also going to work on offering prints and image licensing.
The calendars went over pretty well, so I may in time design a few other items for a miniature “store front” on the website and also to sell at farmers market this summer. That will be a fun-for-me project, though, as I have time.
On the content front, I want to try and give a more day-to-day look at life on the farm. A “what’s going on right now” type of daily post. (The first one will be posted shortly!) Perhaps some “how-to” types of posts as well?
I’d also like to do a regular (weekly?) food post. One thing that was eye-opening for me doing the farmers market this summer was the number of people that don’t know how to cook basic things like a ham, or a roast. So I’m going to try some “How to Cook…” posts.
So there’s a sort-of list of resolutions/goals for this website in the coming year. If you have any burning questions or suggestions for topics, please leave them in the comments!
Definately throw some ads on the site. Capitilize on that traffic. You have to make a profit too!Drop me a note if you want to some tips and tricks on using adwords.
i like the idea of a weekly food entry but when i participated in ols it seemed to consume most of my blog energy and other stuff fell through the cracks. i’ve thought about ads at different times and even set up an account. it went no further. maybe i didn’t like the idea enough to pursue? good luck. if my vote counts, i say try the ads. it won’t stop me from reading your blog.
Ads do not take away from a great blog but helps people continue with a thought. When you talk about something I am interested in, I can just click on the related ad.I will still visit every day and use the ads.
I think it would be great to see some kind of breakdown on how you can get your cow or pig processed. We have purchased whole a few times and it seems pretty daunting the first few times that you have to talk to the butcher and let them know how you want it all broken down. There are som any choices for the different cuts you can get.
matt & squire – thanks for the encouragement. I’ll definitely give ads a try (when I get a little time here)karl – I’m with you on the ols. I was a lackluster participant. Hopefully I can be more faithful with my own weekly recipe feature.frugalmom – excellent suggestion! It’s something I need to do, so that when someone calls me on the phone with that exact question (like today!) I’ve got the information figured out and handy.