Am I evil because I joined Amazon Associates?

So here's the debate: to monetize, or not to monetize?

When blogger first added the "monetize" tab, I was like, "Hey, this is cool! I'll give that a try." Anyway, I use an adblocker. So the annoyance of actually seeing adsense ads on the side was moot. So moot, in fact, that I forgot that I actually had enabled it! Until...

...that fateful day when I was on a computer that did NOT have an adblocker. I immediately was shocked and horrified. "My blog is gross! Oh no, no, no!!!!" I quickly disabled the "monetize" feature. There seriously can be no quicker way to turn off a blog reader than to fill your sidebar with ads.

And the honest truth is, would I really make money from them? No. I get less than 500 readers/month. I blog about mundane random things that happen in my life, not expensive products or services.

Last night, right before reading scriptures, my phone went "ding!" meaning, I had a new email. After checking it, I said to Danny, "Hey, guess what? Another 100 hits on my blog!" (I have my blog counter set to send me alerts after every 100 hits).
"How long has it been?"
"I dunno, about a week?"
"You should seriously set up ads! Get some extra cash."

I thought about it for a while. But no, sidebar ads are evil. They make my blog look like a freaking store. That's pretty much the point, no?

Every time I log in to blogger, there's a little banner proclaiming something like, "Do you frequently link to Amazon? Sign up to be an Amazon Associate!"

And actually, I had been meaning to think about potentially checking it out - someday. I guess that day was today.

I feel like a sell out. I get a certain commission if you, my reader, click on a link to the product I post, and buy it. It's very small, something like 4%. And considering the only products I ever review here are books and movies, that is something like $.01 per purchase. Ha. Pathetic.

But you know what? It actually saves me quite a lot of time, being an "Amazon Associate". While directly in the blog post editor, I can search for whatever it is that I am reviewing, and click "add link and image". You know what I had to do before? Open a new tab, go to Amazon.com, find the product I was reviewing, right click on the image, save it to my desktop, go back to my blog post, and insert the image. That more than halves the steps necessary to add an image of the book I am reading to the post! Isn't that awesome?

But they are SO SMALL. I'm sure that Amazon marketing experts do this for a reason: they probably have done psychological tests to determine the exact size at which a picture will register in the brain as something, yet be intriguing enough for you to want to click on it to go to their site. I'm totally positive that just getting you to go to the site is half of their goal.

I love Amazon's book reviews. They are so much fun to read! I wish there were an easy way for me to upload my reviews from my blog to their site, without having to copy and paste. I would totally do that, if it were an option. Sheesh, it's like I'm doing their job for them, for free! But that's a separate issue.

Still, I wonder if I'm just kidding myself. Am I really doing this because I secretly hope all of you will click on my link and buy the books I review, earning me freaking easy cash? Just FYI, I've only bought 1% of the books reviewed so far this year; I get these books from the good 'ole library. Have I turned to the dark side? Does me being an Amazon Associate mean that I have officially sold out and turned my blog into an evil advertising mechanism that fuels greed and consumerism?

I'm not sure. What do you honestly think? (and sorry, mom, if most of this technical bloggy stuff bored you to tears!)

PS
I sent an email to the Amazon customer service requesting that they allow you to make your product preview box larger. I'm sad because now you will miss out on the great cover art, because in their little in-post widget, the picture is smaller than a postage stamp. I want to enlarge it; cover art is a huge part of the experience of reading book reviews. I know this from my experience watching "Reading Rainbow."

Jane's Blog

I decided to start a separate blog for updates about Jane. The world is just too creepy of a place for me to be posting details about my baby in a public setting, so I made the blog private.

This is the blog's URL: http://janechallis.blogspot.com

You won't be able to see it if you aren't invited, though.

If you would like to be invited to read this blog, email me and I will invite you.

If you don't have my email, click on the button that says "Contact Me" at the top.

That being said, I probably will sometimes put photos/videos of Jane on this public blog, because she is SO much a part of my life. I just think it would be better to reserve details to a private setting.

Hope to see you there!

Blog Goals 2009/2010

A little less than a year ago, I set some goals for this blog. I'm going to give an update on how I've been doing:

1. Write on my blog often


Well, as long as "often" doesn't mean every day, I think I've been doing fairly well on this one.

2. Put photos on my blog often

This proved difficult. The old blogger post editor sucked when it came to posting photos.


3. Get people to read and check my blog often.
I have increased my readership, but again, what the heck does "often" mean?

So, I think I ended up doing pretty well on all of those goals. Here are my new goals:

1. Post often: i.e. every week on this blog, every week on Jane's blog, and every week on our family blog. I don't know...our family blog is kind of...not as fun to write on as the other two. So we'll see. Maybe I will discontinue that blog.

2. Organize my labels: it's kind of dumb to have labels that only are on one post. I can always just search the blog if I want to find something. Labels are for organization, but as of now, they're not really doing much.

3. Increase my followers to 25 by next year. I know that not everybody uses the google followers thing, but some people do.

4. Increase my feed subscribers to 25 by next year. This will probably be much easier than getting "followers" because people can read feeds in a billion different ways.

5. Comments: Get at least one comment per post. The way to do this is by commenting on other peoples' blogs. So that is what I will do.

6. Post more about my spirituality. In last month's Ensign, there was a huge article about sharing the gospel via blogging. Some of my friends have started separate blogs as places to post stuff about their beliefs. I don't think I want to do this because a. I don't know how many people would read it anyway, and b. I don't want to set up a whole new blog. I'm a picky template chooser. I'd have to burn another feed, which while this is not difficult, it still is just one more thing on the list of things to do....So back to the goal, I think "more" would mean about once/month. That is the goal.

7. Weekly Polls: I really think that polls are cool on blogs. I want to have one about once/week. Maybe it will slow down to once/month, but let's aim high!

8. By this time next year, 4,000 hits!!!!!

9. No complaining posts. Let's face it. Blogs suck as places to complain. People misunderstand what you have to say. You come across as a complete and total jerk.  You can't ever explain yourself as fully as you would like in this forum because it is at worst a one-way medium, and at best a slow two-way medium (when people comment). Writing is a limited form. Plus, complaining is just depressing. Not a good thing to do. That being said, I don't plan on making this blog a fluffy-bunnies-kittens-rainbows place. I just want to avoid gripe-sessions.

10. Monthly Funny Things post. Those will be fun to look at later.

Revamping th'ole Blog

Yeah...I like to blog. Or at least, I used to. Then things happened like...school, and getting married, and...soon I realized that I missed my old friend, katesamericanlife. So here I am, back at it again.

When I realized I was pregnant, I thought, "Oh! I could totally blog about this!" Now, you should realize that I DO sometimes, if infrequently, update our family blog, which is challisadventures.blogspot.com - but the thought of taking over that blog as my pregnancy venting blog was not appealing. What if someday our kids want to use it for...something? You know?

So then I decided to make a new blog. But thinking about all of the blogs that are started and never finished, or never written on started to make me shudder. Seriously, there are so many wastes of excuses for blogs out there! Cyber junk. Someone should put them in an insinerator.

So FINALLY I decided to revamp my old blog. The title is catchy, if you ever listen to NPR, that is. Which I do. Every day. For almost the hour that it takes to get to and from work.

Et voila! This is her! Beautious, lovelious...I hope you enjoy it. Sometimes I write my blog goals - and so here they are for 2009, albeit a month early:

1. Write on my blog often
2. Put photos on my blog often
3. Get people to read and check my blog often.

Tchao!

I like Mormon Blogs.

I really like Mormon Blogs. I recently found a whole bunch with interesting discussions. This is a long comment I wrote on one of them, because I thought it was interesting. This one asked the question:

Where do we draw the line, or define when counsel from the brethren applies to us and or when counsel does not? Maybe some would have to define “brethren” first. What about the Bishop? or the Stake President? What if they counsel us (either in a general meeting or privately) or extend a calling to us? Do we accept, no questions asked? If we like it then do we accept, if we don’t then do we have to “pray about it”?

Here is what I wrote:

This discussion reminds me of a conversation I had with my brother about polygamy. Being from New England, I grew up as the only latter-day saint in my high school (not counting my brother and sisters), and I was frequently asked questions about it. Being so outnumbered, I found myself using defensive tactics to respond to their, “How many moms do you have?” types of comments. I would argue that some marriages were custodial, that there was a severe depletion of men in that area, that polygamy has been renounced as a practice since 1890…but it never sat very well with my insides.

It wasn’t until talking about it with my brother that I realized I had been wrong in my approach towards this subject. I had always tried to rationalize the doctrine on my own, however my brother described his experience (just for context, realize that I had never previously described my frustration about understanding this doctrine. Polygamy happened to come up, and he volunteered his testimony without knowing my feelings about it) - of praying for a testimony of the doctrine of polygamy. He described receiving a strong testimony that it is a true principle, and of God when practiced correctly.

I agree with lots of people who have posted comments, so I’m afraid I’m not offering much “new” here, but I want to restate the idea in my own words: I believe that when we receive counsel from leaders (anywhere - seminary, General Conference, the temple endowment, sacrament meeting, personal interviews, etc.) we should not try to rationalize the counsel, but rather humble ourselves and pray with faith to know if the counsel is true.

Yes, we should ask questions - but to whom? Certainly not another mortal. We should ask our Heavenly Father; he knows us and our needs.

I am convinced that oftentimes we can receive revelation that includes a rational explanation for doing something. A personal example: dressing modestly. I’ve always felt like it was a good idea, because I feel more comfortable with the way men look at me, because of the way I act differently, etc. however, more important than searching for a rational reason for following counsel from prophets and leaders is gaining a personal testimony of the truth of their counsel. I think this means that there WON’T always be a rational explanation behind every principle. This is the time for using faith; not faith in our prophets, but faith in Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father’s perfect understanding and love for us. This makes sense to me; I don’t go to the GA’s when I have issues with the lace on my G’s or sustaining Priesthood in Priesthood meetings only. I go to Heavenly Father, and he answers my prayers with feelings of comfort and assurance that what I am doing is right, even though I don’t understand why.

It should be noted that Heavenly Father answers prayers in his own way, in his own time, and that he does this out of the deepest, most perfect love for us, his children. So the answer doesn’t come right away; that means I need to continue praying, and obeying.

I think there will be times that we must seek for personal revelation about a specific matter, like spending time with your non-member mother on mother’s day, or whether or not it actually is right for you to take the calling that has been extended to you. Or what about the decision of who to marry? I certainly would have to get on my knees and ask Heavenly Father if it’s right if a Prophet told me who I am supposed to marry!

I know this is a long comment, so I hope you’ll read. I just want to say that although I don’t understand everything about the temple, I do understand the feelings I have inside the temple, and I know it’s very good. If you get on your knees and sincerely, humbly ask Heavenly Father to help you gain faith that it is good, He will answer your prayers, and you will know that it’s good, too. I specifically worded this as an if-then statement, and not a for-all-of-you-who-struggle statement, because it’s something that EVERYONE should do. Continually, faithfully, fervently. Isn’t that the definition of religion?

*******************************************************************************
That's the end of the comment. For the record, it's not me who has the issue with lace on garments, but a close friend. Also, there were several commenters on the post who said they just don't understand the temple and the only way they can stay active is to not go, but do all the other things. I wrote that last comment to address that issue.

And then, I felt compelled to directly answer the questions:
********************************************************************************

So, Don, a direct answer to your questions:
When people who have stewardship over us give us counsel, direction, advice, extending of callings, revelation, prophecy, new programs/doctrine/scripture, commandments, etc. we must always ask Heavenly Father to help us know that it is true.

However, the principle of D&C 58:26 also suggests we must also sustain our leaders through our ACTIONS.

This is how I feel comfortable going about the process: first, praying to Heavenly Father to help me know that what I am about to do is true, good, of God, etc.
second, do what I am counseled to do.

Note that I never included where I need the answer to my prayer to be. It could be before, it could be while I’m praying, maybe right after, maybe weeks later. But actively sustaining my priesthood holders DOES mean actively following their counsel, WHILE ALSO actively asking my Heavenly Father to help me know it’s right.

Note also that I specifically did not say to ask Heavenly Father why in the heck I’m doing something that I don’t understand, but instead to gain faith of it’s truthfulness. He will answer in his way.

Sometimes, though, I am not “a wise servant”, and my mortality requires LOTS AND LOTS of prayer before doing whatever it is. These are times when I will pray more fervently, and trust more closely in my feelings, praying not just for faith in the principle, but faith in my faith.

I think that often you do not gain a testimony of a principle until you actually DO it. So, instead of being unwise, I think we should try our hardest to continually ask Heavenly Father for help while actively doing our best to sustain counsel from His prophets on earth by obeying their counsel.

This year's Blog Goals and financial musings

So, now that I have a little bit of time, I am thinking about what it would be nice to do with this blog. I first thought it would be a good idea to just send it off into oblivion, because now I have a beautiful blog with my wonderful loving husband. However, I'm thinking that I might want to have just my own blog. Here are my goals for it:
Write on it at least once/week
Add lots of photos

And here are my goals for the rest of the summer:
Have my whole curriculum planned and outlined for the rest of the year
Finish at least three online courses

And here are my financial musings:
I need to keep better track of how much we're spending for what kinds of groceries. I bet I could save more on groceries, and that would save more in general.

The Kate's American Life pre-podcast madness!

Now you can download Kate's American Life as an mp3 to your computer! Wicked sweet!

The ultimate goal is to set this up in a way that you will be able to subscribe to the weekly audio-posts in iTunes as a super amazing fabulous kick-your-trash podcast. This is still kind of a work-in-progress, so check back regularly. Or now you can subscribe to this blog either via your personal bookmarks or via email.

Thanks for reading!