squarespace

July 25, 2014

An honest try (Where I ramble about my blogging efforts or lack thereof)

A couple of months ago I decided to switch from WordPress.com to Squarespace in order to see if there was a chance I could get this blog to make a bit of coffee money for me. The results so far have been far from encouraging if I have to be honest with you.

On the one had it’s been my real-life job’s fault. I’ve been so busy at work lately that I just haven’t been able to find the time to dedicate to serious blogging – understanding blogging as not only the action of posting new content here, but also reading other blogs, commenting, liking, staying active on social media and such. On the other hand it’s been the complete lack of inspiration or desire to do this (which once again you might want to blame on how exhausted I feel by the time I finally have a chance to open up my laptop).

Back to monetizing my blog. I’ve found out the hard way that unless you get enough readers there’s no way you’re going to make a single buck off of blogging, regardless of how good your site looks, how useful your content is, etc. They say content is king. Bullshit. I say a respectably-sized readership is king. Yeah, I know what you’re going to say: You build that readership by posting great content. Which brings us back to this post’s title: Giving blogging (and Squarespace) an honest try. I don’t know that I’ll be able to come up with great content to post here on a consistent, regular basis but at least I plan to be that: Consistent and regular. So here’s my plan: Starting today and until August 31st I’ll be publishing new content here at least twice a week; hopefully every Friday and Monday just to see if the mere updating of this blog on a steady basis will somehow show off in my stats. If by the end of August the numbers remain as depressingly low as they’ve been lately then I’ll just pack my bags and head on back home to WordPress.com – or why not? – scratch this whole blogging thing altogether, kill Dad’s Pixels and dedicate myself to, oh, I don’t know – flower planting?

So there it is folks. Hope you’ll bear with me and see you on the flip side – whatever that means.

UPDATE: August came and went and the numbers never added up, so as of yesterday (September 12th) I’ve stopped throwing my money at Squarespace (as fine a service as they are) and decided to come back to WordPress.com, where it’s a lot cheaper to keep a blog no one reads anyways.

Image: Blogging Research Wordle by Kristina B on a Creative Commons license.

June 8, 2014

Coming clean: Time to (try) and monetize this thing

But of course not on Wordpres.com. That would be a major no-no here.

Alright folks. Here’s this. I originally started this blog with the innocent idea of sharing my experiences as a dad and as a potential photographer, while every now and then including a post or two about the great web and mobile apps that make our lives so much easier and cyber-connected these days. Networking and getting to know great moms, dads and photographers along the way was another reason I started Dad’s Pixels.

Then SmugMug came along. Well, actually I’ve been a customer of theirs for about 7 years now but it wasn’t until recently that I realized this magnificent photo storage and sharing solution I have firmly believed in for all these years could somehow help me put food on the table.

Bottom line is I have joined their Partners Program and plan to blog about their offerings with two objectives in mind: One; to help fellow parent-ographers (see what I did there? Parents + photographers = parento… oh you know what I mean) make the most out of their online photography endeavors while B) Making a little bit of money on the side thanks to the purchases you my dear reader will hopefully make once you click on the occasional affiliate link I plan to insert here and there. Thus my reason for moving Dad’s Pixels from WordPress.com to Squarespace and launching a new version of the website. Please read the update below.

Anyway, I’m glad I’ve let that out of my system. I will continue to update this affiliate-free, no-ads version of Dad’s Pixels (in case things don’t work out at Squarespace and I decide to come back to WordPress.com) writing about family, photography and the web and only every now and then will I write reviews and blog posts containing affiliate links on the SS version, which is where I’ve moved the domain dadspixels.com. Whenever I do, that’ll be the first thing you’ll be notified of so you can decide whether you want to continue reading or not.

So that’s that. Wish me luck, will ya?!

UPDATE: I came. I saw. I didn’t conquer. Nope. Not in my wildest dreams. August came and went and the numbers never added up, so as of yesterday (September 12th) I’ve stopped throwing my money at Squarespace (as fine a service as they are) and decided to come back to WordPress.com, where it’s a lot cheaper to keep a blog no one reads anyways. So you keep on wishing me luck y’hear?!

May 1, 2014

Time to consider switching to WordPress.org (or Squarespace, perhaps?)

It’s all your fault, SmugMug.

I’ve been a happy WordPress.com user for a number of years now. I enjoy the sense of community the platform provides and its ease of use; with little or no technical knowledge required in order to run a decent looking blog. My only issue is how monetizing your blog, ads and affiliate links are all major no-no’s here.

Enter SmugMug’s Partner Program. SmugMug is no doubt the premier photo sharing service and I really believe in the solutions it offers. I would endorse and recommend this service any day and twice on Sundays; with my eyes closed. I believe the value SmugMug brings to the community of photo-loving dads (my target audience) is of such caliber that partnering with them seemed like a match made in heaven and an obvious option.

Thus my current predicament. Is it time I moved this blog to a self-hosted .org version? Or maybe go with SmugMug’s pals over at Squarespace; which by the way offers gorgeous website-making solutions aimed mainly a photographers and photo-bloggers.

Your two cents would really come in handy right about now, so if there was ever a post of mine you were planning to comment on, please make it this one, would you?

UPDATE: After careful consideration I decided to give Squarespace a try for a few months but I’m sorry to report things never really worked out. At least not the way I had envisioned. Months came and went and the numbers never added up, so as of yesterday (September 12th) I’ve stopped throwing my money at Squarespace (as fine a service as they are) and decided to come back to WordPress.com, where it’s a lot cheaper to keep a blog no one reads anyways. You are now free to go ahead and continue not reading this blog.