Reflection: Ranking, Link Building & Google Analytics

This week I learned more about link building, SEO, and G4 in Google Analytics. I found all of it informative, though I could see how those with analytical minds (hello, me) could get absolutely obsessed with the Analytic's site. Another beauty from this week was the site auditor (https://mysiteauditor.com/) because it gave specific steps you could take to improve your optimization. What a handy tool!

There were two frustrating things this week. First, was the amount of busy work we had. I'd have rather spent that time improving my site in order to improve my business, which is, after all, the point of this class. The second thing is that while I am currently trying to take the G4 Analytics quiz, the site is providing exactly ZERO data for the dates we've been instructed to use for the quiz. That's making it a bit tricky to take the quiz.

I did find some new resources for obtaining back links, so once this trimester is completed, that will be my priority.

Reflection: Social Media for SEO & Social Networking

This was one week that I actually felt like I knew something about it going in. I am a technical/content writer for a dental web company and we have to follow a workflow to maintain SEO for all of our clients. While there are little, yet important, things you can do, such as keyword optimization in the title, meta, and image alt tags, the biggie is content.

Nothing will help your site rank higher than it will with quality content. This is because other people will link to your site, which gives it value and authority in the Google Overseer's eyes. And we all must please the Google Overseer.

I started thinking about the importance of that in the real world. And by that I mean substantive content, not pleasing Google. It doesn't matter how great your outside is if you don't have quality content inside. Substance over Symbolism. It's sort of like those people who are always virtue signaling but never quite living out any virtue. For example, I had a friend write a long social media post condeming members of a particular political party for not caring about the poor. He wrote this post from his yacht and has never done anything to help the poor himself.

This got me to thinking, whether it is my website or my life, what really matters is the quality I put into it, not how splashy it looks.

Reflection: SEO

This week we learned more about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). There was some great information. There are some small, easy things you can do, such as good keywords in your title, meta description, and alt tags. However, no matter what you do to try and manipulate the algorithm, NOTHING will beat quality content. If you do that, the other biggie for ranking--backlinks, meaning when somoene else links to your site, is a sure thing. I've decided my focus has to be on the content.

I'd been preoccupied because my other classes have huge projects. One of them is building a complete front end for a website from scratch. No website builders, such as WordPress or Wix. We can't even really use any middleware, unless you can demonstrate you can do it without it first. The other is a major backend project with database capability through MongoDB. This has kept me from really putting great content on my site.

However, as a reflected on this, I realized that is just an excuse. I'm always going to be busy. ALWAYS. The key is time allocation. Sometimes, things won't go my way. For instance, yesterday I had an all day conference. I used my lunch break to do the discussion responses required for this class and my dinner break to do an assignment for another. My plan was to do this reflection post after the conference ended at 9 PM. Then, one of the attendees invited me to participate in a project that could jumpstart an important aspect of my career. He wanted to meet right then. I met with him thinking I'd get this post done as soon as we were done. We met until well after midnight, which meant I missed the deadline. I learned a valuable lesson on planning in a way that if something unexpected comes up, it doesn't derail me.

Reflection: ROI & Optimizing Ad Performance

I was greatful that my instructor met with me this past week and explained about ad groups. Though I'd read the material, he clarified some things that will help me optimize my ad performance. Tomorrow, I'll be separating my keywords into ad groups. There still doesn't appear to be a tracking ID on my account, which makes it hard to track conversions through analytics. There may be a way for me to do that through Amazon's Affiliate Dashboard. I'll look into that this week

I have been quite worried about the cost of the Ads and set a pretty low budget. As a result, Google keeps reminding me that most advertisers spend thousands and I'm unlikely to be able to compete with them. I'm totally okay with that. I'm going to put the link to my affiliate site in my next author newsletter, which will do a great job at generating potential sales from people I know love to read.

When I did my ROI for books, which is all I have in my store, I noticed how little books bring in. Games seem to be where the money is, so I am going to do a search for games related to literature and add those to my site.

Refection: Analytics and Agony

Note: This is a required post for one of my classes. If you're not my instructor, you can skip it.

This week we were to install Google Analytics on our websites. I watched the video, but didn't match the current technology. This has been a theme for this class. The curriculum needs to be updated. I think I'm just feeling a bit lost at the moment. That may be because I'm facing a few pretty big trials (not in the legal sense) at the moment and everything feels harder than it probably is. Plus, this trimester has been a frustration all its own with several of my instructors being completely uninvolved with the course (a serious problem for online students). One of my "instructors" it turns out is on sabbatical. How does that even happen?

I can see where Google Analytics would be extraordinarily helpful and look forward to seeing how it can help me fine tune my site, but I would like to meet with you to make sure I've got things in place right. I'm also having trouble with my landing pages for my ads. I can't figure out how to get the right page attached to the ad, which will be important.

As this is supposed to be a reflection and not just an agony post, I will say that it has made me think about how analyzing things and looking at the big picture, then breaking it down to the tiny details can help us make adjustments. As I've been having some major problems in my life, I decided to apply that to my personal life and do my own "Analytics." What is productive? What is a waste of my time? What is giving me problems that I can change? All of these things are useful both in business and life. I just wish I could rewrite problems the way we can rewrite pages on our website.

Reflection: Google Ads

*Note: not a normal blog post. This is part of an assignment. Please skip unless you are my professor.

This week we did more work on Google Ads. I learned something fascinating. Google is now using responsive ads. This means that we set certain titles and descriptions and through their A.I. system, they rotate and combine them in an attempt to discern which ones are more effective. Theoretically, it would then just use the ads that have the best response rate.

Fortunately, it lets you lock in the position for certain titles. The ones you don’t want to show up side-by-side, you lock into the same position. In that way, they can never appear next to each other. This is important because there would be certain combinations that would sound ridiculous, and you don’t want to waste an ad opportunity.

Picking the descriptions and titles was a bit tricky. I tried to put myself in the place of the person who might be searching for what I have on my website and think about what types of searches they might do. I’m hopeful I picked some good ones.

REFLECTION: Google Ads Keywords

*Note: This is a required post for my web business creation class. If you're not Br. Scott, skip it. It will mean nothing to you.

This was a tough week for me. I was already behind because of the writing conference I had been to the week before and then I came home and immediately got COVID. It was a really tough case too. I can only sit up for short periods of time. The good news is that I still completed my assignments.

I've been reflecting on the keyword planner a lot. I'm having difficulty coming up with appropriate keywords, especially negative keywords. I don't know if this is because I am terrible at using the keyword planner or because Google Ads is not the typical way that authors use to get their work out there. In the fiction writing industry especially, there is almost a parallel economy going on. We are a close knit group too and tend to share what works.

As far as ads go, most authors feel that Facebook Ads bring better results than Google Ads. They also swear by mailing lists to communicate with their super readers directly. These super readers are like a street team that get the word out for you. Another important tool is Bookfunnel that allows us to give away free stories and build our mailing list.

It used to be that you could depend on your publisher to do most of the marketing work for you. Unfortunately, these days, unless you are what is known as the "super lead", which is the top author for a publishing house, you're not likely to get any marketing money put toward your work.

If there is an effective way to leverage Google Ads toward this and I learned it, I would be a hero in the writing industry as I passed on the information to other writers. If you have some ideas, I am all ears. In the meantime, I am doing the assignments and seeing if I can discern something useful for this venue.

REFLECTION: Legal Structure

*Please note this is a required post for my instructor that we have to do through a blog. It is not my normal type of post. Skip it if you're not Brother Scott, unless you like reading random things...

This week we learned about legal structures with business. As an author, I don't technically have to set one up. However, I have been advised by many highly successful authors that as my publications increase as well as my IPs, I will want to set up an LLC. In Arkansas it only costs $45 to initially set this up unless you're paying an attorney to do the paper work for you. If you're using an attorney, expect to practically empty your wallet. Some will charge up to $400 just to file the paperwork. I won't go that route.

If that were the only expense, I'd just get it over with and do it. However, there are also $150 annual franchise fees here, so I will wait until I am in actual need of one.

Another consideration is I need a physical address for my Registered Agent. While I can serve as the agent myself, I'm not sure if I'll be moving in a few years so will need to figure out if it is as simple as just a change of address form.

On a completely separate legal issue, I'm just doing an amazon affiliate program until I can get my own anthologies and books up there. As I was building the website this week, I remembered that I needed to put that disclaimer that I am making money off of qualified purchases on each page of the site where I have an affiliate link. I discovered that it is important to keep a list of tiny details that are required because in the stress of getting everything set up, it is easy to drop a ball that can get you in a LOT of trouble. At this point I have a list of lists I need to find a good way to keep organized and easily accessible. I'm thinking Notion or Airtable may be the way to go. If you have a recommendation, I am all eager ears.

Reflection: PayPal Buttons & STRESS

*Please note this is a post for my instructor, that we have to do through a blog and not my normal post. Skip it if you're not Brother Scott.

I honestly don't know whether the PayPal Button instructions were way harder than the assignment demonstrated or if the tech has changed and the course needs to be updated again, which you are likely as frustrated about as we are, Brother Scott. I'm a software Development major and don't know how someone who had no web backend training could have done that. Even I am befuzzeled. As I have to build my site soon, I'd better figure it out, though.

However, the biggest learning experience for me this week was trying to balance work and school while at a week long writer's conference. I tried my darn diddliest to get a week ahead in all my classes before I left, but life had other plans. I've been trying to sneak in moments, ten minutes at a time, when we had our 15 minute breaks between meetings. I did have to use the other 5 to actually get to the next meeting location.

While stressed, I thought about how a business you own doesn't just pause because you have another responsibility to take care of. In my case, it was more training. For others, it might be a family vacation. Either way, the business has to be run, so you'd better find ways to run it from where you are or hire someone to do it in your place temporarily (school work is, of course, excluded from that latter suggestion).

Reflection: Choosing Site Host & Builder

Note: This is for my web business creation class and not my typical blog post. If you're here and you're not my instructor, you can totally skip this. There are plenty of more interesting posts.

This week we researched site builders as well as hosting platforms for websites. I had already been doing this because a mentor had been nagging...I mean reminding... me that I need to get my author site done.

The hardest part for me was the fact that I am also a software development major so part of me had been like, "I want to build this site myself from scratch." Yet the reality was between working my content writer job, my fiction writing, going to university, and still having one child left at home that I homeschool, there really wasn't much time to build my site. Because this class requires us to get a site up rather quickly, a site builder suddenly became very attractive.

I decided to pick a builder that would allow me more flexibility in customization, so I feel like I'm doing something creative with it. I can still build a site from scratch and switch it over when it's ready but have something which will get that site up quickly and then this mentor will shut up... I mean feel satisfied.

The host I chose would have been the same regardless of how I built the site, so there was no internal angst on that one.

I'd say the biggest takeaway from this week was in deciding on metrics to compare companies. Was bandwidth or price more important? Did customization matter more or the number of templates? What was their tech support like when things glitched? There were so many factors. We could only pick three metrics, so which were more important to me? Forcing me to prioritize was a great exercise in decision making.

Weeping in Bethany

I have had some hard things happen lately--like knock me off my feet hard. My heart was in a constant state of weeping. I cried out to my Father in Heaven and asked Him, "Where is the fulfillment of Your promises to me?" I was not doubting He could fulfill them. I KNEW and still KNOW He can accomplish His word. I just wasn't seeing it happen and I have been suffering for a while now. I have on two occasions reminded the Lord that, while a thousand years is as a day to Him, it is a thousand years to me.

While I was pouring out my heart to Him a phrase came to my mind. "You are in Bethany." Now, I have had the Spirit nudge me, comfort me, direct me, and remind me of things, but this felt more cryptic. So, I pondered. What does that mean? That is when the light came.

One of Jesus's closest friends, Lazarus, was ill. His sister's, Mary and Martha, sent word to Jesus saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick (John 11:3).” The passage talks about Jesus's love for this precious family and yet, Jesus put off going. He put off going even though He knew it meant Lazarus would die. Why would He do that? Because Jesus knew the bigger plan.

When He got there, the sisters expressed their faith in Him and seeing their grief, and probably feeling His own sadness about His friends and what they've suffered, grieved with them.

Jesus wept. He wept knowing the goodness to come because pain is profoundly undeniable. Those surrounding them from the village saw Jesus's love for Lazarus and questioned why the One who could give the blind sight did not come and heal His friend.

Then comes the plan.

After four days in the tomb, Jesus cried out, "Lazarus, Come forth (John 11:43)." And he did.

What once was dead, now lived.

This is what the Spirit was telling me. I am in the four days, when the promises seem dead. I am weeping in Bethany. But (which is one of my favorite words in the Scriptures) God knows the plan. He will call His word and promises forth.

As a gentle reminder to me this morning, as I was reading my scriptures, I came to 2 Nephi 6:11.

"...for they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me."

I may be weeping in Bethany right now, but the day of rejoicing is coming.

Reflection: Dropshipping Versus Affiliate Models

Note: The following is another school reflection post for my web business creation instructor.

This week we spent a lot of time looking at two model options: Dropshipping and Affiliate. I also did a spreadsheet that wasn't due until week four, but I thought was due this week. Upside, I'm a bit ahead.

Generally, you can make more money (depending on your supplier) with dropshipping, though it does require more financial investment up front as well as risk than you would have to deal with in Affiliate sales. With affiliate sales, you do need to invest time in promoting the products you are providing the links for, so be prepared to do some research and talk them up. Personally, I wouldn't feel comfortable providing a link for something I haven't actually tried and would feel proud sharing.

We've had some trouble with the tools we're supposed to use for the course. In a way, this has been good because I had to find workarounds.

The discussion boards are helpful because we get to interact with other students on the case studies we're assigned. I have found it useful to see the way other students approach the scenarios. I have learned I'm one of the more cautious of the students when it comes to financial decisions. I'm not sure if that is because of my current financial situation or just a personality quirk.

I'm looking forward to setting up my own business plan.

Reflection: Choosing a Business

This is NOT the normal topic I write about if you're someone who reads my normal religious posts. I'm in a web business creation class for school and we have to write a blog post each week about our experience with the class as one of the requirements. With that in mind, this post is mainly for my instructor to make sure I'm reflecting.

I learned quite a few things this week. The toughest, which is an essential part of any business, is to be patient with technology changes. We had so MANY problems with the Google Ads related assignments that it has thrown me behind at work and my house is a bit of a mess at the moment. The truth is, business doesn't always run smoothly when you are running your own business, so I should get used to those type of hiccups.

Second, I learned about how to use the keyword planner, find the monthly clicks, and estimate the cost per month within a budget. The spreadsheet provided was AMAZING and I'm keeping that puppy, even after the class is over. I thought it was interesting as I brainstormed business possibilities that often, for me, the businesses that could be the most profitable were not the ones I pictured myself doing as a living. Maybe I'm just destined to be poor. Most writers are, so...

What Can One Person Do?

Do you ever look around at the state of our world or even just our country and despair? Do you feel helpless to do anything? Me too. I went to Heavenly Father in prayer during a particular time of despair after watching the news and asked if it was too late. Had our salt lost its savour? Are we about to be trown out and trampled underfoot (Matthew 5:13)? The answer I received gave me a candle in the darkness. Most who read the Bible know the passage in 2 Chronicles that is often quoted, though seldom followed:

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place. (2 Chronicles 7:14-15)

One of the things I love about this passage is that it didn't depend on worldwide repentance, just the people who call themselves followers of God. Now, there is a cynical part of me, too, because sometimes I look around at those who call themselves by His name and I'm ashamed. They're like an amalgam of the churches of Ephesus, Sardis, and Laodicia in the book of Revelation (Revelation 2-3). They want to call themselves part of the church, but live like the world. Can the Lord turn His face toward us when even His people are in this condition? Then, I remembered two things. First, there is always a remnant. Always. Two, there are great examples in scripture when the prayers of a SINGLE believer saved a nation. Here are two.

Daniel

I teach the adult Sunday School class at my church. Hardly a lesson goes by when I don't bring up Daniel. I admire him so much. I aspire to be like him. Remind me sometime to tell you the verse about his character that convicts me the most and shows me where I fall short. In Daniel, the nation of Israel was coming up on the completion of 70 years of captivity in Babylon. There were still Israelis in the land of Israel, but they were the powerless (the poor) and the useless (the dregs). Don't equate those two. They're separate groups. The point from Nebuchadnezzar's mind was they were no threat. Those who could be a threat were taken to Babylon. For years, God had warned people of Israel unless they repented they'd spend 70 in captivity. They didn't listen. And Babylon came.

Fast forward about 70 years and now Babylon had been overthrown. It was now the Medo-Persian Empire running things and those 70 years of promised captivity was coming to an end. Now you think Daniel, who was first taken captive at the age of around 14-15, would be thrilled and packing his bags. Instead, he gave a remarkable prayer of repentance on behalf of his people. You can read his prayer in Daniel 9. Seriously, go read it. Now why would Daniel feel the need to beg for the mercy of God when he knew the 70 years were coming to an end? Didn't he know the word of God? Did He not have faith that God would keep His word and restore the people of Israel?

He did. In fact, Daniel knew the word of God so well, that he understood the importance of this prayer of repentance. You see, there is another verse tucked away in the Book of Leviticus that says, "And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins." (Leviticus 26:18). Hence Daniel's prayer on behalf of his people.

Thankfully, the scriptures teach us that the "effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (James 5:16).

And Daniel's prayer availeth...

Shortly after, around 537 B.C., Cyrus the Persian gave the command that the Israelites could return to their land. Not only did the Lord hear Daniel's prayer, but He sent Daniel a heavenly messenger to assure him of the fact as well as give Daniel a glimpse into the future.

Nehemiah

Fast forward with me one more time to 445 B.C. Nehemiah was serving as the cupbearer in the court of the Persain King Artaxerxes I. Some Israelite friends came to visit him. Nehemiah immediately inquired about how things were going in Jerusalem. The news was grim. The wall to the city of Jersualem was in tatters and they were facing enemies on all sides. Without a wall, they were defenseless. When Nehemiah heard this, he wept, mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of Heaven (Nehemiah 1:4).

In this prayer, which you can read in the remainder of that chapter, Nehemiah repented on behalf of his people and then he reminded God of His promises in Deuteronomy 30, specifically that when the scattered people of Israel repented, He would restore them to their land no matter how far they were scattered. Then he asked the Lord to give him mercy in the sight of "this man." We learn in the sentence that immediately follows, that "this man" was the king.

Just four months later, the answer to Nehemiah's prayer came. His countenance was sad and the king noticed. Not only did he notice, he noticed the type of sadness. Sorrow of the heart AND he asked Nehemiah about it. This tells me that Nehemiah was the type of servant the king actually respected and even cared about. Nehemiah 2:2 says that Nehemiah was afraid to answer. You may wonder why. Well, he had good reason.

If you angered a king, you could be put to death. Not too long before this, some enemies of Israel wrote the king and told him that the Israelites were a rebellious people who couldn't be trusted to rebuild the wall or they might not serve the king any longer. This resulted in Artaxerxes issuing a decree that the rebuilding of Jerusalem and its wall was to be halted. (Ezra 4:7-24).

You can understand Nehemiah's reticence. Yet, he told the king his sorrow over his nation. Artaxerxes asked, "For what dost thou make request?" Nehemiah took a moment to pray (I definetely don't blame him) and then asked for leave to go to Jersualem and help complete the repairs. He also asked for letters of safe passage, as well as letters of the king's orders that construction was to reconvene, AND for the king to help provide the needed supplies to do the construction. Bold. But guess what? The king agreed to all of it.

One man, by serving faithfully in the position of a servant was able to change the course of the nation he loved.

My beloved brothers and sisters, SO CAN WE.

Standing in the Gap

Now it is our turn. We must pray. We must repent, both for our own sins as well as the sins of our nation. Then, like Nehemiah, we must get to work. Nehemiah went to Jersualem and helped rebuild the wall. What do we rebuild? We rebuild the character of our nation. Serve well where you are planted. Live as salt and light. Love those around you. Live righteously. Help where you can in wise ways. Pray some more. Pray not just for the repentance of the people, but for revelation in what work the Lord has for YOU to do (Ephesians 2:10). What can one person do? Save a nation.