Comments on: What are Your Blogging Goals?

By: alexander mark

alexander mark — Tue, 17 May 2011 19:38:06 +0000

That’s exactly what I need. I want to have more control over my ads. On Hubpages, when I write a piece about the Bible, psychic ads pop up next to the article, or even russian brides! It would be great to tailor the ads. I can block “competitor ads,” on Adsense, but it’s always a running-behind process. The Widget Logic sounds like the perfect solution.

I think I am getting better slowly, thank you

By: Felicia

Felicia — Tue, 17 May 2011 11:14:27 +0000

Alexander, another plugin that I’ve found useful is called Widget Logic. I don’t use it here on NJFM, but I use it to display certain ads on certain pages with my other blogs. For example, if I write an article about bicycle seats and I’d like to display an Amazon ad for bicycle seats in the blog column adjacent to the post, Widget Logic allows me to display the Amazon ad for just that post or any other bicycle related post.

If the next post is about carpet cleaning, I can then display related carpet cleaning items in the column instead of the bike items. You can use it for any widget you place in your WordPress Columns.

BTW, hope you’re feeling better.

By: alexander mark

alexander mark — Tue, 17 May 2011 00:09:24 +0000

Thanks for the in depth response again.

I may have misread, I’ve been pretty sick lately, so I probably dozed off for a split second (this may sound like an insult, but I should have been in bed and your posts are so darn interesting).

I’ll definitely have to bite the bullet and buy a WordPress account and template (I have free ones but you can’t do much with those). It sounds like the main thing is to keep plugging away – you are willing to make mistakes and move on.

I’ll set up just one for now and let you know how it goes And thanks for the link to the SmartAds – that is one of those essentials I wanted to know about.

By: Felicia

Felicia — Mon, 16 May 2011 09:57:17 +0000

Hi Alexander,

Most of my blogs are on WordPress but I still have a few Blogger blogs. They both have their pros and cons. I still recommend Blogger for newbies who are getting their feet wet. It’s a great free way to learn the blogging ropes. WordPress, however, is more robust and is my recommended option for more experienced bloggers. Forgive my memory, but I can’t remember recommending a blogging service for ad revenue. Not saying that I didn’t recommend one, but at my age some things slip my memory.

I often fart around with the HTML and CSS on WordPress templates. It’s my nature to look under the hood. Sometimes I screw things up royally and other times it works out well. I purchase most of my WordPress templates because after experimenting around, the ones I purchased come the closest to providing the features I’m looking for. Even with the purchased templates, I play around under the hood.

As far as placing ads, I use a plugin called SmartAds. It allows me to place ads in the beginning and end of my posts. I can also place customized ads in the middle of the post. I use it on almost all of my blogs.

By: Alexander Mark

Alexander Mark — Mon, 16 May 2011 00:18:27 +0000

I am following all your links about blogging from your latest post (as of this date) and I’m fascinated with the evolution of your thoughts. In response to one of my queries, you wrote that you use WordPress, but in these earlier posts (circa 2007 – 2008) you recommend Blogger or a blogging service for ad revenue. Am I right that things have changed and that WordPress has become a more viable tool for you?

I have dabbled in web design (familiar with html and css), and actually redesigned a WordPress site and it was a bear, but doable with widgets. I did some major (to me) recoding of the CSS code, and it was a real chore to get it to work. Is it much easier using a paid-for template as you do, and just using widgets instead of coding?

One more question. Can you just use a widget to place ads on a WordPress site?

I am really enjoying reading through these posts either way!