A Cowboy’s Wife

FYI:  I’m writing this from the Firefox add-on, Scribefire.  If anything looks funky, let me know;)

Since the relaunch of “A Cowboy’s Wife”, I’ve been keeping my eyes on all stats, checking for traffic fluctuations and subscriber counts.  Most bloggers create separate blogs for each niche just like I had before.  If you can afford to spend the time on that many blogs, then I recommend you do it that way because there is a lot of money to be made when you have one  niche per blog.

Because I don’t have the time for all that work & maintenance, I chose to merge my other blogs into this one.

Was it a good idea? Absolutely!  And I’ll tell you how I can tell;)  According to Google Analytics, my traffic has increased by 300%.  My subscriber count began with 223 and, since the launch, has increased to 240.  That’s 17 more subscribers.  Granted it’s not the 223 from here, 200+ from Blogging with Cents, and 50 from All Chick Stuff (totaling 473), but it’s a start and will only take time before my previous subscribers decide to follow me…..hopefully.

Unless Mark decides to put this blog’s main url or the “Blogging with Cents” section url on his Top 100 Money Making Blogs, then I will be off that list.  I was kinda proud to be up on that list but it’s understandable that this blog’s various topics may not qualify it to be on the list.  It was good while it lasted anyways;)

The launch has only been live for 1 1/2 weeks.  So I’d say the results, so far, are promising.

SOME OF THE PROBLEMS

With change, there are always problems somewhere.  My problems at the moment are consisting of people going to a certain url to my Blogging with Cents blog, being redirected here but not to that particular post.  This is a good way to lose potential readers but I’m trying to fix this, slowly.  Hopefully I can redirect the more popular posts from that blog to the correct url here at this blog.  Make sense?  Not to me either but I think it’ll work!

Another problem is RSS subscriptions.  Since not everyone wanted to get updates on ALL the topics here, I had to burn a few feeds so that people could subscribe to exactly what they wanted.  The only problem is that they won’t know how to subscribe to those feeds unless they click on that section in the middle box above.  I’m trying to figure out a better resolution to this situation but for now, it will have to do.

NOW WHAT?

I’m hoping to expand things a little.  I’ve got a store in the works that will include everything from baby gear to beef jerky!  While most of the items will be somewhat “western” oriented, there will also be other products that everyone will love.

I’m also currently creating a page with some basic services.  These services will consist of WP installation, plugin installation, and more.  Would love to have a partner in the designing field to partner up with..see below:)  I also created an ebook for anyone wanting to know how to create a self-hosted wordpress blog.  The tutorial is free and provides step by step instructions on how to do this.

The forum is off to a slow start.  I really could use some people to register and start some topics.  I’m thinking about offering an incentive to get things rolling in there.  If you have any suggestions about the forum, please feel free to tell me.  Forums are always hard to get going but I have faith that it will eventually become more popular.

I got my first order for Branded Gear!  I was very surprised really because I didn’t expect anything to come of it.  I have plans on adding some more cute stuff to the products, some that even relate to the cooking side;)  I need a good designer for this because I just don’t have the time to do it myself.

WHAT I NEED (PARTNER):

I need a designer to partner up with.  Someone who can create headers/banners and change a theme’s colors, icons, etc.  Even someone who can do a whole blog makeover.  I’d like to add this person to my services page so that if a person wants to buy those extra services, I’ll have someone to send the order to.  If you are interested in this and can fulfill orders when (or if) they come, then please contact me with “partner” in the subject.

Now I’m off to visit with some friends.  He’s been driving from Austin on his Harley and stopped by to pay a visit.  I wonder if he has travel insurance.  Does it cover getting rained on or a blowout??  Anyways, see ya’ll later.