Half-penny thoughts — 05mar26

There are days where I ask myself if I’m going about everything all wrong when it comes to having a web presence for my writing.

The wonder spans from formatting to content to design to SEO to paid vs free vs subscriptions vs donations… So it goes.

Even something as simple as a domain name has implications. I just discovered that a published author uses “Ravensweald” as his fantasy series collection’s series name, the series published almost at the same time that I double, triple, quadruple checked to make sure there were no apparent conflicts for the site name before acquiring the domain. So it goes.

And, I should have known that updating a plugin should have been deferred — it broke it’s own cron jobs, so I see errors and I cannot revert because they removed the old version from the plugin repository. The errors are minor and non-critical, but irritating all the same. And I guess Google decided this winter to stop indexing the site for search and yet the console tells me everything’s just ducky. No errors. Just… not indexing. So it goes.

I’m tempted to wipe everything and reload the content with a fresh install of WordPress in case there are lingering ghosts in the machine. So it goes.

Are y’all contemplating any overhauls on your sites? What are some critical key things that you wish you had done differently? Or could do? Do you think you are underpaid for your content? Or do you think there must be a non-traditional approach to deriving/providing benefit to content.

So it goes.

michael raven

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20 responses to “Half-penny thoughts — 05mar26”

  1. Chico’s Mom Avatar
    Chico’s Mom

    It will be a non-traditional path for me. I have already been taught that lesson. And I’m fine with that. As an author, I think it gives us more control over our work. And don’t forget deadline pressures. Wolf! But paying the bills; don’t quit your day job. It would be great to make a living from writing. That’s like 1% of 1%.

    As far as WP goes, I really haven’t explored all the site has to offer. I post, read and like. 🤷‍♀️

    Everyday is a new learning opportunity.

    Reply
    1. michael raven Avatar
      michael raven

      I agree. I’m not into traditional publishing, don’t want to be tied down by the things that go along with it.

      I have a day job to pay my wordpress bills 😂

      You know where to find me if you ever are looking for something in particular on WP…

      Reply
      1. Chico’s Mom Avatar
        Chico’s Mom

        Thanks 💕

        Reply
  2. erroneouschoices Avatar
    erroneouschoices

    My needs and contribution here are very simple, much like Chico’s Mom. I write, read, comment, like and interact a small amount.
    Since I’m making no money some might consider that as underpaid but I find that I’m compensated tremendously by the non monetary things I receive.
    I’ve been through hell with WordPress over the years though, the technical issues, the human issues yet it’s the best site I’ve discovered so far.
    I think a brand new start sounds like it has potential, but I’ve attempted that and I always end up back on EC. 🤷‍♀️

    Reply
    1. michael raven Avatar
      michael raven

      Thank you. I agree with you that it is the best platform I’m found and it keeps improving.

      Same here, my questions are more geared towards people who are trying to do something more intentional with having a web presence so I can see if maybe I could learn something from a different approach. Money from writing is not something I worry about, but then I ask myself: Should I be more concerned about it? Is there a good argument for trying to turn an income?

      If I do something, it will probably be to just do a completely fresh install of WordPress for the site to see if it fixes some of the weird issues that have evolved over the past year on the backend. Alternately, I may host some of my longer prose on a subdomain to improve readability for long-form writing (i.e., fiction.ravensweald.com).

      I’m curious what drives other people to make their choices they make, so I thank you for your thoughts. 💙

      Reply
  3. Tansy Gunnar Avatar
    Tansy Gunnar

    Sorry to hear things on your site aren’t working like they should. The way I see it, platforms are just tools we build and use to provide shelter, create movement, and steer our work in the right direction. Essentially, it’s a ship with plenty of cabin space.

    The bones for your platform are good. Perhaps, just resharing old posts or pages would help revive the SEO?

    I myself, create messy designs just to see what happens. I’m concerned only with interior and exterior functionality and cohesiveness at this point. As for pay… lol, that’s another story.

    In the past, I built as the audience was entering the platforms. They grew fast, sorta large, and very disorganized! The entire platform was being built as a funnel to the active and passive income streams.

    Currently, income generation is not my priority. Rather, the focus is to get my funneling system in place before I let people in. My platform goal is to help creative people make art. Long-term, I want to position myself to qualify for adjunct professor jobs for community colleges. (Most require a teaching portfolio.)

    I found over the past 20 years or so… there’s like 8+ billion people on the planet. Many can’t afford to wander far from their homes, so they travel online and some end up finding your platform. It just takes time, SEO, and some chaos.

    What’s the goal for your platform? Conversion to readership, purchasing books, teaching? That’s what I’d personally consider before adjusting SEO, re-building, or adding funnel components. Best of luck!

    Reply
    1. michael raven Avatar
      michael raven

      Thanks for the comments.

      I’m not looking so much to improve SEO, but I do wonder why in October Google abruptly stopped indexing the site. I have my suspicions after digging around and it may have been a tiny switch that I was informed was probably okay to flip. Instead, I think it lead to unintended consequences and, because I don’t fetishize SEO, I didn’t notice the lack of indexing until this week. It’s a bit of an explanation why my outside traffic dropped in the last few months.

      As I’ve mentioned in other comments, my questions are more to get the perspective of readers for whom this stuff IS important to see if I’m overlooking something. After 20 years on the same platform, I believe it is easy to get tunnel vision, so it is always good to get fresh perspectives.

      What it comes down to is my goals/needs are very basic: camaraderie, writing, reading, and more writing. I don’t care if 693 bots like and follow the site (that is roughly my estimate from when I was ~1000 followers at sceadugenga). It’s the 27 real people who regularly show up that matter to me.

      Thanks again, great to get other perspectives. Much appreciated.

      Reply
      1. Tansy Gunnar Avatar
        Tansy Gunnar

        Sometimes flipping switches is the only way to figure out what they do. 😁

        From my perspective as a reader, I click-through to older posts when they are specifically referenced and linked on a new post. If I land on a general landing page I bounce because I don’t have time to look around for the reference post. I also will forget what I’m looking for!

        Reply
  4. Bob Avatar
    Bob

    I’m not tech savoy, so not planning any updates. Maybe it’s something I should look more into.

    Reply
    1. michael raven Avatar
      michael raven

      It can be educational. Understanding how the web works is a skill more people should embrace. You’ll have to let me know what you end up doing. 😊

      Reply
      1. Bob Avatar
        Bob

        I might just take a look. I’m sure there are some youtube videos to help. I would be cool to know more about this.

        Reply
  5. lyndhurstlaura Avatar
    lyndhurstlaura

    I’m not a technical person. The fact that I managed to build and launch a website is a miracle. It does everything I want, so I don’t look to make updates or changes. WordPress throws a spanner in the works occasionally, but I seem to cope. It ain’t broke, for the most part, so I don’t try to fix it. Sorry. Hope you resolve your issues. 😌

    Reply
    1. michael raven Avatar
      michael raven

      Something got borked by somebody on the latest plugin (or possibly, theme) updates. I can only hope they fix it whatever they hosed. It’s minor but, jeez, is it frustrating some days.

      Reply
      1. lyndhurstlaura Avatar
        lyndhurstlaura

        🙁 🙁 🙁

        Reply
  6. chrisnelson61 Avatar
    chrisnelson61

    Some kind of online presence has helped in the sense that it provided an audience (and, hey, I’ve even sold a few books), but I don’t view it as a money-making venture (never been financially driven anyway) more a place to connect with a few writers and enjoy what they do. I’d hate to be in a position where I’m driven by deadlines to produce material – probably end up just writing drivel (perhaps I do anyway, but if I’m not trying to satisfy the needs of others then does it matter?).
    Bound to be glitches in any system – nothing ever is as we’d wish – but it’s been good to connect with some other like-minded folks.

    Reply
    1. michael raven Avatar
      michael raven

      Far from drivel, my friend. We’re both at least to the doggerel tier. 😂

      I understand people wanting to get paid for something they do, I really do. With too much emphasis on that, it threatens to be a poorly paid gig. Not everyone can be a winner, no matter their personal assessment of their own talent.

      And connecting is, ultimately what any blogging platform is best for. I’ve always been confused about the emphasis on monetization that many people have — it doesn’t quite seem to be the point of having a blog.

      But it seems worthwhile to consider how other people approach these things to see if I can learn from it.

      With its flies in the matrix, and all.

      Reply
  7. shredbobted Avatar
    shredbobted

    I agree-it’s all about the 27, about the words and the ability to record and disseminate them. Storage and retrieval. I trust WordPress with that; time will tell if that’s a good choice but so far it’s worked better than I thought, so I don’t mess with it other than to work within the parameters of my theme.

    Reply
    1. michael raven Avatar
      michael raven

      Yeah, I’m the kind of guy who moves the furniture in the living room at least once a year. While I intellectually know that almost no one visits the site (almost all readers rely on email subs and Reader integration), part of me wonders if I need to just tweak this or that thing to make it more user-friendly.

      I ought to just stop and let it be what it is with minimal mucking about. I think I’m the only one who cares about the appearances and functionality of the site.

      Reply
      1. shredbobted Avatar
        shredbobted

        Oh I keep mucking about with my Library/Home Page too, even though I doubt many look too close at it. But I do! Getting deeper into the nuts and bolts scares me; I know if I ran into some of the issues you’ve run into they’d drive me nuts.

        Reply
        1. michael raven Avatar
          michael raven

          Some days I wonder if it is worth the grief.

          Reply

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