A Different Kind Of Wow
My journey to WA is the stuff mini-series are made of. If you would have asked me a year ago if I'd be here...doing affiliate marketing, chances are, I probably would have given you an emphatic "NO". Nothing against it. Fact is, I didn't even really know what it was.
I thought the ads on webpages were sponsorships. And no, I'm not kidding.
That's not to say I didn't know my way around the internet. I had a blog before blogs were cool. Back when they were scandalous even. You're thinking: Right. But it's true. Want backlinks? Have a reporter discover your blog when you work for a public figure. Then have him label it "sexy". You'll be referenced in every periodical south of the Mason Dixon line.
Yep. That was me. Needless to say, I took a break after that. Strike that. It was more than a break. It was really more of a vow to leap naked from the Ivy at Wrigley Field before I started blogging again.
Thankfully I changed my mind on the Ivy part.
And the blogging.
I started TeapotTempest a little over a year after the "incident". I'm not going to lie, it was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I was more than a little gun shy. I started again after my best friend Samantha was diagnosed with leukemia. She called me one day after a bad treatment and said "Ya, know. I miss your blog. It always made me laugh."
And that, my friends, is how you change your priorities in life.
There is actually a point to this post.
TeapotTempest is my personal blog. I don't monetize it (although I do sometimes use it to park banners when I'm trying to get approved for an affiliate program). And I don't have it linked to anything. But guess what? I checked my statistics today (out of sheer curiosity) and I'm getting close to 400 unique visitors a day! For absolutely nothing.
The moral to this story? Build it and they will eventually come. Link it and the sky is the limit.
Recent Comments
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Thanks sox1n05,
Ya know...it sucked (lets not mince words). But my dad summed it up pretty good for me when I called to tell him I had made all the papers (and not in a good way). He said "If this is the worst thing that happens to you today, you've had a pretty good day." ;-)
That's a great story. I can certainly appreciate your honesty. That must have been tough, huh? It's cool to see that you've jumped back on that horse (as opposed to the Wrigley Field Ivy!) and got back to riding. Thanks for the cool story!
I love this story too. People need some shock appeal to get out of complacency. Good that you got them all stirred up. If they don't react, you haven't done anything. Bet your blog is wonderful. I'm going to start reading it. All the best. J.