The Surfin’ Dad

Thanks to my patient and very generous (with your time) readers, my site continues to grow and attract very good (in my opinion) traffic levels. As we near the end of the first month I wanted to update you on a few changes and end of month posts.

First, don’t forget to get your entires in for “The Santa Dilemma” contest. The deadline for all entries is midnight on 10/31/07. The prizes aren’t large enough to allow you to retire, but hey: free is free, right? Yeah, it’s a little early for Christmas promotions but given that I absolutely despise Halloween it’s my way of mentally skipping over it.

Second, as the result of some suggestions and blog critiques, I’ll be changing the layout of this blog during the next few days. The main difference is that I am moving to a 3 column format versus the current 2 column. The percentage of people that are running screen resolutions so low that a 3 column won’t fit are so small that it’s not worth wasting the extra space for.

I don’t want the 3rd column for more ads, I’d like to start showcasing the top commentators and a blogroll and this format will allow me to do so without the page looking too busy.

Finally, at the end of this month I’ll be posting the accounting entries for this blog’s first month. I read that a new blog is started every 2 seconds (roughly) and I know I had a hard time getting good information on average cost and revenue for a blog when I was contemplating the idea.

Sites like John Chow, Shoemoney, and ProBlogger are fascinating but they have little or no relevance to the microbloggers like myself. They remind me of dealing with Amway back in the 1990’s. The “big” guys back then had so much momentum and money that the bulk of their money was made off of people wanting to know how they make so much money. I’m sure every time John Chow sends out a link for a new ad network he easily makes 5 figures off that one post. Someone like myself, on the other hand, does backflips when they get their first referral and at a minimum does the Snoopy dance for every subsequent referral.

So, during the first of November I’ll post all my costs for the first month, the hours invested, all my ad revenues, along with the page views, RSS subscribers, etc. I have personally learned a lot about the whims of the internet and how she (yes, the internet is DEFINITELY a she!) arbitrarily bestows her affection upon whom she pleases.

Hopefully the information can help other bloggers achieve some measure of success or perhaps make a more informed decision. They say that your life is either an example or a warning to others, perhaps the same is true about blogs?

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