Someone Lend Me a Monkey

I spent a mostly fruitless hour last night trying to add a GoogleAdSense Search bar to my website. You may have noticed I've done the same for this blog without difficulty.

I planned my search box. I picked colors, styles, and sites it could search. I copied, I pasted and I got a huge string of text instead of a neat little search bar. I have no idea what the problem was, and their troubleshooting page didn't offer that particular dilemma or its solution. So either I'm the only monkey in the world who can't copy and paste right, or... Well, that's how it seemed.
I let them know they hadn't helped me. Nicely, of course. I'm always nice.

TT: Normally I would use a phrase like "either I'm the only turtle in the world..." but in real life one of my catchphrases is "monkey-friendly." As in shorthand for "even a monkey could do it." Besides, turtles don't write code.

I need to monetize my website. How can I sell from it otherwise? I'd like to sell some of the soundtracks I use for inspiration. I'd like to sell Starfire and Alpha Redemption and, God willing, Star of Justice and Elementals when their day arrives. This programming attempt is one of those things I'll need to be steady about. I'm fairly smart. I should be able to do it. Even if I am a turtle.

I also created a new email specifically for my website. You can now contact me at ranunculusturtle@gmail.com. Yes, it's a handful to type, but how cool is it? I was pretty sure no one else would have it. Now my business cards will match. And it's good for folks to know a little Latin. Other than carpe diem, that is. Or carpe tortu. I think that's "turtle."

As I read Problogger, I'm trying to take their tips to heart. Yesterday's topic was blog killers. Seems "0 comments" is a huge turn-off to potential readers. Interesting but not entirely surprising. When I started my blog, I asked one of my casual readers why she didn't comment on a post. She told me my posts were too complete. I left no room for comments.

I considered it carefully, decided that was how I wrote (ask My Dear Friend's children and they'll tell you that's how I talk, too) and moved on.

I must now reconsider. Unlike the Problogger audience, I don't intend to earn an income from this blog (though that would be nice). But I do like the comments. They show me I'm reaching someone, and they show others the same thing.

So, being who I am, I started with Virtual Buttercups. I have 73 potential neighbor-readers. I'll see how it goes with them.