I’m on a quest to earn my first $100 from AdSense. I’m very close.

Today I decided to switch things up ad-wise on Haunt Jaunts, which is my current leading AdSense revenue generating blog. (Although, even though I haven’t been as active with the SAHW Experiment, it’s already trickling in cents here and there. I can see how that one might be the main breadwinner if I started investing more time in it.)

But as far as AdSense overall, it’s been a little stagnant lately. Which I sort of expected. When I switched things around last time I was curious to see what kind of an impact it would have.

I’ve read all sorts of tips about how to get the most out of AdSense. Everything from the size of the ad, to how many you have (you can only have 3 at a time, which you should always do), to colors, and most importantly placement.

Placement, above all, has definitely been the one thing I’ve noticed matters most. The second I moved AdSense ads from HJ’s sidebar alone to the little box within HJ’s header, I noticed more pennies piling up in my account.

Also, ads within posts, which I took out last time as part of my experiment, seem to matter. Sidebars do okay, if there’s nothing else to compete with. But ads within posts are golden.

However, I’ve got other affiliate accounts too. I’ve now come to realize you don’t want too many of those, though. It’s too many ads which makes things look cluttered and cheap.

Instead, I’ve tried to hone in on key affiliates. For Haunt Jaunts that’s mostly iTunes, Halloween Express and Spirit Halloween. Although I also have Amazon, but I can link to specific products within my posts and I’ve found that works rather well actually. 

Except I’ve now removed the AdSense ad from HJ’s header and replaced it with an Amazon one. I had to, because I have a Google Search box which also counts as one of the three allowed AdSense ads.

I also removed the AdSense sidebar ad and replaced it with not just one ad, but two, within posts. One at the beginning and one at the end. Two different sizes and not both in the same location. (One is centered, one is aligned to the right.)

AdSense is the one it’s taken me the longest to accumulate money for a payout in. I’m bound and determined to have it earning at maximum capacity and getting me paid out no later than the end of next month. (If I had thought about implementing these changes sooner, I might’ve even been able to manage it this month. Oh well. Hindsight is 20/20 and all that.)

Still, it’s going to be very exciting reaching that goal!

I had a big idea last year that I’d write a blog called the Sociable Scribe and maybe start a social media consulting kind of company. I love social media and I love using it. I’ve also had some mild success using it to promote my blogs and such, so it seemed like a good idea.

I started working for my cousin’s stationery company doing her social media even. I actually loved it, but, as with any job, it took time away from what I most loved. Namely, Haunt Jaunts and my fiction. And heaven knows I don’t need any help stealing time away from my fiction. I’m good enough finding ways to squander that precious time as it is.

During our big New England/Canada cruise last summer I did some soul searching like I do most vacations. I realized my Sociable Scribe business either needed my full attention, or I needed to turn my full attention to my other passions. I knew with Halloween right around the corner things were going to get super busy on HJ, so…I had to figure it out fast.

I’m in the fortunate position that Wayne supports me financially. Otherwise, if I really had to start bringing in some dough I probably would hit it hard and see if I could contract my social media services out.

Since I don’t need to, I decided to keep pursuing my passions and let go of stressing about becoming a successful businesswoman.

Yet, I often see things that bug me about other people’s blogs or blogging styles. Or that really impress me. I don’t want to focus a blog on it, because there are already a ton of blogs out there doing that and doing it better than I could.

Last night it dawned on me, “I can still write about that stuff. And I can still use the Twitter account I set up for that. I can use that for my personal blog.”

I’ve been wanting to Tweet not as Haunt Jaunts, not as SAHW Experiment, but as me and my many interests. I could always set up a @CourtneyMroch Twitter account I guess, but I’d rather brand myself. (Because that’s just how big my ego is…I need a brand. I hope if anyone reads this they read this part with sarcasm, because that’s what’s intended.)

Anyway, so once in a while I’ll now be writing about the art of blogging as I see it. And I’ll be Tweeting as @SociableScribe and sharing my links here there that way.

Watch out Twitter. Here I come again!

Well, I’m going to do something else I’ve long been wanting to do. Last year I launched Haunt Jaunts, this year I’m resurrecting Press Scribe. Except, there’ll be some changes:

1. I’m renaming it to The Sociable Scribe
2. Instead of a website, I’m going to use Wordpress to create a blog-style website
3. I’m not going to sell myself short and offer ridiculously priced packages like I did with Press Scribe
4. I’m not limiting myself to just press releases like I did with Press Scribe

Now I just have to come up with a killer tag. Press Scribe was easy. “Your PRescription for success!”

Press releases to garner PR for companies…the subliminal undertones were there. I liked that.

But now I’m branching out into social media marketing overall. It’s not just press releases, though I’ll still offer packages which include that too.

There are other companies who do what I want to do:

• PRechnology (probably the closest to what I hope to offer as far as packages and such)
• Media Associates
• Social Media Marketing

But none of them have a super snazzy tag. I was thinking something like “Advice on using social media marketing to create buzz, bandy and ballyhoo for you.”

It’s a bit of a mouthful, but…I kind of like it. That’s me.

We’ll see what other ideas I come up with. Once my mind starts going, there’s no telling where it’ll lead!

I bought the domain yesterday afternoon. I’ll work on getting everything going today.

There’s a lot of possibilities with this. Ever since Press Scribe, I knew this was something I could FINALLY combine my B.A. from UofA (Communications degree) with my love for the Internet and writing. It satisfies my entrepreneurial itch.

But with the Sociable Scribe, I can even take it further and combine my love of blogging into a platform to showcase all my ideas and perhaps snag clients that way.

But if not, maybe I’ll become a go-to blog for social media marketing. (And of course I plan to have my blog set up to earn revenue.)

Either way, it’s a new adventure and I’m really excited for the challenge.