Thoughts on Blissdom ‘10 (so far)

By Amy on February 6, 2010

Just a few early morning tidbits from Blissdom ‘10.

  • Avatars are such tiny pieces of a whole person. You look at someone’s avatar and then somehow conjure up a whole person to go with it. It’s fun to see how the picture you have in your brain does or does not match with what you see IRL (in real life).
  • Everyone — EVERYONE — tells me they “had no idea I was so tall!” (I know. It’s surprising.) :)
  • My whole early-to-bed, early-to-rise routine has been completely thrown out the window. Well, actually, the early-to-bed part has been completely thrown out the window. Unfortunately, my internal body clock has not gotten the message that at this point, it may also throw out the early-to-rise part.
  • I have met a surprising number of pastors’ wives and ministry wives. So many, in fact, that I have to wonder what God’s up to.
  • I’ve met even more couponing and money saving bloggers. Those women can stretch a buck from here to Mongolia. Oh my stars.
  • Someone said they love being able to meet people “in 3-D.” I ditto that.
  • I came thinking I was going to get one thing out of the conference and I’m getting an entirely different thing altogether. (More on that in another post.)

That’s all I have time for peeps. I’m off to a prayer breakfast hosted by Pensieve Robin — another woman I’m sure I will feel honored to meet.

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My lives intersected

By Amy on February 5, 2010

I lead a double life.

I have my real life and I have my online life — the two rarely intersect. Many of my IRL (in real life) friends know I enjoy the computer, some know I have a blog and some of them even read it. (Thank you IRL friends who read my blog!) But many of my IRL friends have no idea that I’ve got this whole other thing going on.

Then internet is like a different universe and I find myself sandwiched between a generation who knows it exists but barely scratches the surface of it and another generation that is so completely internet-immersed they practically are the internet.
So here I sit. Depending on who I’m with, I’m either met with weird looks and baffled questions or so much technological speak even I get lost. It can be a rather strange place to be.

But this weekend, I’m going to experience a whole different thing altogether. I’m about to enter a world with 500 avid blogging and internet-type women moonlighting as regular wives and moms IRL. Or is it the other way around?!? :)

I am ecstatic to be able to attend Blissdom ‘10, a blogging conference for women just like me. NOT ONLY THAT, I am flying on a plane, BY MYSELF, to AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT STATE. As in, I am taking a trip that only requires one single, carry-on suitcase and a laptop. WHAT am I going to do with myself?!?

(Did I mention I’m going by myself? Just checking because that is huge.)

Anyway, I am looking forward to meeting — IRL — many friends I have only met online. There will be workshops and speakers and interesting discussions about things like coding, personal branding, monetizing, SEO and all sorts of wonderful things. I cannot WAIT.

Be still my geeky heart.

And also? And perhaps the best part of it all? Unbeknownst to many, there is a whole contingent of Christ-following, blogging women who are working hard to represent the Master masterfully via their blogs, so that people who might never step foot in a church, might still have the opportunity to encounter Christ online. I will be meeting and praying with these women over the course of the weekend. Can this GET any cooler?

Not if you’re me! :)

So here I sit, in the airport, having just waved goodbye to my 2yo and 3yo. (I would’ve cried but I didn’t want to make my 3yo any sadder than he was.)

And hey, guess what? My plane just pulled up.

Someone pinch me, I think this is really gonna happen.

P.S. Because I know you have absolutely nothing better to do through the weekend (ha!), you can follow all my excitement on Twitter.

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One effective way to increase your blog’s pageviews

By Amy on February 2, 2010

I’m currently conducting a bit of an experiment with the recent reinvention of WithPurpose.com.

I’ve kept this little blog of mine limping along since blogging antiquity. Uh, that would be May of 2004. (I like to say that makes me about 117 in blog years.) During that time, I’ve had ups and I’ve had downs but somehow my little piece of cyberspace has managed to survive.

Well, you know how life is — it’s all about priorities. Until recently, I was doing good just to keep some semblance of order in my roles as wife, mom and pastor’s wife. But 2010 has brought with it some change and I’m looking ahead to some new opportunities. Woohoo!

Part of that change has to do with this blog. For the last 6 years, I have been keenly observing a bunch of people around me jump into the game and make money blogging. I’ve dabbled a bit and have made a little extra cash (and I mean little). Frankly, it takes a whole lot of time and energy to turn an income and I’ve never had much of either to spare.

But now I’m gonna give it a shot. Because why not? That’s what I’m thinkin’. I have no idea if I’m going to be successful, but I’m going to try. By the way, if you want to watch me, be sure to subscribe! ::coughshamlessplugcough::

That was a lot of blab, I admit, but it leads me to my first lesson learned on this little journey of mine. It’s this:

Making money blogging is complex, but one thing that’s significant is pageviews. You want lots of them. So, my tip?

Link internally. Intentionally link to other posts within your site to keep people clicking around. See how I did it in the beginning of this post? Yeah, do it A LOT. It makes your site “sticky” which means lots more pageviews. Pageviews, I’m learning, are powerful blogging currency.

Want more blogging tips? I’ve got more here. And check out Works for Me Wednesday for even more!

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Parenting tip: How to reboot a sluggish outing with kids

By Amy on February 2, 2010

I told you about how I keep kids occupied while out and about. And I told you the simple tip that has improved our kids’ behavior in public. Now I have yet another! (This parenting thing is all about hacks to make the system hum, right?)

So say we’re out somewhere and things start to fall apart — kids are going in all different directions, no one is listening and chaos is taking over. This is when I call a huddle.

I say, “Huddle!” and squat down so I’m on their level. We’ve done it so many times now that they know to come right away and they all gather around real close. I say, “Look at my eyes, look at my eyes.”

Once everyone is attentive, we regroup. I may or may not tell them what is happening that should not be happening. I always tell them what we are going to do and what I expect (“It’s too loud. Please use your inside voices.”). I always try to remember to reference “Go Team Andrews!” in some way. Sometimes we even put our hands in the middle and do a little cheer. Cheesy? Why yes, yes it is. But fostering a “we’re in it together and we have to count on each other” atmosphere is quite effective in encouraging everyone to shape up.

I love a good huddle — it’s like rebooting your computer. Everything seems to work just a little bit smoother.

What about you? What are your tricks to encourage decent behavior in public?

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One easy tip that has drastically improved our behavior in public

By Amy on February 1, 2010

Whether it’s the store, a restaurant, church, someone’s house, the Dr.’s office — anywhere outside of our house — there is great potential to encounter “issues” when galavanting around town. I already told you how we try to keep little people occupied while we’re out and about, but there’s another simple thing I do in an effort to nip any nonsense in the bud: I simply go over the expectations for behavior in the car prior to arriving at our destination.

So, for example, a few minutes before we are going to pile out of the car at the grocery store, I turn off all music and make sure everyone is listening. I then say something like:

“We’re going to the grocery store. Use your inside voice. J & A, you will ride in the cart. H & I, you will WALK close to the cart. Do not ask to buy anything. You may look but you may not touch anything in the cash register line. Does everyone understand?”

The key is to keep it short, sweet and clear. If there are any problems in the store, a reminder about what we talked about in the car is usually enough to straighten things out. Of course it doesn’t work every time, but it’s amazing how often it does.

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One way I find lost items lickety split

By Amy on January 29, 2010

This is a little trick I discovered recently and it works within minutes almost every single time. I can’t say it’ll work for everyone, but you just never know when you might find yourself in a situation where it’ll come in handy.

We’re forever losing stuff around here — someone’s shoe, my keys, my phone, whatever. It never fails right? You’re running out the door and you can’t find that thing you need to be able to run out the door!

I used to race around like a chicken with my head cut off searching for said item. Now I yell this:

“First one to find the _____ gets a quarter!” (Amounts may vary.)

You wouldn’t believe how quickly my house has 3 headless chickens running around…and I am no longer one of them. As far as I can tell, there are 3 things about it that provide much incentive: (1) money (2) competition (3) the chance to be a hero…because I make a BIG deal out of the person who finds whatever there is to find. You know, hugs and kisses and “So-and-so saved the day!” and a gold start sticker or something.

They have an uncanny ability to find stuff when they’re motivated. And I have an uncanny ability to pat myself on the back for thinking of such a brilliant idea.

(Your results may vary.)

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How to use Twitter as a cleaning tool

By Amy on January 28, 2010

Twitter ain’t all bad. Here’s one cool thing to do if you tweet. Check out #speedclean and the explanation of it by Kelleigh Ratzlaff.

Here’s the basic idea: At set times during the day, you’ll see Kelleigh tweet that it’s about time to #speedclean. Then you set your timer for 5-10 minutes and tackle the spot she suggests (or another spot that’s applicable to you).

I just did it with her and in 20 minutes I washed the dishes, wiped the counters, swept the floor, started the pizza dough and threw a load of laundry in the washing machine.

(My own addition: I also thought I should multitask a bit so I prayed for Kelleigh as I was doing it. I don’t know Kelleigh, but hey, why not?)

It was cool knowing she was somewhere doing the very same thing I was doing. Made it a lot more pleasant. I love ideas like this!

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The Girl Behind the Geek

By Amy on January 28, 2010

Hi, I’m Amy and here’s my life in one short post. If you’ve been here a while, tell me if I miss anything. If you’re new here…consider yourself warned. :)

I have somewhat of an unusual background — was born and spent the first year of my life in the jungles of Ethiopia, moved almost 30 times in 35 years and lived in places like Papua New Guniea, Kenya and Israel. It was indeed very cool and I wouldn’t change it, however life is all about tradeoffs (as my dad likes to say) and so now I (a) am petrified at the thought of living in one spot more than 3 years and (b) am a little weird when it comes to keeping friends longer than the same. I am totally working on this though.

From ages 21 to 34, I’ll briefly recap. I was in a tumultuous relationship that ended in a wedding, barely survived the first several years of marriage, gained a little insight from it (I hope), birthed and now mother 4 children, shocked myself by agreeing to homeschool them, was a pastor’s wife for 12 years, hit my rock bottom, gained a little insight (I hope) and here I am.

That’s my life in 2 paragraphs. So now you’ll understand why I am the way I am. :)

Things I love & write about here:

  1. God. I love that He loves so much, He was willing to sacrifice His son for a couple billion yahoos like us. I love that He gets right down in the details of my life and offers glimpses of Himself if only I open my eyes. I love that He is so completely constant even when I am flyin’ all over the place. I love that He makes me laugh and brings me to tears, sometimes in the very same moment. I love knowing He’s got my back always. I love that, come what may — all the good, bad and ugly — He doesn’t waste one single thing. I talk about him a lot here because He has changed my life. I completely understand not everyone feels the same way about Him. My goal is not to shove what I believe down your throat; I’m just telling you what goes on in my brain & in my heart. Another thing I love about Him is that He gives us freedom to choose Him or not. Wherever you’re at, I respect your freedom.
  2. My family. I’m just gonna say, I picked a winner of a husband. Took me about 10 years to admit that, but boy is he a keeper. And did you ever love someone so much you could just squeeze their guts right out? That’s how I feel about my kids. (A lot of times I want to squeeze their guts out for other reasons, but that’s another story.) In the big scheme of things, I don’t have a single thing to complain about. I am overwhelmed with gratitude.
  3. The internet. I often say I’ve learned more on the internet in the last 5 years than I ever learned in college and that is the complete truth. I love to surf and find cool things. I also like to share them with you. I have this blog, but unfortunately I hate to write. In fact, surprisingly, I am complimented on my writing from time to time and I assure you, anything good that comes outta me is a result of God’s goodness because you should see the stress when it’s time to churn out a post.

In any case, whether you’re here for peek into my world, blogging tips or homeschooling for free resources, I hope you’ll enjoy what you find!

P.S. And hey, guess what? If you’re dying to know more, you can check out 61 Random Things About Me.

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3 places to find free and complete homeschooling curriculum

By Amy on January 27, 2010

Providing a good education for our children does not have to be expensive!

  1. Old Fashioned Education uses classic literature and other resources that can be found almost entirely for free online.
  2. Ambleside Online utilizes the Charlotte Mason method of homeschooling for kids through grade 12. Some of the books on the book lists are not available for free online, but almost any public library would have them.
  3. Letter a Day is a preschool curriculum developed by a homeschooling mom. She includes lots of suggestions and clever ideas that are easy to implement.

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How to start a self-hosted WordPress blog

By Amy on January 27, 2010

Please note: A self-hosted WordPress blog (sometimes referred to as WordPress.org) is different than a blog at WordPress.com. “Self-hosted” means you use the free WordPress platform on your own domain via hosting you pay for. A blog at WordPress.com is hosted by them and in exchange, you are limited in customization and monetization. A WordPress.com blog is not bad, but a self-hosted WordPress blog is much more preferred.

How to set up a self-hosted WordPress blog

Step One: Register your own domain
You simply need to choose a domain name (read how to choose a domain name) and then register it with a registrar. I personally use GoDaddy.com and have not had any problems. You have many options, though, so simply google “domain registration” or something similar. Domain registration will cost about $10 per year and must be renewed annually (you can pay for several years at once).

Step Two: Purchase your own hosting
Once your domain is registered, purchase hosting from a different company (so as not to give one company complete power over your site). This is a simple process and costs as little as $8 per month for an average-sized site. I HIGHLY recommend purchasing hosting from a company that provides easy, auto-install for WordPress (most do, but check) — this will make life much easier in Step Four. I personally use Bluehost.com and would recommend it. (You might also check out the hosts recommended here.)

Step Three: Get your domain and your host to communicate
If your domain and hosting are set up at different companies, you will need to make sure the two “talk” to each other. This involves changing some settings. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Log in to your hosting account. (I will use Bluehost here.) Click on the “Domain Manager” tab at the top of the page.
  2. Click on the “Nameservers” tab just above the Summary box.
  3. Write down the two nameserver settings you see. Nameservers look something like this: ns1.bluehost.com and ns2.bluehost.com.
  4. Now, log in to your domain account. (I will use GoDaddy here.)
  5. Choose “Domain Manager” from the left column.
  6. Click on your domain in the list.
  7. Click “Manage Nameservers.”
  8. Select “I host my domains with another provider.”
  9. Input your new nameservers (from #3 above) under “Nameserver 1″ (ns1.bluehost.com) and “Nameserver 2″ (ns2.bluehost.com).
  10. Click “OK.”
  11. That’s it! Now you should see your site at your domain. (Note, it may take several hours for the changes to take effect.)

It all sounds very complicated but don’t worry, it’s really not. If you get stuck, just call support at each place (starting with your host) and ask them to walk you through.

Step Four: Install WordPress
Hopefully your host provides WordPress auto-install. Search your host’s faqs or contact support to find out how to install WordPress.

If you purchased hosting from Bluehost.com, here’s how to install WordPress:

  1. Login to your Control Panel (cPanel).
  2. Scroll down to “Software/Services” and click the “Simple Scripts” icon.
  3. Under “Blogs” click “WordPress.”
  4. Click “Install.”
  5. Under “Where would you like WordPress installed?” leave the field blank. This will make your blog the main page of your site.
  6. Check the “Legal Information” agreement box.
  7. Click “Complete.”
  8. Congratulations, you are now the proud owner of a self-hosted WordPress blog!

Step Four: Change your permalink structure

This is important and should be done right away before you post anything. A permalink is the address of a specific post. For example, the permalink of this post is “http://www.withpurpose.com/2010/01/27/how-to-start-a-self-hosted-wordpress-blog/”. If I had not changed my permalink structure the permalink would have been something like “http://www.withpurpose.com/2010/01/27/post-139″. The difference between the “post-139″ and the keyword-rich “how-to-start-a-self-hosted-wordpress-blog” is significant when it comes to being found and being ranked by search engines. It’s a bit techy for now, so just trust me on it.

To change your permalink structure:

  1. Login to your WordPress Dashboard. (You should have received this login info in an email after completing Step Four above.)
  2. Click “Settings” at the very bottom of the left column.
  3. Click “Permalinks.”
  4. Choose either “Day and name” or “Month and name.” (I prefer the former.)
  5. Click “Save Changes.”

That’s it! You’re ready to blog!

I realize my geeky brain sometimes explains thing in a clear-as-mud sort of way. I did my best to make it clear, but if you still have questions, please don’t hesitate to ask! :)

For further reading:

  • The Beginner’s Guide to Tricking out Your WordPress – This covers some good plugins you might want to install and some other helpful info.
  • The WordPress Codex and Support Forums – These are great places to visit when you are stuck and need a little help figuring out how to get started, implement something new or troubleshoot.
  • Free WordPress themes – I assume you’ll want to spice up your design a bit. There are tons of great-looking, free themes you can find online (like here, here and here). Or, simply go to your Dashboard –> Appearance –> Add New Themes –> Find Themes. When you see one you like, click “Install” and then “Activate Theme.” (Or…a shameless plug: I provide affordable blog design.)

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