Bornfamous

Money.

As usual, it’s all about the money–because of course, there’s never enough. I’ve experimented with Google Adsense, which might actually bring in a reasonable side income if I had any traffic, but I feel grubby having ads on a personal blog that doesn’t offer any added value. OTOH, with over 1300 pages, there is some potential for search engine traffic [and clicks] that I can’t afford to ignore. So I’ve compromised by taking the ads off the front page and leaving them on individual posts, where virtually all of my search engine traffic goes. If you really hate that, let me know.

I’m also rethinking HealthBuzz.org, which doesn’t seem to have much of an identity, what with all the articles and quotes from other sites and zero content from yours truly. I need to figure out a way to offer meaningful content to the many people out there searching for alternative health information. Not being a health professional, that’s a problem. I’m thinking of setting up a message board where people can exchange information about nutrition as well as recipes–most likely gluten-free, possibly vegan. There’s a small but distinct market for that. Then, instead of working my ass off looking for articles, I can work my ass off moderating the board and building traffic. Or both. Either way, my ass will be getting itself worked off and that’s a good thing. It’s a big ass.

Oh, and on the nonprofit front, I’ve created a new site that’s sure to keep me busy for years to come — Poisoned: Voices of Chemical Injury, an oral history project that will allow chemically injured people [CI's] to tell their own stories in their own voices and words. I was thrilled to discover that the Internet Archive offers free archival of audio files in perpetuity, so that no matter what happens to me or my host, these interviews will never be lost. With an estimated 15% of the population now identifying themselves as chemically sensitive, and more joining our ranks every day, I think it will become a significant resource for both researchers and CI’s in the future.