Saturday night I went over to JD’s house for a celebratory dinner party. In case you didn’t know, JD has been writing a book
At the party, I had the pleasure of meeting Chris Guillebeau. Chris boldly asked JD for help with his blog and business a while back and the two hit it off and have become pretty good friends.
So there I was, the author of a little blog trying to find its way, surrounded by some pretty successful professional bloggers. The conversations during the evening really made me think about Get Fit Slowly and where I want it to go in the future. Here’s what I’ve been thinking:
Thoughts on Advertising
I’m not against earning money. I used to earn money before I was a stay at home dad and I liked it a lot. In fact, I really do like money. But I don’t run Get Fit Slowly for the money that I make from it. The reality of the situation is actually pretty silly. All of the money that I make comes from Google’s Adsense and quite frankly, it’s not very much money.
Couple the paltry income with ads that I can’t control and products that I don’t use support or believe in, and I’ve got enough reason to get rid of the google ads.
On top of that, I don’t want you guys, my readers, clicking links on my pages that take you away from my site unless it’s a link that I think you may enjoy. Honestly, I don’t think you should click an ad that tells you you’ll lose 50 pounds in 5 days by taking 30 magic pills per day that cost 500 bucks.
So from this day forward, google ads are gone. Bye bye Jillian Michaels–I love you, but you won’t be making money off of me any more. From now on, I’ll only see you on Tuesdays!
But remember, I’m not opposed to making money. So from time to time, I may review products, or even recommend them. In fact, in a few days I’m receiving a free case of a new product that I’ll be reviewing. Also, I may sell advertising space on this site or join some affiliate programs. But if I do, it will be for products that I have used, believe in, and can truly recommend to you guys because they fit with the core tenets that I try and stay true to here at Get Fit Slowly.
Thoughts on the direction of Get Fit Slowly
Sooner or later, I believe will reach my fitness goals. I’ll be able to classify myself as a fit individual and I’ll no longer need to “Get Fit Slowly.”
But that doesn’t mean that I’ll stop writing here because I really enjoy it. It does mean that I have to find some new things to write about, however.
When that point comes, and I believe it will come in the next few months, I’d like to shift the attention of the blog away from myself. I really want to concentrate on helping others reach their fitness goals. Sharing my experiences is one way to do that. But there are other ways to do that and I’d like to explore some of those.
I have some ideas about how I might do this that aren’t ready to go live yet. For now, things will pretty much stay the same (without the ads). But stay tuned to Get Fit Slowly to see where I’m headed next.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
that’d be good for all of us still trying to get fit slowly. Jillian Michaels is one tough cookie — not sure that I would enjoy having her as my trainer at the time…not until after would i enjoy her work.
seth´s last blog ..February 1st & February Goals
Mac,
Good to see the positive attitude about hitting your fitness goals!
Look forward to seeing your new ideas as they evolve, too.
Greg´s last blog ..How To Eat After Exercise
I believe you’ll get to your goals pretty soon but I think you will need the accountability the blog provides to stick to them. I know I do when it comes to my weight at least. I think I’ve reached the point where I love my exercise too much to give it up.
AndrewE´s last blog ..Running for the joy of it
I think you’ve got the right idea with the advertising. From what I’ve seen, it’s hard to make money from AdSense unless you have a lot of traffic to your site. I have no problem seeing targeted ads on your site if I know that they are from products you personally approve of.
As far as the future of your blog, even though you may be reaching your goals soon, you obviously have a lot of great stuff to share on health and fitness. Looking forward to seeing what the future holds!
Brandon´s last blog ..Keeping track of my progress
I’ve debated this quite a few times myself. For now, I keep adsense.
As you progress to being healthy, and your blog evolves. I hope you don’t shift too far away from you. One thing I like about get fit slowly is stories and experiences. It adds a personal touch, and allows readers like me to connect with you even though we’ve never met. In addition, I can learn through your actions. For example, your comments about your personal trainer experience. I’ve never done that. So, by reading your posts and you sharing your experiences, you help me as a reader in deciding whether that will benefit me or not.
Talk again later.
Scott´s last blog ..Groundhog Day 2010: Make Exercise a Ritualistic Habit revisited.
Scott–I always say, “Do what works for you.” If adsense is worth it to you then go for it and I won’t judge you. For me, it was a very small amount of money so it was really a no brainer. I have no idea how much you’re making off of it. And don’t worry too much about the changes coming; there will still be plenty of personal stories, I promise.
Bring JD back as a Get Fit Slowly writer! Now that you are becoming an expert, he can provide the newbie voice…
JD knows that he’s more than welcome to come back.
What will I do without your stories? heck, you’re the only thing keeping me working out for my measly 30 minutes a day! (Okay, and some days I don’t even make that!)
If you don’t feel comfortable talking about yourself as much once you reach your fitness goals, then how about getting someone else who is fairly new or still fairly far away from their goals to give us the update?
That way, we’ll have a maintenance voice and a striving voice in the same blog!