I first started blogging about 6 years ago when I moved to Penang, Malaysia after retirement. My first blog was Retired in Malaysia and was all about my move and my life in Malaysia. My main reason in starting to blog was that I wanted a new hobby that could keep me relatively busy. My other reason was that I wanted something I could do at home that could earn me a bit of money, perhaps to buy a couple of beers from time to time.
I started to monetize my site with Google Adsense and was earning a few pennies now and then. But after a while Google banned me, without giving a reason, of course. Unbeknownst to me a friend was clicking on my site thinking he would help me. I appealed to Google with a full explanation, to no avail. Within a couple of hours they denied my appeal, I’m sure without even reading it! I then installed Infolinks, since I was banned from Adsense for life. Shortly after starting Retired in Malaysia, I started Steveso Thinks, which was a blog where I could share my views on liberal politics and social issues. This site was also monetized by “Infolinks”. I started using “Amazon”, “Ebay” and “Groupon” affiliate marketing in hopes of making some extra cash.
In 2014 I moved back to the United States, where my spouse and I set up home in Brockport, NY. After moving here I started two new blogs, Help Me Make Up My Mind, which is about reviewing some of the products I have purchased while living here, and Cattle Dog Kids, a blog about our two Cattle Dog siblings. These tow new blogs were also monetized in the same way as my previous blogs. I also wrote a few articles on sites that pay for content. I now can honestly say that in the past six years I have made a combined grand total of maybe $10!
All of my blogs previous to this one were started using Blogger, which I still use. After many hours of contemplation regarding starting a new blog with either “Blogger” or “WordPress”, I decided to try our “WordPress”. I started with the free plan to see if I could easily manage it with my very limited technology skills. I saw no sense in spending more money on another blog, if I couldn’t easily use the site. If I find that “WordPress” is to my liking I will definitely upgrade and get a domain of my own and then monetize the site to see if I can make a little bit more money. If I can make enough money to pay for the maintenance of my blogs with a little left over for a beer I’ll be satisfied.
MY FREE BRAIN 