What does a tech savvy family do when their child wants a very expensive family vacation?
Duh, they tell her to earn it on a website and say GO!
Olivia is a kid you’ll probably want to watch. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her Mom, Julie. If Olivia has one tenth of the business acumen and laser focus that her mom has, well… buy stock in Olivia.
Here’s the deal. Olivia wants a trip to Germany. Olivia has to earn a trip to Germany.
Thinks I like about the site:
- it is clearly a collaboration between parent and child
- Olivia is introduced to you, but not over exposed
- there is an element of giving back
- Olivia defines “mindfully made” Mindfully Made means that the environment was taken into consideration when a product sold on this site was made. It means that the labor force employed by the manufacturer was treated fairly.
It’s entirely possible that we’ll see a trend where website development is the new, “go wash my car and I’ll give you a dollar”. BananaFoot.net is something that we Moms can look to as an example when our kids want to get in on the action.
Ooh, also, there are some really cute things.
This morning I had phone calls from two ad networks. Neither phone call was successful. I mean, they were successful in that the ad network representatives were nice, and they were thoughtful, but we won’t have working relationships any time soon.
In case you’re reading this and you aren’t a blogger, let me bring you up to speed on what an ad network is. An Ad Network is a business that puts little buttons of advertising on blogs. They also may create microsites where their publishers can add content. Advertisers (think really big corporations) then pay money to get their product featured on the site. Ad Networks will sell millions of impressions at a time to a company and then distribute it through their vertical channels. In this instance I was to be part of a “parenting” vertical channel, perhaps they would sell advertising to a diaper company. I would be one of a few dozen sites to run their artwork. That is a vertical. Ad Networks sell verticals.
Since I’m mostly stuttery and annoyed let me give you a few highlights from the two phone calls:
- I’m not familiar with your blog, but I imagine our advertisers wouldn’t want to be on it today, you know, with the dog and all. Why are you calling me? Do you NOT prepare for work?
- If you won’t advertise packaged food or Walmart, what will you advertise? There is a world outside of frankenfood. Double dog swear.
- You don’t have much traffic. Neither do your other publishers, stop talking to me like I’m stupid.
- Some of our publishers might have the tracking code in more than one place, but they do deliver on all their traffic. …. and I call bullshit
- I don’t want to influence your content, but…. just let me get off the phone with you. You know we hate each other at this point, right?
- We could offer you $3CPM before the 50/50 split but I don’t know if I can sell ads on your site. Why haven’t I hung up the phone yet?
- Would you advertise diapers? Yes, but it would be a stupid way for them to spend their money.
And so it went.
But the remarkable thing about both phone calls was that they were incoming. I’m not saying you have to read every word I write, but before you tell me that my content isn’t a good match for your company, take a look at the post titles (at a minimum) and understand why you’re making a phone call.
I could change up my template and add a click for y’all. I guess then I would be able to double (maybe even triple) my pageviews. I guess that’s why so many folks have switched to templates that have teasers.
Mom Blogging is delightful.
The business of blogging is not.
My Grandfather was arrested on Kristallnacht.
His birthday was November 11th and he turned 17. Or maybe 15 or maybe 25, because when you don’t have a country you get to create your own age.
The gates at Sachsenhausen have the words Arbeit Macht Frei inscribed in them. Work will set you free. My Grandfather did a little work, found a guard, pointed at the sign and asked, “I worked, now can I be free?” I’m not sure what set my grandfather free. It seems like it was most likely the Kindertransport. He somehow got to England and joined her army.
Update from my family: Fact- your Grandma got to England via Kindertransport and your Grandpa got to England via the Free French who transported him via small boat to the King’s shore-line. He denied having been lost in the Belgian/Dutch/French countryside but you may well recall that “navigation” wasn’t his strong suit albeit he seemed to have navigated life on his own course. He did escape Sachsenhausen (verified in person by another inmate) and, incidentally, swore to me while at our visit there that he never worked as hard for the nazi’s as he did for the Brits.
Everyone in my family has a story about how they left Germany, who didn’t make it, who stopped being Jewish.
I never know how much to tell my kids. Too much can be too much, and too little is dangerous.
Yom HaShoah, the day of the Shoah. The Holocaust.
My husband was standing outside our front door. I was on the stair below him, and Jane was kicking her soccer ball against the front gate.
As I reached out to hug my husband, and Jane came flying across the yard with helicopter arms and a magnificent smile.
“Me too! Me too! Me too!” She yelled, and wormed her way into our embrace in exactly the same way she has for the past eleven years.
Paying attention to my marriage is the first gift I can give my children.
Dana Loesh has two boys, and she’s not quite sure if it’s time to let them go to the bathroom alone. Alice, Asha and I chime in.
I’m in a bit of a different situation since my eldest child is a girl. I can have Jane take Alexander to the ladies room if I don’t want to stand outside the men’s room door.
What got cut was my litmus test. I decided that Alexander was old enough to use the restroom alone as soon as he was old enough to not touch the urinal cakes. Googie is going to take me to task on this, and insist that I never ever ever let my son go to the bathroom alone, molesters lurk there. Googie works for the district attorney. Googie deals in the 1%.
Though I have an earthquake kit, I still walk under my chandelier. I’ve spoken to my kids, I really think we’re okay.
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