Tuesday, January 20, 2015

What Am I Doing?

If you couldn't see this blog yesterday you are not alone! One minute it was fine, and then the next thing you know it said "server cannot be found" (or a variation of that message depending on what web browser was used). For 24 hours messymom.com came up blank! I panicked and immediately recruited my IT husband to get to the bottom of it.

It seems like every few years I run into a situation like this, but it's usually because I fail to pay my bill. 5 years ago I went from themessymom.com to just messymom.com because I lost my domain name to some poachers the day it expired. Then two years ago I had my bank card compromised and cancelled, so the automatic draft didn't go through to renew my site. The next day some nasty, I mean NASTY photos and web links took over my blog for a day until I got it all sorted out. That was fun. Not really.

This time wasn't as bad. After some inquiring on Facebook I had dozens of people respond saying they could access this site just fine. Everyone except for those using a certain internet service provider. Which is weird. We still don't know for certain, but I guess it was some technical problem with a DNS server... thingy... I think. I dunno. I'm back now, and that's what matters.

So now that I'm back what am I doing? I am glad I asked. Every year I say this is going to be the year I make some big changes to my blog and it never happens. One of the issues I ran into when my site was down was that I had little to no control over the inner workings of this blog and no way to contact the people who do. Blogger.com is a free site, so you can only be so picky. On the other hand, if I want to go to self hosting we are talking about venturing out to an area beyond my expertise. Not to mention I don't have any extra money to spend on a hobby right now so if I am going to pay to play then I need to be bringing in some return on my investment. In other words, if I am going to dump any money into this blogging thing then I need to figure out how to get some money back.

J and I talked whenever this debacle happened and he encouraged me to consider making that step. I agreed, and looked at this server nightmare as a bit of a confirmation that now may be the time to pursue some of the ideas I have been tossing around for the past 7 years of this blogging journey. It's exciting and nerve wracking. We'll see if I actually do anything about it, but I just posted it on the real live internet so that's worth something right?

Effective immediately, I have been networking a little. I was featured in the 4 Real Moms newsletter this month! Remember my blog post about Taking Pictures Alone VS. Taking Pictures With Your Family? Here is a little cutout of my spot in the newsletter-




You can view the entire newsletter HERE and subscribe to the monthly 4 Real Moms newsletter HERE. That was an exciting opportunity that I hope to do more of. Then next month, on Tuesday February 24th, I will be doing a guest post on Holly Barrett's blog sharing some of my testimony. This will be a first for me and I am definitely looking forward to it. On top of that I just scheduled some guests post on this site as well, and I am super pumped about that.

Lot's of stuff in the works. I could use all the prayers and encouragement I can get and if you are a WordPress user or you monetize your blog then please comment, message, or email me! I would love need to hear from you.

That's all for this little announcement, but stay tuned as the proverbial ball slowly starts a rollin'.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Way to go on getting featured and getting some guest post opportunities. I have been trying to work on getting guest posts to help draw in new readers. So happy for your success.
And I'm glad you were able to get your site back up and running. I once had an issue, it was a pain to resolve, but luckily wasn't a big deal.

Anonymous said...

Congrats on being featured! That is exciting stuff.

Jessica @ Barefoot by the Sea said...

This is Really exciting! I can't wait to stick around to see where your journey leads! Congrats on the new beginning!

nancy from ky said...

Yay Natalie! Perseverance pays off. (and good writing).

Susan said...

Being featured is HUGE! Just keep taking baby steps forward - you'll get it all figured out!

Christine Leeb said...

I'm so excited that God is prompting you to reach more people and encourage others in a bigger way. My one word of advice is that it's not about numbers, it's about relationships...it's about inspiring others...it's about following God's lead and knowing that He is bigger than any following or "likes" that we get or don't get. It's about knowing that making a difference in just one person's life matters! I'm so excited for you. Your blog is so real and so relatable. I pray that God sets you in the right direction and that you find passion and joy in all that you do! Let me know how I can help or how I can be praying for you on this new journey!

Blessings-
Christine