Plan B Nation: Finding Happiness in Challenging Times

Things your site does well:
-lots of GREAT Content. Google will love this!

Things your site doesn’t do so well:
-This site looks too much like a blog. I know I know, IT IS A BLOG! however, many indviduals once they see a page full of text they instantly leave. Add some spice and Flavor to your page! Throw in some more color, Images. Make me want to read your content!

Great Job! Be sure to make it Search Engine Friendly so you can increase your traffic/readers!

keep up the good work!

Thanks for the feedback! Now I just need to figure out HOW to do that–if you have any specific suggestions for plug-ins, etc, that might help, I’d love to hear them. (I am not at all technical–can’t do even the most basic, programming, etc. When I’m a bit further along and more well capitalized, may be able to pay for someone to do this for me, but for now it’s just me)

Again, THANK YOU!

Amy Gutman
[signature moderated]

Amy,
I agree this is an excellent concept and start! It’s so nice to see some good writing here. I look forward to reading your blog regularly. I’m really new to WordPress but I do know a fair amount of HTML, CSS and a little bit of Javascript. As I learn more about WP, I’d be happy to help you out if I can.

Good luck with Plan B (I LOVE that and can relate in some ways)
Jennifer

Thank you so much, Jennifer! That would be great.

BTW, looks like we aren’t supposed to put our domain names in our signatures? I didn’t know that. #whoops.

Amygutman,

Its simple, and there are MANY ways to add spice. Here are some I recommend:

1) get a photo editor, This is a must! theres going to come a time when you are going to need to edit a image, or create your own. I suggest a free program that is very much like photoshop. but FREE!
https://pixlr.com/

2) google free wordpress templates. There are a million of them. There are plenty out there that are just BEAUTIFUL! however, dont get too caught up in finding the one with the most graphics.

Too many graphics will slow down your website load time, and will make it difficult to add content, which your website does very well. So its important to find a nice template, but a template that is able to support lots of content.

3) some individuals, such as my self, are visual learners. For example, if i read a tutorial with no images, when i get done reading, I have no idea what I read. But If i have images of what the tutorial is talking about, i am able to understand, and enjoy the reading alot more.

Find images that support your topic. For your site, Id suggest images of your self doing what your blog topic is talking about.
EXAMPLE: “Now at this particular point in my life, I have close to zero interest in writing a novel ” -this is a post from your blog, maybe add a image of you that shows your Zero interest in writing a novel.

I hope this helps. Any more questions, please feel free to post.
Best of luck!

Thank you so much! Those are great suggestions. I actually just got my first-ever DSLR camera along with a copy of photoshop elements so that is on my to-do (to-learn) list. At this point, I am so clueless. Last night, I was putting together some Moo business cards & uploaded the B image I’m using for gravatar. I got an error message saying it wasn’t big enough: that it had to be at least blah blah x blah blah pixels. I had no idea what that meant or how to go about fixing that, so I just left it off. Sad.

Thanks again!

Amy Gutman

A great first blog attempt. Your resume and experience very impressive.

You forgot a period after this sentence:

“Plan A, that’s so 20th-century,” I said to another

Thank you–eagle eye! Just fixed the period.