More free promotion

Note today to Helium How-to Guide writers. The promotion is not directly for me but if other Helium writers check me out and read one article, that's one more hit. The guide itself has stopped earning mega views but $50.00 is still a lot of money.

"Hi team,

As you may already know, our Helium.com members have seen enormous success by utilizing StumbleUpon.

Ann Hinds received over 35,000 views in one month for her How to keep food cold in an ice chest guide. Believe it or not, she's still receiving views with just a little under 50,000 total. By the way, that's $50 in revenue earned from ONE How To Guide."

As far as the writing 100 articles goes, I still need to do 88 more. This is really a struggle.

Procrastination

I think I've written 2 more. I did write 2 more and then decided to grab a topic page. It's not helping me make my goal. Still topic pages are good. As a channel manager, they want us to have topic pages to manage. I really need to write articles. I think I will play with the prompts I used in my article to see what I come up with.

4 down, 96 to go

I know stuff. Now I'm looking for titles for the stuff I know. Today it is crafts, embroidery, quilting and other crafts that I have done. Free cross stitch flag patterns was the last topic. Found some really cool ones that even I want to try. I think it can be done. The problem is they all need to be quality so it's not like I can just knock them off. My score is bordering 85% and I want to keep the bonus star.

Rethinking goal

OK, so since I posted the goal which is supposed to make me accountable, I have written one article. Let's see, I can blame family problems, financial problems or the weather. I am rethinking the goal although I really don't want to change it. I guess I will stay with it, it is lofty and it would be fun to make it. OK, it stays.

GRAND magazine names Helium in the top 12 websites for Grandparents

GRAND, The Online Magazine for Grandparents, has named Helium’s Grandparenting Channel one of the “Top 12 Websites for Grandparents”. The sites were chosen based on a number of criteria including content, ease of navigation, web traffic and the overall look and appeal.

Helium is honored to receive this award and proud of all our dedicated writers who work to provide the best content on the web. We especially want to congratulate Ann Hinds, Helium’s Grandparenting Channel Manager!

The Top 12 sites will be published in the 7th Year Anniversary Edition of GRAND published on Sept. 1 as part of the site’s National Grandparents Day celebration.

New goal

It's time to set a new goal. This time it is money motivated. I want to go to Tuscon in October but know that it will take money. I also need to have 500 Helium articles to keep my 4 stars. I am in danger of losing my bonus star so need to clean up some of the older articles. I want to write 100 articles this month. Keeping the 4th star pays more. I am currently at 207. It's a long way to 500.

Debate over children who do not grow up speaking English as a 1st language

I had a talk yesterday with a friend who told me that if children in America do not grow up with English as their first language, they will always lag behind in school. She is from Mexico and seemingly quite successful so I don't understand her logic. I know that the kids in the classroom where I volunteer are struggling. Still, I believe that they can not only learn but excel and that it is now a challenge for me. I think that her perspective if flawed and that we will need to have further discussions on the subject.