I think we, as consumers, often complain publicly when we experience difficulties, but when things go as planned or better we rarely leave a good review. So, I wanted to take the time to say my piece.
My previous phone had been included in a family plan with CC and we were paying close to $80 for three people.
We would often receive texts about going over our data limits. This would cause the plan to automatically upgrade to the more expensive plans.
I currently just have a single line with Tello and I pay just $9 per month for unlimited talk/text and 1 GB of data, which is fine for my needs. I could upgrade to the unlimited data as well and the cost would only be $25 per month.
Since the previous service with CC was a family plan, the support staff were only willing to speak with the account owner. Whenever we had an issue we would have to call my relative in another state and have them call CC for support.
Supposedly, the account was set up for any of us to call, but when we did we always got the run around despite the numerous promises otherwise by support staff.
I am glad I decided to switch my carrier and my wallet is certainly happier too.
Thanks for reading. Questions or comments put them below, and have a great day.
Last month I decided to upgrade my WordPress plan to the premium Explorer plan with the intent to begin monetizing my site through ad placements using the WordAds service.
The Cost
I purchased my upgrade on March 16th. The final price tag of the plan was $222 for three years of service. When I went to make the upgrade there was a discount being offered for a full three-year registration.
The domain was free for the first year, included in all plans, and then $12 annually afterward.
I certainly wasn’t going to pass up such a good deal.
This brought my annual hosting cost down to $74. So this is the magic number that I will need to reach in advertising dollars to break even each year.
The Wait
I had some initial difficulties getting up and running with WordAds. After submitting an application for inclusion in the program I did not receive any responses other than a canned email.
After waiting four days (March 20), I returned to the application page. I was surprised to find a notice saying that my site was ineligible for WordAds. I contacted support right away.
I was a bit befuddled by the message, so I tried to get support using the Live Chat feature included in my upgrade.
Instead of a human, I was greeted by an AI.
I did eventually manage to get connected to a live representative, they call themselves “Happiness Engineers.” The conversation was quite long but I eventually was told that they could not tell me what the problem was and that someone would contact me.
I made sure to ask them about cancellation and a refund just in case I would not be able to utilize WordAds on my site.
The Problem
After 3 days of waiting I sent a follow-up email asking if they were close to finding an answer. I was worried because the 14-day time limit on cancellations was close approaching. All I got was silence.
After another six days (March 29), I received a response to my follow-up. A whole 13 days since I purchased the upgrade and applied for WordAds, and just 1 day left to be able to get a refund on the purchase.
The Answer
So it seems the bot that crawls the pages had made a mistake and flagged my site as not being family-friendly. The Happiness Engineer directed me to reapply to the program with a supplied link.
Following their advice, I returned to the application page and tried to reapply. But I got a different error message this time.
I returned to the email exchange with support staff and requested further assistance. The staff member eventually had to manually add me into the program.
The Conclusion
On March 29th, I was finally accepted into the WordAds program.
For March I had three days (29, 30, and 31) of advertising on my site before the ledger rolled over to April.
I have read that it usually takes around three months to get a clear idea of the revenues a site will generate as the advertisers get a feel for your site’s content and the types of visitors who frequent it.
I can see a direct correlation between the days where I have high traffic and the greater CPM levels. This is still the early testing phase but I did see some $0.50 and higher CPM levels on the more busy days.
I now need to refocus my energies on producing quality content and guides to further drive the growth of this site.
The next quarterly posting of my WordAds experience should be sometime in June.
If you have any questions about my experience that I did not cover here then please leave me a comment below.
I have signed up for a 3-year package for the Explorer plan. Since I now have this nice big site with lots of storage space, I think I should put it to good use.
I will be moving over my posts from a personal blog I have been writing on the side. You will see it on the top of the main page sidebar, “The Errant Literary.” I will begin writing my new personal posts here on this site soon.
The YouTube channel I started to support this blog has just recently hit a one-thousand-subscriber milestone.
The channel was created to host slideshows of the many picture galleries you find here on the site. I thought it would be an easy way for readers to view the content.
I think maybe after a month or so, one of my shorts got picked up on the feed and hit 62 thousand views overnight. That sent the channel to 100 subs, and I got a custom channel URL.
After that happened, I started thinking that maybe the channel could be something more than just an extension of this blog. I started putting more effort into my uploads, and I began adding long-form content.
Sometime last year, I also started using Twitch and did a few live streams while playing Dungeons and Dragons Online. I didn’t care so much for the platform, though, so I decided to refocus my efforts on YouTube.
The majority of my traffic came from the embedded videos here on the blog and links I posted on Reddit communities.
That actually reminds me, I still have a bunch of short videos from some of the *** that didn’t get uploaded.
Anyway, I just want to offer my thanks to everyone who has supported both this blog and the *** YouTube channel.
I am curious how other blogs on WordPress have faired over the years. I have tried searching Google but have had little success in finding posted data on average blog traffic.
I started this blog in 2022, to host my Media after I ran out of space on my main blog (kasanje.home.blog). Since then, this site has quickly shifted from getting all of its traffic directly from my other blog to now achieving a 50/50 split on traffic.
These are my Referral stats for 2023. As you can see a significant portion of my traffic is from my established blog. From search engines, Yandex has actually outpaced Google Search. Bing and Yahoo remain in the minority as traffic sources.
Some links to my content are likely present on Reddit and I do also operate a YouTube channel. But search traffic remains a major source for this blog.
So, where do you get your traffic? What are your average views per day?
Drop me a comment.
I would greatly appreciate your insight or perspectives on this topic.
Well, it turns out that today is my 1st anniversary of having started my YouTube channel.
There was a small notification that quickly disappeared on my dashboard this morning. I wanted to grab a screenshot, but it was gone before I knew it, so I’ve got this stock image of a birthday cake instead.
I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has joined me along the way. I don’t think I would still be here putting together videos without your support. Your expectations give me reason and purpose to continue this loving work.
오늘은 제 1주년 기념일입니다.
저를 지원해 주신 모든 분들께 감사드립니다.
Kasanje 올림
Your support is very much appreciated, and I look forward to bringing more entertaining content to the *** channel.
I woke up this morning and found that my phone was no longer able to receive or make calls. The text messaging and internet were fine. After browsing the net for an extended period of time I found that I was not alone. It seems many people were in my situation, we all had 4G/LTE phones that were either Unlocked or International models. My service provider (Consumer Cellular) wasn’t able to explain why it wasn’t working.
“I have a Galaxy S10+ that is 4g capable and it stopped taking and receiving phone calls a few days ago. I could use data, and Wi-Fi, and get texts. Long story short, it isn’t the cell company’s fault. It is a Samsung issue. I went to a Cricket store to try to fix and they told me about this fix and did it to my phone. It worked!
Update Google Play Store if needed.
Download ‘Samsung band selection’ that looks like a rainbow circle (free app).
Launch the app and hit ‘Launch band selection’.
4)Select ‘wcdma all’.
5) Leave the app and go to settings.
6) Go to ‘About phone’.
7) Hit ‘reset’ (this won’t do anything immediately so don’t worry).
8) Very carefully only select ‘Reset Network Settings’.
9) It will prompt you again to reset. Reset the network settings.
10) Restart phone. Fixed!
You will have to set up your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices again. Small price to pay for this fix. When I did this I had to go back to the app and select the wcdma all again as it didn’t seem to save the first time. Hope this helps others!
Edit: This appears to be a temporary fix for my international (unlocked) phone. See comments for more info.”
After applying the changes listed I found that I was once again able to make and receive calls on my Samsung A21s. Other posts to the thread noted that this fix is only good until June 30 2022.
Reddit user Stellarspace1234 says that “The issue is that AT&T banned ‘non-AT&T’ branded phones from their network. The way AT&T set up their network is intentional.“
I noted similar comments on the AT&T forums, Reddit, Twitter, and other sites while I searched for an answer. Another option is switching to a carrier that still supports 4G/LTE devices such as T-Mobile. That’s not really an option for me though as their service costs double what I am paying for Consumer Cellular.
Some forum answers suggested that a software update or firmware flashing was needed to fix the phones. Others have said that the carrier can fix the problem, but is choosing not to. Still, more blame the MVNO. It’s all quite a mess.
The Litecoin Foundation launched ‘OmniLite’ a decentralized token creation platform
OmniLite is an open-source platform that facilitates the creation of decentralized tokens and smart contracts along with crypto-assets such as tokens and NFTs. OmniLite, being a layered protocol built on top of Litecoin’s blockchain, takes advantage of its reputable network security and low fees. The tokens created via OmniLite can be considered to be an extension of Litecoin and as a result, the transactions from these tokens are recorded on its blockchain. Consequentially, all digital assets created via OmniLite benefit from the network advantages Litecoin has to offer.
Over the years, the rapidly growing and ever-evolving cryptocurrency industry has become a hub of opportunity for builders across the globe. Litecoin, considered to be one of the most enduring cryptocurrencies over the past decade, is a prime example of this aspiration to tweak and innovate.
Due to Litecoin’s minimal fees, along with its decade-long persistence and 100% network uptime, the opportunity to build assets on top of the Litecoin ecosystem was only a matter of time. Thanks to the hard work of Litecoin developer Loshan and the Litecoin Foundation, with OmniLite, creating on top of the Litecoin network has now become significantly easier.
The creation of OmniLite will also facilitate the creation of stablecoins on top of the Litecoin blockchain. While other networks such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have been experiencing saturation issues, developers may want to take advantage of the significantly cheaper transaction costs and security Litecoin has to offer. Thanks to OmniLite, building a layered economy on top of Litecoin has never been this accessible.
Currently, OmniLite supports a wallet mode (Litecoin Omni) and is available on three platforms: Windows, Linux, and MacOS. To learn more about OmniLite, please visit the following links below:
My mother and Aunt went to the opening show of Shen Yun on New years eve at the Duke Performing Arts Center. They very much enjoyed the show. My mother has been an avid fan of Chinese period dramas for some time so this was a real treat to see.
Photography was not allowed. The following text is quoted from (www.shenyun.com)
Shen Yun
“The gong resounds, the curtain opens, and a heavenly scene is right before your eyes. Fairies emerge from a sea of billowing clouds. Mongolians ride on horseback across grasslands as vast as the sky. Classic stories of love and loss, of humor and heroic deeds, come to life. You will be amazed by how vibrant, exciting, and profound classical Chinese culture can be.”
Meaning of Shen Yun
Souvenirs from the Shen Yun gift shop
“Through breathtaking dance and music, Shen Yun’s artists tell of a time when divine beings walked upon the earth, leaving behind a culture that inspired generations. Ancient Chinese wisdom, infused with Buddhist and Taoist spirituality and values, gave birth to everything from medical innovations to opera, dance, architecture, and even martial arts. But after decades of communist rule, much of this divinely inspired culture has been destroyed or forgotten.”
Images from website
“Shen Yun is a brilliant artistic revival and celebration of China’s rich cultural heritage.
Each performance consists of about 20 pieces, quickly moving from one legend, region, or dynasty to the next. Themes range from the delicate elegance of Tang court ladies to the battlefield heroics of valiant generals, from the timeless philosophical works of Lao-Tzu to spectacular scenes of magical realms. Some pieces also touch upon the topic of today’s China, shedding light on the oppression many experience for their spiritual beliefs, such as Falun Dafa. These tales of courage are often what audience members find the most touching and uplifting.
Shen Yun’s works convey the extraordinary depth and breadth of genuine Chinese culture, and bring the magnificence of five thousand years of civilization back to life on stage.”
Fat Wallet Refugee 