Survey Answers & Info

Today we're taking a step back to answer some general questions about the site.

A few months ago (how quickly time flies) we posted a reader survey. We're constantly trying to improve the content we post on Words of Williams and getting some insight into what's important to you all helps us greatly in our endeavors. Thank you!

Sorry this took so long, but we'd like to answer some questions and point out a few resources that might help navigating the site a little easier. We likely look at our site more than anyone and sometimes what makes sense to us doesn't always translate to the reader as effectively as possible. So, we hope to spell it all out here so that we're all on the same page.

Winner of the $50 Gift Card

Rebecca was the winner of the Amazon gift card. She was notified immediately but I'm not sure we ever shared that on the blog.

Posting Schedule

For more than two and a half years, we pretty consistently posted five times a week. It was a lot of fun, but became pretty stressful for us as Rooney has gotten older. So, for the sake of keeping our sanity, and being able to do a few other things with our free time, we've scaled back to posting three days a week.... sort of.

We got a few comments on the survey about people not knowing when to expect a post. Our posting schedule is (as of now) three posts per week minimum. And when we only post three times, they will be posted Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6:00 am Central time.

When we happen to be swimming in content, or have a timely post we'd like to publish, we'll fill in on Tuesday or Thursday, likely at 6:00 am Central time.

We've enjoyed sharing inspirational quotes on Saturday. Something to ponder over the weekend. But we heard that some of you thought they were showing up too often, so we've slowed it down. If we have one to share, it will post at 6:00 am Central time on Saturday morning.

Sponsored Posts

We do sponsored posts on occasion when it feels right to us. We partner with brands to help spread their message, and, yes, we are typically compensated for that. The opinions are always our own.

Blogging takes a considerable amount of time and effort, and sponsored posts are one way we can validate the time we spend sharing our lives on the Internet.

We also use affiliate links to products that we like. You never have to buy anything from our affiliate links, but if you do, it helps support us.

Products

There were a few folks on the survey who seem to be offended that we sell products on our blog. I don't mean to sound trite here, but you get the content on this site for free. And we won't apologize for trying to make some extra money for the efforts we put into keeping this blog going.

Certainly the products can be ignored if they are not a good fit for you, but they have helped lots of people and are valuable for those who need them.

Newsletter

We've started a weekly newsletter. The format may change in the future, but right now it's a little bit about what's been going on in the previous week, recap of the posts from the week, a few random nuggets from the Web, and a peek at what's coming the next week. Sign up if you want and you'll also get our free budget spreadsheet.

Site Navigation

We've recently updated our menus at the top of the site under our header. There is a Resources page with recommendations in the areas of money, marriage, parenting, blogging, writing, graphics/photo editing, digital organization and learning.

In the drop-down menu under Resources we have links to my book, The Family Playbook, and our Amazon Store (some of our favorite products available on Amazon).

Search

Google custom search is now available in our right sidebar. It will search both wordsofwilliams.com and snappycasualblog.com. Way better than the Wordpress search we had before.

Post Categories

Along with making the search within the site easier, we've been going through and re-categorizing our posts. Which is a daunting task, but should help with search functionality. Hopefully this will be completed soon.

For now, the easiest way to find what you are looking for is the search tool. Beyond that, you can scan the archives.

Author Details

If you are ever confused about who wrote the post you are reading, the details are at the top near the title. It can be easy to scan over.

Looking Forward

We have some big plans this year in the realm of personal finance. We hope to provide some solutions to common problems we hear a lot about. Mostly around starting and sticking to a budget. It seems to be the biggest issue for our readers. We'll be emailing some of you soon about having a conversation with (based on your answer to ne of the survey questions).

Sorry if all those details put you to sleep. What other questions do you have for us? Let us know in the comments and we'll do our best to answer.