I’ve been making gradual updates to blog functionality and thought I ought to let you know what changes have been implemented, and ask your thoughts on whether this improves things, or if you have other suggestions.

WordPress Upgrade

Plutonica.net runs on WordPress, and on June 17th we upgraded to WordPress 3.0 “Thelonious” along with a significant portion of the blogging world.

Only a few of you may notice any differences, those who log in to comment (which is not a requirement for this site), and those who log in for guest posts. On the front end everything looks pretty much the same, and behind the scenes the changes are minimal, though there are over 1200 bug fixes and other enhancements that took place between this and the last WordPress release.

Indeed, with the insane amount of new customization options now available a new theme upgrade may be in order in the coming months.

Geeze, it doesn’t seem like that long since our last redesign, but I guess it was almost a year ago.

New Features

Liking comments

This feature was actually implemented a few months ago after a particular discussion took place where I felt that rather than repeating myself or others in the thread, it would be helpful if readers and commentators could “like” a particular response.

So, now you can.

There is no “dislike” button because I feel, as a rule, you guys are pretty civil about how you interact with each other and there’s simply no need for it. If you dislike what someone’s saying, a reasoned response is almost always more helpful than noting a negative sentiment. Continue reading »

Popularity: 6%

As we announced in February, we now offer advertising at excellent rates.

The first company to take us up on this was AloeRoot, a web design company with a beautiful site, a helpful blog, and a great client list.

You’ll still be able to find their ad on the far right hand side of our website for the next couple of days with the special code for a discount on their services and I highly encourage you to check them out.

Interested in advertising with us, too?

We still have spaces left for March and April, please see our rates or contact me for details.

Thanks again for being our first advertiser, AloeRoot!

Popularity: 1%

Plutonica.net now offers advertising from as low as 30$US per month.

We offer 150 x 150px ads such as the sample image pictured left, and a 150 x 300px size viewable on the website in the far right sidebar and on our detailed advertising page.

All ads appear on the far right sidebar on both the blog and the Esoteric Book Club.

Some questions you may be asking:

So, you’re selling out?

No, this is my attempt to make this blog (and the new book club) a self-sufficient enterprise, at least financially.

This blog has been running for more than two years and in that time it has yet to pay for itself, let alone make a profit. I’ve never expected the latter, but I would like the blog to at least be able to pay for itself in terms of the several hundred dollars it accrues each year in hosting, domain and post box fees.

In 2008 I introduced Amazon.com affiliate links. While this has drawn some interest, I’ve yet to receive a payout from purchases made on this blog. That’s ok. At least I can display book covers for titles put out by the mainstream publishers, which I think adds a lot of value.

But advertising…?

The Google ads have been here from the beginning, so advertising on this blog isn’t new. Yet Google’s been rather hopeless for me.

Since 2007 the blog has accrued less than $20 in earnings. $19.34 to be exact. The minimum payment is $100. It’s very unlikely that’s ever going to happen.

Since a big part of our mandate is to be:

a place to share thoughts and reflections on magickal subjects, and promote new and innovative works in magickal art, literature and culture

It makes more sense to open up this opportunity to the rest of the community, to promote the websites and businesses of the readers of this blog and help them reach other like-minded people.

Still think I’m selling out? Continue reading »

Popularity: 8%

We’ve just added a brand new Facebook fan page for Plutonica.net.

It’s been up for about two weeks and we’ve already got more than fifty fans, which is great.

Fans see updates about the site, new posts, and other resources.

We’ll also post questions, solicit feedback and ideas, and you’ll be able to interact with others who share similar interests, ask questions, get advice and we’ll see what else!

You can find me there, and several others who’ve contributed to Plutonica.net over the years. So if you’re interested in interacting in another medium, I highly recommend checking it out and becoming a fan.

I’m still learning about fan pages, so let me know if you have any thoughts, suggestions or ideas about what you’d like to see.

Popularity: 4%

Plutonica.net was first launched on October 31st, 2007, today marks its second birthday.

It’s gone through periods of hyperactivity and lagging for months without posts, but I think we’ve entered into a decent  rhythm now. I’ve found it to be quite a learning curve, despite beginning my first blog in 2001, but it’s also been a lot of fun.

Write for us!

We’ve had guest bloggers in the past, but I’d like to open the blog up to anyone who’s interested in writing for it, be it a guest post or a regular column.

We’ve submission guidelines posted, but if you’ve been reading for a few weeks or – how exciting – since the beginning, then you probably have a good idea of the sorts of things we write about here. Continue reading »

Popularity: unranked