B250_L13

I can't believe it's finally here-the end of the semester!! This class was my favorite of all the ones I took this semester and I feel that I learned the most from it because I enjoyed it. There were definitely a lot more steps to making an online business that I had originally thought and I'm excited to use what we have learned to expand my photography business. Thanks for your time in explaining every lesson and for answering emails-not just mine because some students posted your reply in the discussion groups and it helped explain things a lot better. Have a Merry Christmas!!

B250_L12

This week was a lot of fun for me. The ideas presented about social media and social networking are something that I will use on my photography pages. This week was also a lot less stressful because I was at home all week instead of traveling for holidays. I am getting excited for the end of the semester and can't believe that it is almost here! This class has been my favorite and is the only one I have been able to use immediately to help my photography business. Thanks for a great semesters!

B250_L11

This has been a crazy week! We went to grandma's in Utah for Thanksgiving and I thought that I had done a lot to prepare to be gone, but I didn't get this class done. Thank heavens for WiFi!!! This week explained a lot about web optimization and SEO's. It kind of went over my head a little and I'm finding that I can't seem to remember everything that I've read from the readings. As for getting ready for the next project, my website shows that I've been getting visitors and I have clickthroughs showing in my Adwords account, but the link I embedded in the landing pages isn't showing anything, so I don't know if I did it right. Hopefully I'll have enough data off of the other stuff to be able to get the project wrapped up ok! Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

B250_L10

This week was pretty good. I'm starting to understand Adwords a little better-I am still unsure on what to use for good keywords to help optimize my ad. I started another ad for the Christmas photo rush. I think the ads have been performing well. I've booked a few sessions and had quite a bit of activity on my website. I'm finding that as the school year is winding down, it's getting harder to find time for homework amongst all the other craziness that is going on right now. I'm a little stressed out about next week because we are taking off Wednesday for Utah, so I need to have a lot of my homework done before Wednesday. My poor kids are feeling the stress and are probably tired of hearing me say that I've got to do my homework. Hopefully after Thanksgiving, the last few weeks will go smoothly.

B250_L09

Another week is done and we are that much closer to the end of the semester. I feel like I did at the beginning of the semester: drowning! I can't seem to keep my head above water in my classes lately. I'm not understanding a lot of the content. I watch help videos when I can, but my personal life has been a little on the crazy side. This class has been pretty good. Google Analysis and Adwords are awesome tools that help with your online business stats and advertising. My ad isn't giving me much data, other than clicks and impressions. The Quality Score still hasn't shown up on anything, so I don't know what to do there. I increased my budget to $1.75/day, but it still shows my max CPC as $1.00. The analytics that I put on my website showed that it was working when I installed it, but it has shown no data either. I'm beyond frustrated and am giving it a break today before I lose my head!!!

B250_L08

It's nice to have an easier week occasionally! Hopefully next week won't be too hard to get back into the routine of things! :) Without realizing it, my Google ad went through and I actually got contacted by someone to shoot a wedding for them. It's crazy how fast things like that can help your business grow. I'm not sure that I will do the wedding, but it was nice to see that advertising works. This class has been really helpful in learning the ins and outs of online businesses. It is also great to learn the basics of website building. Things that were foreign to me three months ago, now make sense. It's great!

B250_L07

It is crazy how fast the weeks are flying by! I feel this week went pretty good for this class. Understanding Google Adwords is crucial to helping you create successful ads to promote your business. The tricky part for me is coming up with the correct keywords to help drive people to my site. Photography has a lot of broad keywords and figuring out what people would type in to look for a family photographer or school portraits is hard. But the discussion board posts and the reading assignments were really good to explain things in a way that I can kind of understand. There is definitely a lot more to running an online business than I ever thought before and I am enjoying learning about everything.

B250_L06

This week has been crazy! I feel like my brain has been fried! This class was good. I got all my assignments done and turned in on time. I think that my website turned out pretty good. All the legal and tax stuff kind of went over my head a little bit, but reading through all the posts in the discussion group helped to make it a little less foggy. I struggle with finding any information on photography businesses as far as the taxes and paperwork needed to make it an official business. I asked one of my friends what she does to claim her photography as a business. She said all she does is the state income tax. I'm pretty sure she would be a sole proprietor as well, but I didn't know about any of this when I asked her. The other thing that I've wondered about is how much money do you need to make to claim it as a business instead of a hobby? Some years you make quite a bit and the next, you make nothing. But, I feel like this week was very productive and I'll count it as a success!!!

B250_L05

Another week has come and gone. It's crazy to think that the semester is almost half over!! This week was really good. The assignments are really helping me with the project we have coming up this next week. Incorporating credit card payment into the website is something I've wanted to learn for a while. It also helps that a few of my other classes are teaching me how to write a website through HTML and JavaScript, and my other class is teaching me how to make a good logo, so hopefully between all my classes, I will be able to get my website up and going. I really enjoy this class and the discussion boards are very helpful with the opinions and experiences of all the other students being shared. 

B250_L04

Wow! This week has been crazy! There was a lot of work involved with the weekly assignments and Project #1. I also had a lot of things due in other classes and quite a bit of personal stuff going on, that I'm hoping I have remembered to do everything. This class is one of my favorites. I am really beginning to enjoy the discussion group-they have some great comments and insights that help me to understand the assignments we have completed. I feel like I am beginning to get a grasp on websites and what is involved with one. It has helped a bunch in a couple of my other classes, and they have helped with this one as well. I still struggle to come up with good comments each week-I feel that everyone is way over my head that my comments do nothing for them. But, I really enjoy this class.

B250_L03

This week was a lot of fun for me! I think the light has finally clicked on!!! I still tend to second guess myself and have an internal battle when I go to submit my assignments. I found the assignments enjoyable and I think I was able to state my position pretty well in my assignments. My favorite on was affiliate and drop shipping. I use drop shipping for my photography products and never understood what that entailed. Now I get it! The discussion boards are still where I struggle. I don't know what to say to comment on four different posts. The initial post is fine because it's me stating my agreement or disagreement and why I went with what I did. I just don't know what to say to the other students other than, "me too! :)" But, overall, I feel like this week went a lot better than the previous two!

B250_L02

This week has been a little challenging for me. I still feel like I'm drowning! I keep hoping that I'm not in over my head. It is quite overwhelming starting school again after being away from it for so long. My days are not as available as I would like them to be to focus on school, so I do all my homework at night after I put my kids to bed. I've always been a night owl, but I usually didn't have to think so much. I'm hoping as the weeks go by that I will be able to figure out how to come up with the words necessary to fulfill each of my assignments. I know my position, but have a hard time coming up with the words to defend my reasoning and give good feedback on others discussion board posts. I can talk it out with my husband just fine, but then I can't seem to remember what we discussed when it comes time to write it out. I feel like a bumbling idiot most days! They always say if your'e frustrated, then you're learning. I hope that's the case this semester! I'm beyond frustrated with myself by the time I go to bed every night! This is only the second week of school, so here's to hoping that I get the hang of things soon!