Greetings and Salutations!

I now have all email caught up, and my spring classes are now complete as well! Hurrah! So hopefully the summer months can be spent making headway on various projects I have in store for us. I'm working to make the site run even more quickly and smoothly for us.

If you had any issues pending for me, and haven't heard back, please write me! I'm finally feeling like I can breathe again. I just released my 8th medieval novel, I only have one class for the next month, and the hummingbirds are here :).


AOL BOUNCEBACKS

AOL's mail servers seem a little sick - it seems like every AOL address in my mailings I did yesterday bounced back. Please ignore those for now - don't delete those addresses. I'm talking with AOL to see if there's anything we can do on our end, or if they'll fix it as soon as they can. They do this every once in a while and then get it sorted out.


INTERNATIONAL VISITORS

For the editors in the US, I know the upcoming elections are quite exciting :). Just a reminder that we have TONS of visitors coming in from non-US countries, and we have many editors around the world as well!

If you choose to write an article relating to politics, first remember to keep it evergreen. You can write about "Obama's First Term" in an evergreen way, without saying "this year" or "this November". That way the content still makes sense when someone reads it in 2013.

In addition, though, remember that a vast number of readers aren't from the US! You always want to write your content so it is clear and understandable by every reader. So rather than saying "Our politics are ..." You would want to say "The politics of the United States are ..." Always assume your reader could be anywhere in the world - because they can be!

The more clear your articles are, and the more they can be understood by any person, in any year that they read it, the more visitors will return to your site month after month.

You can always put the time related "this week this is what's happening" commentary in the forums, where it's clearly dated, and where it makes sense! That way your article is evergreen and maintains its high ranking - and the link to the forum provides the time-related, up to date information about what is going on "now".

If you have any questions about our international audience, or about writing in a way that will make sense to readers who find the content in 2013, feel free to ask. I'm happy to help!

Sincerely,


Lisa Shea, owner
BellaOnline.com

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