About

My name is Xiaohua (it means “Little Flower” in Chinese). Since some people have a hard time pronouncing it, I also go by Alice. I’m a 30-something Chinese girl, living in Northern Nevada with my husband and our 2 sons. I enjoy surfing the Internet, blogging, going for walks with my family, traditional Chinese cooking, and traveling. I also aspire to be a “stay at home mom,” so I became interested in alternate sources of income – making money online – when my husband got his first $100 check from Google Adsense. Unfortunately, it was a 1 time occurrence, but it piqued my interest.

I figure that if other people can make money online then so can I. I’ve also found that it’s hard work, not easy like some rip-off artists would have you believe. You can’t just spend $47 on an eBook, another $79 for “SEO Software” (whatever that is), another $139 on whatever, and well you get the idea… Trying to make money online takes a lot of hard work, a lot of time, and probably more than a little luck. My Blogging Journal is an outlet of my journey to making money online – what works (for me) and what doesn’t work (for me). Unlike some blogs, you won’t find affiliate links to miracle products here. I may post links to certain products, but I will only recommend a product if it has worked for me.

I’ll also provide links to software and information I find useful. So far I’ve dabbled in WordPress, Drupal, and MODx. So far, I’ve found WordPress to be the easiest to use, configure, and customize. Drupal is also very useable, but not quite as easy as WordPress. Some things that are just configuration settings in WordPress require some php coding in Drupal. No big deal if you’re fluent in PHP, a HUGE deal if you’re not… As for MODx, it’s probably the most customizable out of the three, but only if you’re very fluent in php. Also, aftermarket documentation is hard to come by.