As you can see by the changes we are almost ready to go into beta testing with the site.

For those of you who signed up to write in the last two weeks or so, we apologize for not realizing you had signed up. Account activation was working but we didn't have it notifying us because we just had the generic engine up here and no interface. We'll get you set up in the next day.

This gives us a chance to answer a few questions people have asked.

Why are we here? I think we're like most people. We like reading the adventures and experiences of the rescue business. We don't like going to 25 different websites to do it. So if we build a community of people who have a similar experience and background, it's good for readers because they only need one URL.

How is writing here better than writing on your own site? I assume most people write because they want to be read. 99.9% of people blogging make under $1 a month with Google ads so it isn't a money issue. By having lots of good writers on one site, the miracle of compounding means you are discovered and then read by a lot more people. If we have 50 good writers putting up an article every day, many of you will get 10,000 readers each time you post.

Can I make teaser articles and point readers to my own site to read the rest? The only thing you cannot do is to try and leverage the hard work of the other writers here by doing partial articles and directing readers to your personal site. We are doing all of this work to build a community, not create free traffic for your other sites. If the $.10 a month you are making on Google ads is that important to you, we understand, but you are probably not interested in building a community and should continue on your own. It's not to say we don't want you, we do, but having to go to 25 other sites is why we started this. Believe us, it will make readers crazy too. You can list other sites in your bio, of course. If you've written books or magazine articles, list those too. The bio is where you brag about the other sites you have, not the articles.

What if my column gets really popular? We have a click ad at the top. No one clicks on those. It might pay for bandwidth but we doubt it. However, if we get a lot of traffic we can get an ad company to pay us for "impressions" instead of clicks and we will split the ad revenue with the top 20 writers each month if that happens. So aside from readership, you have a monetary incentive to promote your site and generate more readers.

How do I get more readers? First, you do minor self-promotion. You tell people you are writing. Finding you at random among 70 million blogs is otherwise difficult. When you make comments on other sites, use your column here as your URL and people will click on it to see where you came from. Second is to write great articles. That is obvious. Third is to write often. The most successful sites like this have a core of people who write every day. Fourth is to make people excited to come here and be part of your community. Leave comments for each other, make jokes, have fun. If it's a fun place with lots of readers, more people will join.

I'm sure there will be more to come as more questions come up. In the meantime, this is a labor of love for us and we hope you feel the same way.

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