The internet is a very different world than it was eleven years ago when I first created The Witch’s Corner.  Myspace was thriving as a hopping busy social site full of people, their unique pages, and their fast and furious interactions.  Ning had “free” websites to build, and the pagan community jumped on this bandwagon with a vengeance.  I belonged to probably 20-25 pagan sites, most of which no longer exist.  This was a unique way to get yourself out there, bring traffic to your websites, sell your magickal products, and bring in new tarot clients.

The internet felt busy and crowded and active and full of people interacting all over the place in rampant celebration of all the connections that could be made in this new world.

Today, the internet feels isolated, empty, abandoned, niched, controlled, cut off and cut down to size.  The frenzied websites, pagan social sites, and interaction feels like a thing of the past.  It’s as though some huge hand has come down and crushed it all.  I don’t know if anyone else feels this or not, but this is my experience with the internet today.  Take Youtube as an example.  I remember a time before the algorithm, when tarot videos could easily bring in hundreds or thousands of viewers and glean satisfying feedback and interaction.  We took it for granted that our work would be out there, accessible, and easy to find.  It’s very different now, and this is one reason I’ve stopped posting tarot readings on this platform.  I’ve scoured YouTube and discovered that there are a myriad of terrific readers producing wonderful and insightful tarot videos, yet they are almost invisible unless you take the time and considerable effort to hunt them down; while some very mediocre and even poor readers seem to go through the roof with tens of thousands of views and a very prolific place in the YouTube spotlight.  They are popping up in my suggested feed spontaneously, almost like a virus.

I don’t understand how this can be, and I obviously don’t understand how this system works.  Is it just me?

Over the past 3 years or so, I’ve pondered about what to do about all this, and my solutions ranged from deleting everything and withdrawing into the blissful world of anonymity, leaving the internet behind, to the attempted study and understanding of how this new virtual world and it’s connections really work and trying to find a way through the maze.

Fortunately, I took the less drastic path and have hung on to my websites and blogs, and started to look for ways to promote my presence on the web in my own way and on my own time.  I looked for ways to do this that are free, mostly because of my own personal budget; ways that I could work with myself, because I’m not hiring anyone to do this for me, and ways that I could work on in my spare time, because like most professional witches and readers out there, I have a “real-world” job with real world hours and a lengthy commute thrown in.

I took the advice of an internet entrepreneur who recommended Landing Pages.  He enthusiastically encouraged the idea of flooding the internet with lovely one-page websites, created on a variety of platforms, with a variety of web-hosts, filled with promotional blurbs and links to your actual websites and blogs.

I don’t know if this is working for me yet quite in the manner that he envisions, but since creating these landing pages, I have to say that I do notice a slight difference in increased traffic at some places.  Whether this difference can be attributed strictly to the landing pages and all the effort in that area, I can’t say for sure.

Without further ado, I’m posting links to these pages here.  The web-hosts I used to create these pages do allow a certain amount of space free, and I’ve actually enjoyed the creative process that goes along with this endeavor.

If you have a website or online business, I hope that I’ve given you a few ideas to work with, or at least some ideas to ponder on.  Blessings!

You’ll find the name of the hosting companies included in the URLs.

http://amythystraine.simplesite.com/

http://lavendarmoon.simplesite.com/

http://amythyst1957.simplesite.com/

https://the-witchs-corner.my-free.website/

https://ladyamythyst.wixsite.com/thewitchscorner

https://thewitchscorner.weebly.com/

http://bristolwicks.blogspot.com/

http://thegoddessgrove.weebly.com/index.html

http://amythystraine.bravesites.com/

http://amythystraine.tumblr.com/

My Tumblr is not just a landing page, but it’s a popular site for the younger generations coming aboard this virtual world, and you can make an amazing number of connections here.  It took me a while to appreciate it and build upon it.

Also, don’t underestimate the creation of Facebook Pages, but also remember that you are entering the world of algorithms and tight control that conditions what will be seen and what will not.

Good luck to all the entrepreneurs, pagan business people, and other individuals reading this who have something unique to say to the world.  Get yourself out there!