User experience builds trust. Trust builds revenue.

That’s why sometimes it’s necessary to block certain ads—whether they’re from a specific advertiser, contain sensitive content, or simply don’t fit your brand.
Thankfully, Google AdSense gives us powerful blocking controls to manage what appears on our site.
​
📘 Official reference: Block certain types of ads on your site

Types of Ads You Can BlockAdSense allows you to block ads in several ways:

1. Advertiser URLs

You can block ads from specific websites (e.g., example.com) so they don’t appear on your site.

2. Sensitive Categories

If you’d prefer not to show ads related to dating, politics, religion, gambling, or other sensitive topics, this is where you can filter them.

3. General Categories

These include broader topics like fashion, finance, vehicles, etc. Be cautious: blocking too many general categories may reduce your earnings.

4. Ad Networks

Block third-party ad networks that don’t align with your brand.

5. Ad Serving

This lets you decide whether or not to fill empty ad slots.

For example, turning off “Fill empty in-page ads” means those slots will remain blank instead of being filled automatically.

6. Ad Review Center

​This is where you can manually review and block individual ads that have already been shown on your site.

How to Use Blocking Controls (Step-by-Step)

1. Sign in to your Google AdSense account
   
2. From the left-hand menu, go to Brand safety > Blocking controls
   
3. Choose what you want to block:
   
   • Advertiser URLs
     
   • Sensitive Categories
     
   • General Categories
     
   • Ad Networks
     
   • Ad Serving
     
4. Use the toggles or enter the URLs you want to block
   
5. All changes are saved automatically and applied to your site
   

Tips

• Blocking too many ads can reduce your ad revenue.
  
• Focus on user experience—ads that align with your audience build long-term trust.
  
• You can always go back and allow previously blocked ads.
  

🔗 Official Resource👉 Block certain types of ads on your site

If you've published a book through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), you may have come across one of their many literary contests. These competitions are held in various languages throughout the year—and they offer great visibility and sometimes even prize money for authors.

So here’s a common question many writers ask:

"If my book is written in English, can I enter it into an English-language KDP contest?"

The short answer is: Yes, you can.

But there are a few important things to keep in mind.

What If Your Book Isn’t in English?Books written in other languages—like Korean, Japanese, or Spanish—must be entered into contests specifically designated for that language.
Examples include:

• Premio Literario Amazon (Spanish)
  
• Kindle Storyteller Japan (Japanese)
  
• Occasionally, Amazon will host a contest specifically for Korean books, but it must be clearly stated in the contest details.
  

How to Check if Your Book Is Entered in a Contest

1. Visit the KDP contest page.
2. Enter your book’s ASIN in the search bar.
3. Choose the contest name from the drop-down list.
4. If your book appears, it means it has been included.

If it doesn’t show up, review the contest requirements or the FAQ section to make sure your book qualifies.

Final Thoughts

​If your book is in English and published correctly on KDP, you may already be eligible for a KDP literary contest. Each competition has its own terms, prizes, and deadlines—so keep an eye out!
These contests are a great way to boost visibility and potentially earn recognition for your work.
Who knows? The next winner might be you.

f you're running a website or blog, you've probably asked yourself,
“How many posts have I published so far?”
“How many pages do I actually have?”
Or even, “How many entries are under a specific menu like ‘info’ or ‘blog’?”
When your content starts to grow, manually counting your posts becomes unrealistic. Thankfully, there's a clean and accurate way to check this: by viewing your sitemap.xml file.

1. What is sitemap.xml?sitemap.xml is a special file that lists all the URLs on your website. It's primarily used to tell search engines like Google, Bing, or Naver what pages exist on your site and when they were last updated. But for you as the site owner, it’s a powerful tool for checking the exact number of pages you’ve created.

2. How to Access Your Sitemap

​Most websites automatically generate a sitemap at the following address:

When you open it in your browser, you’ll see a list of URLs in XML format.

​3. Use Your Browser’s Search Feature to Count Pages

​Once the sitemap is open, use your browser’s search function:
Command + F (Mac) or Ctrl + F (Windows).
Then type the keyword you want to track—for example:

4. Why This Matters

​Using your sitemap has several benefits:

• It confirms what content is actually visible to search engines.
• You can rediscover forgotten or old pages.
• It gives a clear sense of how your content is growing over time.
• You’ll gain a sense of accomplishment by seeing how much you’ve already built.

If you're a content creator, blogger, or website owner, this small trick can give you great insight into your own work—and help you plan more effectively.
Let your sitemap remind you just how far you've come.

​A wonderful opportunity for young artists is now open! The CelebratingArt Contest is currently accepting entries for the Summer 2025 deadline, which is August 7. This national contest is open to students in grades K–12 and invites submissions in various art forms including paintings, drawings, sculptures, digital art, and more (note: photography is not accepted).
​

• Paintings
• Drawings
• Sculptures
• Digital Art
• Mixed Media (excluding photography)
  ​
  

Top Entries Will Be Published

The most outstanding artworks will be selected to appear in a full-color art book, giving young artists national exposure and a chance to become published artists while still in school.
​
🗓️ Three Deadlines Each Year

• Summer: August 7
• Fall: December 4
• Spring: April 2

​Free to Enter Online
There is no fee to enter, and students can submit their entries online at:
​
👉 www.celebratingart.com

A Note from the Organizers
​
"Dear Teacher, thank you for participating in our contests! We’ve already received some amazing entries and look forward to seeing what your students have created this year. Don’t miss this chance to involve them in something truly special!"
​
This contest is a wonderful way to encourage students to express their creativity, gain recognition, and feel proud of their accomplishments. It’s also a great tool for teachers to support student engagement in the arts while earning classroom resources.

Don’t miss this exciting opportunity—submit your students’ work by August 7 and give them a chance to be featured in a national art publication!

​🔗 Useful Links
​

• Submit artwork and learn more: www.celebratingart.com
• Art supplies and rewards: www.dickblick.com
• Instagram: @celebratingart_k12
• Facebook: @celebratingart

Recently, while trying to publish a blog post on Weebly, I encountered a frustrating issue:
​
after clicking “Publish,” a loading message appeared --
“Publishing Post... Please wait while we publish your post” --
and then… nothing happened. The screen just stayed stuck in that state.

Here’s the worst part:
​
 If you close the window or click “X” while it’s still loading,
your entire blog post might disappear — with no way to recover it.

Why does this happen?
​

• Temporary slowdown or lag on Weebly’s server
• Large post with many images, links, or formatting
• Browser extension conflicts (e.g., ad blockers, Grammarly)
• Unstable internet connection
• Using older browser versions

 What happens if you interrupt the process?
​

• Your blog post may not be saved at all
• Weebly does not always auto-save, so text can be lost permanently
• Often, drafts are not recoverable

How to protect your blog posts
​

1. Write your post outside of Weebly first
   → Use Google Docs, Notion, Word, or any text editor
   → Copy and paste into Weebly only when ready to publish
2. Always copy before hitting publish
   → Press Ctrl + A (Select All) and Ctrl + C (Copy)
   → Keep it in your clipboard just in case
3. Use “Save as Draft” if available
   → In some themes or editors, this button appears in the Post Settings
4. Turn off browser extensions (especially ad blockers and grammar tools)
   → These sometimes interfere with Weebly’s JavaScript
5. Check Weebly in a second tab
   → If the loading seems frozen, open your Weebly dashboard in a new tab to check if the post was saved
   → Be careful not to refresh or close the original loading tab too soon

⚠️ Weebly Caution: Emoji in Title Caused Post to Fail (And I Lost Everything)I’d like to share a personal experience that may save you a lot of time and frustration if you're a Weebly user.
​
Recently, while writing a blog post on Weebly, I encountered a strange and unexpected error:
after clicking “Publish,” the screen froze at “Publishing Post...” and never completed the upload.
At first, I thought it was a slow internet issue. But after some trial and error, I realized the culprit was this:
👉 I had included an emoji in the post title.

❌ The result?

• The post never published.
• No draft was saved.
• All my writing was gone.

Weebly didn’t warn me that emojis in the title might cause publishing issues, and the system didn’t save the content automatically. Since I had written directly in Weebly without copying the text elsewhere, I lost everything.

​This was a frustrating lesson, but one that made me rethink how I manage my writing workflow.

Weebly has many strengths, but it still lacks reliable auto-save and error detection.
If you're using it for serious writing or content creation, don't trust the editor blindly — build your own safety routine around it.
​
I hope this helps someone else avoid what I went through!