freshblogtips: blogging tips with a creative twist

Advice to My Mom: 7 Tips to a Bang-Up Blog from the Very Beginning

I finally did it! I bullied my mother into blogging! I might regret it later, but she is having so much fun thinking of new stories to share. You can find her wreaking havoc at BoggleMama.com.

Helping my mom create her new blog gave me a chance to think about the things I would do if I could start all over again. Here is the advice I gave her (applies to newbies as well as seasoned bloggers):

1. Get your own domain.
If I could do it all over again, I would have used my own domain name for freshvintage. It is not too late for me to switch over, but it will be a lot of work to move my photos. And I am afraid to lose Google traffic, since 32% of my traffic comes from search engines.

2. Install Google Analytics (or equivalent statistics program) on day one
How the hell do I know that 32% of my traffic comes from search engines? The stats on typepad certainly don't tell me that. My mom is obsessed with looking at the stats on Google Analytics, and her blog is only a couple of weeks old. The charts and graphs are practically empty, but she is optimistic that traffic will build.

If you haven't installed it yet, it is never too late. And it's totally free.

3. Write a few posts before you tell anyone about your blog
When I started freshvintage, I made the mistake of sending an email to a bunch of my favorite bloggers after I wrote my first post. And my first post was not anything special. At the very least, I don't think it convinced anyone to keep returning to my blog. In hindsight, I should have waited a while before I jumped into "cold emailing" other bloggers. 

4. Create a theme for a series of posts
My parents have met some interesting celebrities because of my dad's past involvement in politics. My mom and I came up with the idea of having Famous Fridays. If she starts suffering from writer's block (highly unlikely), she can easily come up with a post for her Famous Friday series. Whether it is just a funny photo or a brief story about a brush with stardom, it is a no-brainer for her.

I have a similar series on freshvintage, called freshfind. These are short posts that focus on just one of my vintage finds, instead of the heaping piles of junk that I normally write about. The freshfind posts don't need a lot of preparation, and they keep my family from bugging me about writing a new post.

5. Don't apologize for not blogging
Sure, I haven't written a post for freshblogtips.com for several months. Do you know why? Because I had way too much stuff going on in my life. And I had nothing substantial to say. I even had to remove my BlogHer Ads because I wasn't posting as often as required by their advertisers. But I didn't want to write a post that said that I was sorry for not writing a post. Boooring. Only write when you have something to say.

6. Make each post stand on its own
No one wants to be the loser at a party who doesn't know anyone and doesn't understand the inside jokes. If you refer to a project or event or even a person in your blog, be sure to link back to a full explanation of it on a previous blog post. Give a little background info to help new readers. People will stick around longer if they know what you are talking about!

7. Encourage family and friends to casually proofread your posts
If anyone finds a grammar or spelling mistake on my blogs, I want to know about it as soon as possible. I know that some bloggers don't care about small errors, but I do. Tell your friends to let you know when they spot a faux pas. Case in point: on the About Me page on this very blog, I made a major spelling error that drastically changed the meaning of the sentence. I had NO IDEA about my error until a friend told me about it recently. The page had been live for eight months. Damn you, bitches! This was the error:

Original sentence with misspelling:
In addition to being a mom of two preschoolers, a loving and gentile wife, a blogger and an antiques dealer...

What I really meant to say:
In addition to being a mom of two preschoolers, a loving and genteel wife, a blogger and an antiques dealer...

I didn't mean to say that I am a Gentile! Why in the world would I ever point the fact that I am not Jewish on my About Me page?! I was trying to be ironic by saying that I am genteel  - as in "free of vulgarity and rudeness". Oops.

freshblogger interview: mary from pretty good

Our next blogger on the interview hot seat is Mary, creator of the Pretty Good blog. Mary is also a Kirtsy Editor, which means she gets to search the interwebs for cool stuff that she shares with the world.

Mary has a unique approach to blogging. She overlays words onto her photographs instead of writing separate text descriptions. The results are beautifully photographed images with fun fonts and inspired writing. It is a pretty, design-minded version of I Can Has Cheezburger?. Without the cats. And the bad spelling.

Mary also carefully selects her favorite photos from sites like flickr and displays them on her Tumblr site. This is a whole new form of micro-blogging that I'm planning to try out myself one of these days.

Thanks to Mary for sharing her blogging insights!

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1. What was your blog's "tipping point" (a significant or defining moment)?  

 

So far, my blog has experienced a slow and steady growth, so I can't point to one event -- and, frankly, I'd prefer it that way rather than a more flash-in-the-pan type jump.  My Editor role at Kirtsy has been nice exposure, but mainly I've seen my "audience" grow in two ways:  first, I continue to fine-tune my blog to helped to keep it fresh and interesting.  I'm constantly making tweaks to (and even changing completely) my content and the overall look of my blog so that it really reflects me aesthetically.  I also noticed my audience broadening as soon as I became more active in the blogging community, like commenting more and more on other blogs and connecting offline with other bloggers.  It's a form of networking, really, but you need to stay with it and have good blog content to back it up. 

 

2. Do you ever get blogger's block, when you just can't think of anything to write?  How do you overcome it?  On the other end of the spectrum, do you ever write posts ahead of time when you are feeling particularly creative? 

 

Although my blog is 100% visual (think random photos paired with a few succinct words), I do get blogger's block.  Usually, one inspires the other: I have something to say and I'll take a photo to accompany it, or I have a great image to share and I'll add a few words to it. But sometimes my house is a mess, or it's raining out, or people have seen my hydrangeas 87 times already. And if I don't have a great picture to share, I won't post just anything simply to get a blog entry up.

 

So, since my blog is so image-focused, on days where I have a blogging block I break it by visiting Flickr.  It's my one-stop source for eye-candy overload. I also check out my favorite photography and home decor blogs (already a daily activity, yes; but when I've got a block I really spend time exploring their posts and what they're linking to). Both of these exercises force me to look at my surroundings in a different way. I also just pick up my camera and start shooting away.  Even if it's overcast out and the lighting is horrible, I just play around. I'll walk down to my favorite antiques market and click away at some of their goodies (and, yes, even buy stuff to photograph at home...I like it call it "accumulating props".  You know, like Martha Stewart and her infamous prop room. Somehow this doesn't fly with my husband...)  I never worry about getting a big, exciting shot - in fact, I go in the opposite direction. I focus on the beauty in the details. Some of my best photos are of the most random, simple things -- a strawberry; a scrap piece of pretty ribbon. And once I get a great picture? I snap out of it. I'm excited and re-energized. The ball gets rolling from there.

 

If all else fails, I just forget about it. I put the camera away, I shut down my Google reader, and wait until tomorrow. Sometimes I just need time off to clear my head.

 

If I've gone through a particularly great photo-snapping spree, I'll stockpile a few photos for a rainy day (literally and figuratively). This not only helps during dry spells, but also when my 'real job' gets too busy for me to break away and do a post.

 

3. What is the biggest mistake(s) you've made since you started blogging?

 

For me, it would definitely have to be trying to be like other bloggers instead of just being myself.  I love to write, I love to take photos, I love to share bits of my life and style with others. So I've really had to find and ease into my own writing and photography style, and I've had to really had to figure out what exactly I wanted my blog to be about. And, be secure with it.

 

My old blog looked completely different from the way my new one looks now; not only visually, but content-wise. I started out with much longer, wordier posts, and I eventually found that although I love to write, I was forcing myself to come up with words just for the sake of making sure my post was long enough. (Hey, some of my favorite bloggers practically write chapters of books for their daily posts; wasn't that how I was supposed to do it, too?!) 

 

In reality, though, I was really more comfortable communicating in a tone that was as conversational and easy as possible; I wanted readers to hear my real voice, rather than some perfectly polished paragraph.  For me, that meant being less formal and wordy and just getting to the point of what I wanted to say.  And that's when I realized that my blog wasn't going to be a diary; I'm too private a person for that. It was simply going to be bits of this and bits of that; little snips of things that I saw that I thought were pretty or interesting.

 

So, my posts started getting shorter and shorter, and I quickly realized that I was counting on the photos within my posts to communicate just as much as my words were. I eventually decided to blend the two and incorporate the words right onto the picture. This new format has also given me a chance to play with fonts and design a bit, making it even more fun for me. 

 

While we're talking about photographs...another lesson I learned is that I didn't have to post 57 pictures with each entry. Now, I post only my very favorite ones. I prefer quality over quantity.

 

4. Have you ever kept your blog a secret from certain people in your life?  If you work outside the home (in a non-blog-related job), do your co-workers know that you blog? 

 

I do have a full-time job, and my close friends at work know about and visit my blog. I heart lunch breaks and the ability to schedule posts for future dates :)      

5. Do you regularly monitor the traffic statistics on your blog?  Do you use a stat tool, like sitemeter.com or Google Analytics? Do you make decisions about blogging based on the results that you see in your stats? 

 

I use Sitemeter and I love it.  However, it can stress me out if I pay too much attention to it -- I'm actually a much better blogger when I'm not checking it.  If visits are down one day from the next, it's way too easy to get sucked into obsessing over why, and that's no fun. But I check it every few days, and I do notice that when I am posting regularly, my stats hold steadily increase. And sometimes that's a bit of an incentive when I get lazy.

 

One thing I do think it's a really, really great resource for is seeing who refers readers to my blog. Sitemeter has allowed me to discover when another blog has mentioned mine, when people have added my blog to their sidebar links, and when my blog has hit a site like Stumble Upon. 

 

6. Name a blog that you love and tell us why you love it.

 

It's really super hard for me to name a "favorite" of anything (I'm a Gemini, you see). Especially when I have almost 200 blogs in my Google reader, ranging from photography to decorating to business to shopping to food to personal blogs.

 

But one blog I just love is Oh Happy Day. My heart literally skips a beat when I see that it's been updated with new posts. Why? First of all, Jordan is the epitome of cool. All of her posts -- whether they're pictures of her walking her baby up a hill or of a party she's thrown or a bedroom she'd love to live in or a part of her hallway she's just wallpapered -- simply ooze style. A really unique, very personal style. And whereas I tend to see the same things hit the same blogs across the blogsphere, Jordan seems to post things I haven't yet seen, and I always leave inspired. Her words are straightforward and brief (yay!), and I get the feeling that everything she posts about has been selected with care and are things that she genuinely loves. I also think she has a fantastic way of presenting just the right amount of her life so that it doesn't over-expose her or her family, yet you're left with dy-ing to know more about her. 

 

7. Do you have a blogging tip that you would like to share?

My number one tip is to post on a regular basis. Whether it be daily, weekly, every Wednesday, whenever: give your readers a sense of when they can expect to hear from you.  The beauty of sites like Google Reader or Bloglines is that you don't have to check in with blogs on a daily basis to see if they're got a new post; instead, you're automatically updated when they do.  But even so, in order to establish and keep a readership, you've got to provide content. (Trust me -- even though I live by my Google reader, I do housecleaning regularly and I not only unsubscribe to blogs that I'm bored with, but also ones that aren't updated regularly.) If readers know that you are a dedicated blogger and will be posting on a regular basis, they're more apt to stay with you.

 

My other tip is to just be yourself. Because although I sound like your mother when I say that, it's harder than you think to let your guard down when your blog is published for the entire world to see. Post about what you love, and let your personality show through -- it's the one thing that sets you apart from everyone else -- and people will be attracted to your passion and genuineness. Forget about what you think your blog should look like or be about or have in its sidebar and just make it be something that you're totally pleased with. Be inspired by (rather than try to be a carbon copy of) the blogs you love.  Readers have so much to choose from out there, and not everyone is going to subscribe to your feed. And that's totally OK!  Because chances are there are a lot of people you will resonate with; so just keep at it and be patient. It takes time to develop a readership, and your consistency will be rewarded down the road.   

 

Oh, one more thing: please, no black backgrounds with white font. It hurts.

Curses!

I received my first hate mail last week.

I know. Moi?

It has taken all of my strength, but I decided that I am not going to reply to her email directly. With a nod to Dooce and her infamous hate mail posts, I've decided to post it on my blog instead.

Without further ado...

Hello Colleen
Today was the first time and last time I will ever go to your website. I started reading and read a curse.
I then went to your profile and when you talked about cursing too much I had to heartily agree.
I am a Christian, and those words are not in my vocabulary. I stick to the Christian Internet Code of Ethics, where it talks about not visiting websites that compromise my life in Christ. Do I think I am better than you? No, Jesus says we are all born sinners! But I am a sinner saved by grace,the blood shed by Jesus on the cross!! "But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak,  they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment". Matthew 12:36. I hope and pray that you may see this and accept Jesus as your Saviour.
Sincerely,  the Servant

I would love to tell her that I curse because it brings a sense of levity and irreverence to the seemingly mundane topic of yard sales. And I curse on my blog because I occasionally curse in real life. I write the same way that I talk. My cursing has nothing to do with God or religion. Nothing that I write in my blog would personally offend a normal person. (Unless you are averse to stories about defloration on bridal night or throwing pennies at hookers. Which I would totally understand.)

No, I don't think an email response would have been constructive for either of us. She wrote about her ethical & religious beliefs, and any smart-ass reply that I write would not convince her to change her point-of-view. The same way that her email doesn't convince me to get my ass to church.

And that is fine with me. She has strong beliefs, which I completely respect. I'm never going to sway her to think differently. So, it doesn't make sense for me to waste energy on a potentially ugly email exchange.

Don't get me wrong - I love a good debate. Just ask my neighbor, the Tastykake Man. We almost got into a fist fight while we were debating the merits of alternative energy for automobiles.

But when it comes to my blog that has nothing to do with politics or religion, I've learned that I shouldn't waste time arguing with strangers about politics or religion.

How about you? Have you ever received negative comments or emails because of something you wrote on your blog? How did you respond? How would you have responded if you received the same email?

P.S Thank you to all of the lovely freshvintage readers who left very nice comments when I wrote about my hate mail. I am going to re-read all of your comments whenever I feel stupid and depressed and don't want to get out of bed.

P.S.S. Here is the Christian Internet Code of Ethics. I think the one that talks about "not visiting websites that compromise my life in Christ" is really referring to pornography. Not blogs about Pyrex and vintage rick-rack.

Did Tina Fey Read My Blog? And Other Blogging Goals.

One year ago, I wrote a post on freshvintage about my blogging goals.  

Here's the rundown on the results:

1. Quadruple the daily visitor count
My daily visitor count definitely increased since the beginning of 2008, but nowhere near four times. Closer to double. I don't know what the hell I was thinking. It is good to have big goals, but if you don't take any actions to reach that goal, it ain't gonna happen. I didn't do anything monumental on freshvintage that would result in a quadrupled visitor count. Sure, there were a few posts and mentions on other blogs that brought the daily count up much higher than normal, but those high numbers didn't stick around for more than a few days.

If I ever plan on quadrupling my visitors in 2009, I'll have to come up with a detailed action plan. A plan that includes vintage sex tapes and pictures of celebrities in compromising positions at flea markets. That would definitely drive up the numbers.

2. Write more tutorials
I wrote two new tutorials during 2008: Displaying Vintage Paper Labels and Creating Fabric-Covered Corkboards (with an additional follow-up post).

I've mentioned before that the small number of tutorials on my blog drive a huge chunk of the Google traffic that I get. It is the 80/20 rule: I get roughly 80% of my traffic from 20% of the posts on my site.

Since I wrote the Corkboard tutorial, freshvintage received 2411 visits from people doing a corkboard-related search on Google. Which is strange for a blog that isn't centered around my undying devotion to corkboards. Now can you see why I wanted to create more tutorials? They usually bring a nice stream of traffic.

And let me tell you this: you'd all better not write a bunch of fabric-covered corkboard tutorials or else the shit's gonna hit the fan. I kid, I kid. My point is that we all have ideas, whether they are totally original or a fresh take on an old idea, that could use a step-by-step, fully-photographed tutorial. And those tutorials could potentially drive a lot of traffic to your blog.

3. Drop more f-bombs
I totally effing failed on this one. But I think my mother-in-law is happy about it.
 

4. Get Tina Fey to read my blog
My sister has a friend of a friend who is a close friend of Tina. Friendly enough that she has Tina's email address. Let's call her Sally.

Sally copied & pasted my blog post about Tina Fey into an email to Tina. It didn't include a link to my blog, but, hey, it is way more than I ever expected. I love Sally almost as much as Tina now (even though I never met her and that is not her real name).

Here's the rub: Sally sent the email to Tina the morning after she won the Golden Globe award for Best Actress in January 2008.

So, I'm not sure Tina actually read my blog post, since she was probably in a champagne-induced haze. But I like to picture her reading my post on her Blackberry and laughing uncontrollably while she keeps Oprah on hold.

 

2009 Goals
And what are my goals for 2009?  I'm still mulling them over. I'd definitely like to bring in some guest posters for freshblogtips.com. And I'm seriously thinking about attending a blogging conference like Blissdom in Nashville or BlogHer in Chicago. Anyone else thinking of going to these conferences? Does anyone want to get trashed with me after the keynote?

What are your blogging goals for 2009?

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When I first started this blog in August, I promised that I would post a list of all of the wonderful readers who decided to start blogging because of a little push from me and my blogging tips. Here's that list, along with a few other unlucky bloggers who had the pleasure of being bullied into blogging by me IN PERSON (in their shop, at their antiques sale, etc.). I will be keeping this list on a separate Bullied Into Blogging page, so if you have a new blog and were inspired by freshblogtips.com, send me an email and I will add you to the list on that page.

The Wild Raspberry Sisters

Auction Girl Vintage

Bella's Threads

The Roux (also inspired by her friend, Mary from pretty good)

Royal Port Antiques

Vintage Rescue Squad

Antekin

Magnolia Street Style

freshblogger: jennifer ramos from made by girl

Entrepreneur & designer Jennifer Ramos was nice enough to answer some of my questions about her blogging experiences. Her fun & colorful design style is reflected in the cards and posters that she creates for her business, Made by Girl. Jennifer has been featured on tons of websites and recently in Latina magazine. Here are a few reasons why her blog stands out:

1. She has an online store selling her simply-designed (yet totally funky) 100% recycled cards and digital prints. BUT, her blog isn't one big sales pitch. She writes about other blogs, magazines, designers and websites that share her style.

2. Jennifer shares photos of the inside of her house. Doesn't everyone want to see how others live? Especially if your living room looked like this?

3. She shows us behind-the-scenes peeks into her business. Her posts about her booth at the National Stationery Show in NYC is particularly interesting (Part 1 & Part 2).

4. Jennifer has capitalized on her blog's popularity by selling affordable advertising. The ads are not intrusive, and they fit right in with her design aesthetic.

5. Jennifer is super-nice to her blog readers: she offers lots of giveaways of her fabulous products. And, right now, she has a coupon for 10% for her blog readers: HOHOHO2008.

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Here are Jennifer's answers to the questions I posed to her:

What was your blog's "tipping point" (a significant or defining moment)?
I think when I started writing more posts and adding more quality photos about my own products as well as others. Linking up with other bloggers helps a great deal as well. Such as when Holly from Decor8 added me to her friend's list, I received a whole bunch of new & interested readers.

Do you ever get blogger's block, when you just can't think of anything to write?  How do you overcome it? 
Of course I get blogger's block, in the same way I get designer's block when I'm trying to think up new designs for my MadeByGirl shop. The only way for me to overcome writer's block is to get off the computer and relax. Then come back to it and eventually I will gain some inspiration from something. I always do, so I consider myself lucky.

On the other end of the spectrum, do you ever write posts ahead of time when you are feeling particularly creative?
I don't think I've ever written posts ahead of time....but I think doing that is a great idea. Especially if you know you're going to be busy during a certain time. I could see that being very useful for me in the near future.

What is the biggest mistake you've made since you started blogging?
I don't feel I made any mistakes, but I do wish I had posted more photos for each individual post when I first started blogging.

Do you regularly monitor the traffic statistics on your blog?  Do you use a stat tool, like sitemeter.com or Google Analytics? Do you make decisions about blogging based on the results that you see in your stats?
Yes, I monitor the traffic everyday via Google Analytics. I find it interesting to see who is blogging about me and through monitoring I can easily do that. Plus you are able to tell where most of your traffic is coming from etc. Its a great marketing tool as well!

Name a blog that you love and tell us why you love it.
Even though I love design blogs, I find myself reading Hope Dies Last almost everyday. On her blog, Hope delivers a great feeling of intensity within her posts. She writes about her life and relationships. I admire the candidness of it all.

Do you have a blogging tip that you would like to share?
A few tips:

• Create an interesting header/banner for your blog.
• Don't use black as your background.
• Post good quality photographs.
• Have a variety of artists or interiors (whatever you blog about, use variety)
• Don't overload your blog with Etsy artists. I like Etsy and think its a great tool for artists to sell their work...but in my opinion a lot of the artists tend to have similar styles. 
• Blog advertising should be MORE affordable, some blogs charge insane fees for a TINY banner.  In my opinion, smaller businesses won't have much of a chance to advertise on their blogs due to the outrageous ad rates.

Thanks so much, Jennifer!

P.S. The truth is, I only wrote about Jennifer because she makes cards like these and these and these.

How to Promote Your Blog on Facebook

Everyone I talk to has been bombarded with Facebook friend invitations lately. In the past month, my entire family (except my luddite father) has joined Facebook. Even my mom. Unfortunately, her status updates mostly consist of praying for people, or the declaration that her "mammo" was clear.

But did you know that you can promote your blog (and/or business) on Facebook? I thought I'd share the things I've done to get my blog noticed on Facebook. Don't be intimidated if you are new to Facebook - I've only been active on Facebook for a few months. I'm no expert, and I was still able to figure all of this out.

Here are the things I've done so far:

1. Create a freshvintage page on Facebook

The steps to create a business page are not easy to find on Facebook (which is not surprising, since Facebook is a usability nightmare). You start by going to this page and selecting the type of page to create. Remember - this is completely separate from your personal Facebook page.

When I created the freshvintage page, I selected the "Brand or Product" option. And then I chose "Website" from the list. There are many other options, depending on your type of business.

2. Provide exclusive content on my Facebook page

You have to give readers incentive to visit your Facebook page. Otherwise, it is just a waste of time. My incentive is posting photos of my home, and other pictures that I've never shared on my blog. I've received comments and emails from my blog readers who have asked to see more photos of my house. So, I thought that this would be a good place to start sharing those photos. I'll use the Facebook page as an "exclusive preview" for photos that may eventually end up on my blog.

Your blog may not be as photo-driven as mine. Maybe your blog revolves around crafting or knitting or recipes. You may want to consider using your Facebook page as a means of sharing exclusive tutorials or crafting ideas that you don't share anywhere else.

3. Invite my Facebook friends to become fans

After I added some exclusive photos, I invited the friends of my personal Facebook page to become fans of my new freshvintage Facebook page. At that time, I had about 20 Facebook friends. I wanted to have at least ten fans of freshvintage before I told my blog readers about it (so they wouldn't feel like losers for joining a fan-free page).

4. Promote my Facebook page on my blog

I didn't want to write a whole post about Facebook on my freshvintage blog, so I included it at the bottom of one of my regular posts about my vintage finds. I emphasized all of the privacy aspects of Facebook, especially for the newbies who might be afraid that the whole world could view their personal information. It was a worry that I had when I joined Facebook, so I assumed that others had the same concern.

When I published the post about Facebook, I also added a Facebook badge to my sidebar. 
 

5. Create an event and notify local fans

My sister and I were planning to sell our vintage finds at an Antiques Show, so I created an event through the freshvintage page. The event is visible to anyone who views the page. 

The cool thing about events is that you can send an event notification to a specific demographic of your fans. Since my event is only relevant for people who are within driving distance of the Philadelphia area, I sent my notification to fans who live in PA, NJ, DE, NY and MD.

What's the Result?

Since I announced on freshvintage one month ago that I created a Facebook page, I've gone from 12 fans (who were friends & family) to 131 fans! That is definitely more than I thought I would get.

I consider this to be part of a long-term communication and brand-building strategy. Right now, my new Facebook page is not driving tons of traffic to my blog. But, I certainly have new readers who are trickling in. When people become fans of my freshvintage page, it appears on their Facebook News Feed for all of their friends to see. Then, one of their friends clicks the "freshvintage page" link, and decides to become a fan. And so on and so on. Many of those people never even heard of my blog. But, because I created this Facebook page, I have a new avenue for driving slow and steady traffic. 

Other Bloggers with Facebook Pages

Here are a few examples of bloggers with Facebook pages:

Lori Marie from Pretty Little Things: Blog | Facebook Page
Vintage Goodness: Blog | Facebook Page
Martha Stewart: Blog | Facebook Page

What about you?

Is your blog on Facebook? If so, leave a link in your comment below and we'll become fans of each other. If you aren't on Facebook yet, is this something that you would try? Do you have any concerns?

How the Hell Do I Make Money With My Blog?

Since I started freshblogtips, I've been asked the same question over and over again: "Can I actually make money with my blog?" I've written a little bit about my experience with earning money through advertising. And if you are an artist or a crafter or a designer or a yard sale-junkie like me, then you always have the option of starting your own online shop. But I am learning that there are many other ways, too. Hey - with the crappy state of our economy, I'm all for keeping an open mind when it comes to money-making alternatives!

One person who has learned to make some dough from her website is Naomi Dunford from IttyBiz. She is a marketing guru whose blog has tons of articles on starting and running a small home-based business. She somehow manages to juggle her own successful home business and a family. But it is Naomi's brutal honesty and her occasional foul mouth that keeps me coming back.

Here's the part where I get a little bit jealous of her. She just shared with her readers that she made $176,000 through her website last year.

Normally, I would be annoyed with someone like that. And call her a braggy bitch. But Naomi is actually sharing her money-making secrets with her readers in a four-part series. FREE of charge! If that was me, I would probably keep my ideas a secret. I guess I'm just selfish that way.

Anyway, you can read/watch/listen to the money-making ideas on her blog, IttyBiz. The series is called "Why We're Broke, and How to Fix It". The first few parts of the series are already under way, but you can scroll down to the bottom of the page to sign up to receive an email notification for upcoming segments.

My favorite segment so far is Part Two. It is a video that details the six ways that Naomi makes money online. This video is a must-watch! After viewing it, I decided that I had to write a post about this because her ideas are largely untapped for creative businesses. During the segments, she discusses her own business as a marketing/small biz consultant and writer. But her ideas can be easily applied to so many other creative businesses. Whether it is knitting, antique-dealing, scrapbooking, sewing, designing, paper-crafting, etc. Whatever your niche, you have to watch the video with your own specialty in mind.

I'm confident that you'll walk away with some fresh ideas for making extra money with your blog! I've definitely thought of a few myself.

Here's the link to the FREE series: IttyBiz.

[Disclosure: If you've been reading my blogs for any length of time, you know that I am honest and open. Hell, I even showed you how I got traffic to my blog, and how much money I was making through ads! I want to make it clear that the above link to Naomi's website is an affiliate link, which means if you buy her next product, I will get a commission. Yes, the video that I think you should want to watch is completely free and I'm not making any money from you watching it and you absolutely do not have to buy one thing from her. I purchased one of her products before and loved it, so I signed up for her affiliate program. Believe me - if she made crappy stuff, I wouldn't be recommending her. And now she is offering free non-crappy stuff, which is even better.]

After you watch/read/listen to it, I would love to hear your feedback. Did you find any ideas that you plan to use? (Or maybe you want to keep it your little secret, too!) Depending on your feedback, maybe I can write a few more posts about these and other income-generating ideas for your blog.

freshblogger: sara from sadie olive

Sara Duckett from Sadie Olive is on deck to share some of her thoughts on writing her blog, Le Journal. Sara's home and items from her online boutique have been featured in Romantic Homes and Budget Decorating magazines. Why do I think she is a great blogger? Let me count the ways...

1. The quality of her photographs is just second-to-none. She recently took the obvious next step, and started her own photography business. She features many of her photos on her blog and even sells them in her boutique.

2. Sara knows how to market her Sadie Olive brand though all possible avenues of social networking. Take a look at her right sidebar. You can find her everywhere: Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, etc.

3. Her blog and website are designed impeccably. Yes, she is a web/graphic designer, so it comes easily to her. Not all of us are blessed with design talent like hers. But if you are serious about your online business, then it pays to hire someone like Sara to create your blog and/or website.

4. Sara uses her blog to share her inspiring ideas, like a DIY Glamour Shot birthday party, her Halloween decor, and the unique organization techniques in her fabulous home office.

5. Sara created a Flickr phenomenon called "Shades of Inspiration". This idea started on her blog when she posted red-themed photos, and encouraged others to do the same ("I Saw Red"). Eventually, she moved to Flickr so that non-bloggers could participate. Each week, there is a new color/theme assignment. Participants add their photos to the Shades of Inspiration photo group pool (4,500 photos and growing). Sara even created a badge so that participants with blogs can add it to their sidebar. Talk about a viral idea!

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Here are Sara's answers to the blogging questions I posed to her...

What was your blog's "tipping point" (a significant or defining moment)?

I think my best traffic came from when I posted before and after pictures of my home renovation projects. I think people love to see inside other people’s homes, and everyone loves to see “before and after” pictures. I know I do!


Do you ever get blogger's block, when you just can't think of anything to write?  How do you overcome it?  On the other end of the spectrum, do you ever write posts ahead of time when you are feeling particularly creative?

Yes! I often can’t think of things to talk about on my blog. I usually will get inspired to post when I have a photograph I want to share, so that is where I usually start. If I want to get ideas for posts, I’ll grab my camera and start shooting pictures.



Have you ever kept your blog a secret from certain people in your life?

Nope. My life is an open book. It surprises me sometimes when someone I haven’t seen in ages will know about something recent in my life because they saw it on my blog. I forget sometimes that friends and family read it too! 

Do you regularly monitor the traffic statistics on your blog? Do you make decisions about blogging based on the results that you see in your stats?

I will check my stats in Typepad once in awhile. I don’t really change much according to what I see, but it helps to know what gets people interested in checking back. Most often I find that it is just the frequency of recent posts that will boost my traffic.


Name a blog that you love and tell us why you love it.

Heather Bullard’s blog is probably one of my all time favorites. She is an amazing photographer and stylist. I love to get ideas from her and be inspired by her photos. She is also very good at updating her blog on a regular basis.


Do you have a blogging tip that you would like to share?

One of the best tips I can give it limit the number of posts and sidebar items on your main page. (Delete old “swap” buttons that have past, and don’t add to many photos to your sidebars). In the time it takes to load all of this content, you may have already lost a reader who was to impatient to wait. And for readers who have multiple items open on their computer at one time it will sometimes freeze their whole computer to load all of the content. 

BlogHer Ad Network: Registration Is Open!

The BlogHer Ad Network registration is now open for bloggers, after being closed for several months. You may have noticed that I recently placed a BlogHer vertical banner in the left column of my freshvintage blog. Even though the registration had been closed, bloggers could still submit their blog address for review. I submitted mine in June, and received a "special invitation" to participate a few weeks ago. I felt so very special.

Well, I'm not so special anymore, because the registration is open to all bloggers who meet their criteria, which includes:

• Must be at least 90 days old
• Written by a woman/women, or geared towards a female audience
• Open to comments
• Updated at least weekly

If you are invited to join the network, you have to agree to place the BlogHer ad in the top part of your blog ("above the fold"). You also can't show any other graphic ads above the fold of your blog, unless they are ads for your own products or services. This might be problematic for bloggers who sell ad space in the top part of their blog. One more thing - if you write product reviews on your blog, there are some rules that you have to stick to if you want to continue with your reviews. I typically don't do product reviews, so this wasn't a problem for me.

Why am I so excited about the BlogHer Ad Network? For two reasons:

1. You get paid according to the number of impressions, not clicks. What the hell is an impression, you ask? An impression is an ad view. Your readers just have to see the ad - not actually click it - for you to get paid.
2. A link to one of your recent blog posts is rotated through the BlogHer ads that appear on other blogs in the network (the text link appears below the graphic banner ad). This drives additional traffic to your blog. Traffic = Impressions = $$$.

When I started blogging, I put Google AdSense ads on my blog. It is tough to make a lot of money with AdSense, since readers have to click the ads for the blogger to make money. In looking at my Google Analytics metrics, I could see that visitors who came to my blog from a Google Search were more likely to click on one of my Google ads. Probably because they couldn't find what they were looking for on my blog, so they clicked an ad that contained their search words.

As my blog matured, it became filled with more and more keywords that people were searching on, so I received more traffic from Google searches. And the amount of money I made on AdSense started to increase. But it still wasn't a lot. My biggest month was around twenty dollars, which paid for my Typepad hosting. Keep in mind, though, you don't get your payout from Google until you hit $100 in revenue.

I've had my BlogHer ad for 20 days and I've nearly doubled the amount I made in my biggest month using Google AdSense! And the past twenty days weren't particularly special - I actually had less traffic than I normally do. If I start posting more often, my revenue will certainly increase. (If only I had more time in the day. Or a live-in maid and personal chef.) Of course, the money you make is completely driven by the traffic you receive on your blog, so your revenue could be much more or much less.

I don't think the BlogHer ad is too obtrusive, which was a big issue for me. I feel that if you provide quality content, then your readers won't mind a few ads on your blog, as long as they aren't too distracting. But, I always second-guess myself when I see the little Ad-Free Blog image on other blogs. Do those bloggers hate me because I have ads on my blog? Should I even care what they think? Nope. I don't do paid editorials about products. For example, I would never write a glowing review of a crappy product, just because someone was going to pay me. With the BlogHer ads, there are no rules that govern what you say about advertisers. But M&Ms is one of their advertisers...how could anyone say anything negative about them anyway?

In case you are wondering, I don't get any kickbacks for recommending BlogHer. And I've only had it for 20 days, so it could all go horribly wrong. But I am happy so far. In fact, I'll register my freshblogtips.com blog as soon as it is 90 days old.

What do you think about advertising on blogs? Do you advertise on yours? Or are you averse to putting ads on your blog? How would you define "too many" ads on a site?

Updated on November 11, 2008: I received an email a few days ago that the BlogHer Ad Network has just closed to new bloggers. I strongly suggest that you still enter your name/blog/email address in their form.  As I mentioned above, I originally signed up when registration was closed, and I was contacted to join the network while it was still closed.  So, try it!

My Traffic-Building Tactics + 8 Ways to Increase Your Blog Traffic

The MOST ASKED question so far has been: How can I increase the traffic on my blog? The easiest way for me to write about this topic is to share my experiences with freshvintage. I'm a very visual person (and my day job includes creating reports), so I am going to show you a chart from Google Analytics. This is very personal stuff, and you won't find many bloggers sharing information like this. It is my way of proving my love for you. I can't do it with flowers or a cuddly kitten. Nope. I demonstrate my love with a line chart.

If you don't have Google Analytics or Sitemeter or some other web statistics code installed on your blog, do it RIGHT NOW. No - I'm serious. Go install it. There is no reason that you shouldn't have it. (I have links to Google instructions at the bottom of this post.) And then come back and read the rest of this post. Because you won't be able to truly track your traffic until you have something like Google Analytics. You can't depend on Blogger or Typepad stats because they don't provide enough information.

I started blogging in November 2006, but I didn't install the Google Analytics code until January 17, 2007. This chart shows the pageviews from February 1, 2007 to August 31, 2008, along with annotations that I added in Photoshop. The spikes circled in red show a decrease in hits and the green circles show an increase. The events in black are beyond my control while the orange events were things I did to drive people to my blog. All of the orange events just happen to be giveaways.

1. My first giveaway was the Market Tote. This was my first (relatively) big spike in traffic.

2. freshvintage was the decor8 blog of the week.

3. freshvintage was mentioned in Donna Downey's online newsletter (thanks, Donna!).

4. My second giveaway: Vintage Finds.

5. I didn't blog regularly due to a trip for work, vacation and the Christmas holidays.

6. Valentine's Day: I guess everyone was busy getting laid.

7. The biggest traffic day ever: The Lisa Leonard Jewelry Giveaway (thanks, Lisa!)

This chart spans 18 months, and it is obvious that one event didn't cause a monumental and sustained increase in traffic. It was (and still is) a combination of a few different things that I did in order to drive people to my blog. And some things happened that were beyond my control. I didn't ask to be the decor8 blog of the week. I didn't even know that Holly read my blog. But, damn, was I happy.

If you are trying to drive traffic to your blog, the most important thing you can do is create content that is unique and entertaining. That is a given. If you write boring stuff, no one will visit your blog, no matter how hard you try. I didn't even want to mention this because it is so obvious. But then I visit some blogs, and I realize that maybe it isn't so obvious. This topic is worth an entire post, so I'll save it for another time.

Here are some things that I have done to increase traffic to my blog:

1.  Comment on other people's blogs

There isn't an easier way to get traffic when you are a nobody like me. I didn't have a book or a shop, so no one had any reason to be excited that I was starting a blog (except for my mother - but she didn't even know what a blog was, so she wasn't sure why she was excited). For the first six months that I had my blog, I set aside one night a week to visit my favorite blogs. My goal was to leave a meaningful comment on at least five blogs. Meaningful is the key word. Not just, "Love it!". It has to have a little more substance than that.

I don't leave comments for the sole purpose of building traffic to my blog. I leave comments because I actually have something to say to that blogger, and I want to build a relationship. If you are spammy, people can see right through you. For example, don't put your blog address directly in the body of the comment - it gives off a spammy vibe, since you already entered it on the form.

2. Offer free & unique information

How about creating tutorials, patterns or other information that can't be found anywhere else? Most of my google traffic comes from people searching for specific tutorials, like "fabric-covered corkboard" (that leads them here) or "handmade chenille" (that one is here). I didn't necessarily create the tutorials to drive traffic to my blog - I created them because I couldn't find any good tutorials on the internet for those crafts.  I assumed that I couldn't possibly be the only person looking for them, and I was right.

3. Link to other blogs

If you check your own stats, you can see the people who link to you. And then you probably visit them, right? Well, that's what people do when you link to their blog, too. It is called Link Love. One way I've done this is to write a simple post that lists all of the new-to-me blogs that I love. I've also written posts that list all of the bloggers who had recently left comments on my blog, as a way of thanking them for de-lurking. In return, a few people added me to their blogrolls or mentioned me on their blogs.

For some more ideas on linking to other blogs (and possibly getting links in return), read my post on Awards and Tagging.

4. Have a giveaway

The chart doesn't lie - giveaways have consistently been the biggest traffic-builder for my blog. I had 41 comments on my first giveaway, 129 comments on the next one, and 331 on my most recent giveaway. For the second giveaway, I gave two chances to anyone who posted about the giveaway on their blog. I think this is a great idea, especially for new bloggers. I only had five bloggers write about the giveaway on their blogs, but it brought in a considerable amount of extra traffic. I will definitely do this on my next giveaway.

My most recent giveaway of the Lisa Leonard jewelry brought an enormous amount of traffic because it was posted on a couple of blogs that were specifically created to list contests & giveaways. I don't consider that to be quality traffic, though, since they are only visiting to win the contest. Most aren't repeat readers. And that's fine - it is just something to keep in mind.

5. Ask for what you want

When I heard that Alltop had just been launched by Guy Kawasaki, all-around internet guru, I decided that I wanted to be listed on it. So I emailed Guy (no, I don't know him) and told him why my totally awesome blog should be listed in the Design section of Alltop. He replied back and said, "Okay". Hmmm. That was way too easy.

On the other hand, I've twice submitted freshvintage to be a Typepad Featured Blog. No luck so far. I've also submitted freshvintage to Blogs.com. They must be really busy, too.

I'll keep trying, though.

6. Pay for a directory listing

Last year, I paid $30 to be a featured blog on delightfulblogs.com for three months. I was very pleased with the amount of traffic that it brought, so I renewed for another three months. I'm not featured now, but I would consider buying the featured listing again in the future.

7. Keep existing traffic

Encourage readers to subscribe to your RSS feed and/or sign up for email updates. Keep reminding them by putting a message at the bottom of your posts. I don't do this often enough.

8. Use keywords in your titles

Your blog will show up higher in Google results if you have the search terms in the title of your posts. I have to admit that I don't do this very often. My titles are usually an afterthought - I try to make them funny or strange, just to catch the reader's attention. But I'd get more search engine traffic if I titled a post "Antique Rhinestone Jewelry", instead of "The stuff I found in Granny's panty drawer". (Not to mention that the latter would also drive some unwanted traffic to my blog.) Sue from Vintage Rescue Squad just wrote about this topic because she heard about it on NPR (here's the link to the recording).

For my tutorials and freshfind posts, I do make an effort to include keywords in the title because I know it will help people find those topics in search engines faster.

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Those are the things that I do to drive traffic to freshvintage. There are so many other things that I don't do right now, but might in the future:

• Be more active on twitter
• Create a facebook account specifically for my blog
• Join a blog ring
• Participate in a blog carnival
• Write a post for another blog ("guest posting")
• Have a guest blogger on my blog

So, what have you done to successfully drive traffic to your site? Giveaways are obviously my big driver - what about you? Do you have any ideas that I haven't listed here?