How to Post for the Holidays

Are you ready for the 4th? Well, Rue La La wants you to be.  All businesses and bloggers who post pre-holiday are all doing things right. I've made this mistake before and it really didn't do me any good for getting readers. I posted a blog post on the DAY OF Valentine's Day of everything my boyfriend and I did that night, as well as what I made him and what we cooked for dinner. Yea, it was cute, but my readers at the time did not engage as much on the post. 

BUT WHY?

Bloggers, crafters, cooks, and girlfriends are looking for inspiration for the holidays. They are thinking, "What can I cook?" "How can set the table?" "What should I wear?" etc. So they are browsing blog posts AND especially Pinterest for these ideas. 

Now, I'm not saying that you shouldn't update your readers after an event or even during an event (because that's great too and you should be doing that), but tell your readers what you will be doing on the holidays and what you are making. 

I've even stopped repinning images from St. Patrick's Day and Easter because they are not so relevant to me now. 

Social Media Tip: Start posting for an event or holiday about a month before. Start getting your readers thinking about the holiday and how you can be of inspiration to them. And don't just make one post for the month, make several- remind them that the holidays are approaching!

Thanks for stopping by!

Signing off,

How To Get 4th of July Blog Traffic on Pinterest

When I search for recipes or crafts now, I don't use Google anymore... I use Pinterest. I'm wondering if everyone has the same idea, which I think is the case. But as we are coming upon another Fourth of July, we are all searching and browsing for different things to make or even buy for this holiday.

I thought about writing this when I was searching for 4th of July recipes on Pinterest and saw how many 4th of July things there really are. This is actually an opportune time for bloggers to be writing, posting and sharing their images from their 4th of July posts (and if you don't have any, you should be making some!)

Take this screenshot for example from what I used when I was looking for things to make for the 4th:

So many different things to make, wear, eat, print, and do!

When you decided what kind of 4th of July post you're going to make, consider these tips when marketing your stuff on Pinterest:

• Add the title of what you made on the image itself, most people don't read the description, but scroll quickly through the images
• Add your keywords in your description for search purposes: 4th of July, Fourth of July, Independence day, 4th of July recipes, you get the idea. Search will pick it up and put it on the results like above
• Offer 'freebies' or 'free printables' people love free shit (excuse my french) and use those keywords too when pinning
• Consider dedicating a board just for Fourth of July and name it a keyword like above; individual boards will come up in search as well
• Make it patriotic! If the image doesn't look like it's for Fourth of July, then no one will want to view it
• Pin product from your store, but keep in mind that if you sell merchandise online, the time you need to ship it out before the holiday

I hope I was able to help with some of your holiday strategy! You can use this info for other holidays and more to come, but I'm sure I'll be posting about other holidays as well, don't you worry!

Here are a couple images I liked for 4th of July that I find fantastic:

 Signing off,

Follow Up to Making An Awesome About Me Page

You probably haven't heard... because I didn't tell anybody what I was working on. BUT... I finally have my personal lifestyle blog up and running! Thanks to Themeforest.com and Kaleidoscope Int. from Tico and Tina, I have an awesomely awesome start to my new blog. I love guys, but I also love crafts and fashion, beauty and party design, so this is a great new way to let me do that WITHOUT bugging you! ;)

Making It Today

If you haven't read last week's How-To Tuesday, I talked about How To Make An Awesome About Me Page

Well friends, I made one. And I thought I did a pretty good job at it! I was short and sweet and I LOVE the design.

 

I'd like to take credit for the design, but I can't. But I will tell you how you can get one too. First, if you haven't invested in something like Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, I have had the best time using it. You can use free tools like Gimp and PicMonkey. 

I found an awesome template from Maybemej who has THE BEST freebies I've seen. You can also go to Pugly Pixel  and grab some of Katrina's awesome freebie templates or pay $5 a month and get a whole slew of designs and Photoshop actions. 

Don't worry, that's not all. Head over to Scrapbooks Etc. and get your free collage templates. You can buy templates on Etsy too and make sure do your Google or Pinterest Search to find free templates on the web.

Just make sure that you have the right tools to make your design come true. Some templates only let you use Photoshop. 

Like I said above, I love design and I wish that I could design these templates for my blogs, but why are bloggers offering free ones and selling them if we could all design them ourselves? Let's save some time and focus on what we do best: Blogging.

I hope you have time to check out my site. It's not completely finished yet, but I hope you don't mind.

MakingitToday.com

Signing off,

How To Make Money Blogging- Affiliate Links

Happy How-To Tuesday! A big question on everyone's minds are, how can I make money blogging? There are many ways to do so, but today I wanted to touch on how you can make money through affiliate links. Pinterest used to do it, and took it down, but you can do it and make money too.

First things first, let's talk about what an affiliate link is. Affiliate links are customized links designated to YOU. You can use them in blog posts, pins, Facebook posts, and even links on your sidebar. You can put them anywhere. When one of your followers clicks on that link AND purchases, you will get a kickback or commission.

Here are a few ways you can jump on the affiliate link bandwagon:

Do Your Research. You can find small or large businesses that have an affiliate program. Here are some for example:

Apple
Mrs. Fields
Amazon
Gaiam
Atlantic Publishing Company

Use your Google Search Bar and type in affiliate programs and companies with affiliate programs to find companies offering this program.

Usually, you can also work with small businesses and bloggers that offer this as well. If it's not an official program offered, talk to them and see if you can work out an agreement that benefits both you and the other party.

Other forms of Affiliate networks can be found at:

ClickBank
Google Affiliate Network
LinkShare
Share A Sale

But remember

• Blog to blog and not to accommodate your affiliate links! Don't overfill your posts with links to make it obvious, sporadically place them here and there
•  Don't write about a brand you don't believe in just to get the link
• Make sure what you're writing about is similar to the link you use

Thanks for joining me for a quick briefing on Affiliate Links. I hope this helps a little and gives you inspiration to start researching ways you can use Affiliate links to make money on your blog.

Anyway, talk to you soon!

How-To Tuesday: How-To Make An Awesome About Me Page

I just wanted to start off this post by showing you a screenshot of my parent's two dogs. My parents went to Las Vegas to work on a product my mom invented and they put Lance and Bella in an awesome kennel that lets you see them via web cam. Bella is obsessed with Lance and won't leave him alone, it's super cute and makes me all happy inside how close they are.

Anyway, today I wanted to talk about how you can have an awesome and engaging About Me page. Often times, bloggers get creative with their sidebars and share information there, but it's also nice for your readers to get a glimpse of who are: As a person AND a blogger.

1. If you have a story; share it.

I was really inspired by Confessions of a Graphic Design Student's About Me page when I came across it. Kristen has a beautiful story to share and she shares it well by using headers for each thought.

 

2. Link to your blog and where readers can find you.

I really like Almost Delightful's About Me page because it's simple and pretty. She also links back to her favorite posts, her readers' favorite posts, and where they can find her outside of the blog. It's in your face.

3. Cute and to the point. Like Susannabean, you can make your About page fun, clean, and simple.

 

 4. Post fun photos!

Secondhand Sundays has a real cute picture of her and her family. But she also edits the photo with arrows showing who everyone is

For some of my own tips, remember to make your About Page memorable and lovable. Maybe even link to your about me page in a few of your posts or at the bottom of all of your posts.

In the meantime, experiment with a photo editing software like Photoshop, Gimp, or PicMonkey to create images of you and your about me page. No one says that you have to stick to writing on the page itself. Maybe for SEO reasons you might want to, but if you want to experiment, go for it!

Please share your About Me page and I will consolidate everyone's into a new post!

Thanks for stopping by today for How-To Tuesday

Signing off,