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Direction of SEO in 2013 : Can You Get Higher Rank?

2013-07-06T09:31:00.000-07:00

Direction of SEO in 2013 : Can You Get Higher Rank?

It has been reported that in a typical year Google makes as many as 500 minor adjustments to its search engine algorithms.

In 2012 major changes that had huge impact on rankings were seen with the Panda and Penguin updates. Looking ahead to 2013 there are some areas expected to draw greater attention as well.

Some Key Items to Watch and Prepare For!

Though nobody can accurately predict all of the changes that may come about in 2013 there are some prevailing expectations and areas of interest. If you keep some of these in mind as you prepare your strategy for maintaining or attaining high rankings in searches you can be prepared to take advantage of changes as opposed to being negatively impacted by them.

Author Rank

It is widely expected for Author Rank to assume an ever increasing importance in search rankings.

In simplest term, Google has been and will continue to monitor authors of content all over the web. Based on the reputation of that author (as determined by the strength of sites they have content on and feedback from social media as measured by sharing, tweets, etc.) a ranking will be assigned to them.

A high ranking may well be used to increase the rankings of sites that publish content by that author.
Conversely, have a lot of content from very low ranked authors could have a negative impact on the sites ranking.

As a blogger, your ranking will be determined by the reputation you already have.

Google may use the author rank it has assigned to you based on the content you have already written in the past for your own blog. Based on the way it determines your authority or expertise in given areas or your particular niche your Author rank is very or very low your ranking may well change to reflect that.

If as an author you have attained a good reputation your blog and the content on your blog will reflect that with higher rankings.

To further push this process everything you publish likely will be automatically linked to your Google+ profile. The bottom line is your reputation and the reputation of contributors to your blog will be given considerable weight in determining the search ranking of your site.

Mobile Friendly is a Must

Over 1/3 of internet traffic is estimated to be from mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. Websites that do not fully support mobile browsers or that are deemed not ‘mobile friendly (non-standard pixel widths as an example) will be hurt in rankings.

In addition, if a search originates from a mobile device it will not appear at all in the search results. A key strategy for on-page SEO will be to ensure your website is mobile compatible. Create Mobile Version Of Website With GinWiz

An Even Greater Role for Social Media

Social media will continue to grow in importance. If you have a website or blog and have not yet fully integrated the major social media outlets such as Facebook, Google+, Twitter, etc. then it is time to do so.

More importantly, simply having the logo will not be considered to be integrated- you will need to begin to actively use these outlets to achieve or maintain higher rankings. If your content and website is popular on social media your rankings will improve. The measure for that popularity will be shares, tweets, +1 , etc. The concept is if people can find it on social media outlets and are looking for it there then the search engines want to make certain it is just as easy to find by people doing related searches.

Co-Citation is Widely Expected to be a Consideration

Co-Citation is a relatively new term in reference to Search Engine Optimization and search rankings. In the past in order to get credited or gain authority and rankings it was required to have a link posted to your website from other websites.

It was by counting these links and the assigned value of the site they came from that a ranking could be determined. This may be changing.

The downside of using only the backlink method of determining influence is that often you do not actually get a link even when something is attributed to you. The example used in a SEOMoz video conference was:

Many sites talk about ‘cell phone ratings’ and ‘Consumer reports’ in the same breath but don’t actually link to ConsumerReport.org.

But Google (getting smarter all the time) is able to figure out that 1) the phrases ‘cell phone rating’ and ‘consumer reports’ often appear close together, and 2) Consumer Reports as a ‘branded phrase’ is highly relevant to Consumerreports.org.

Therefore on a search for ‘cell phone ratings,’ ConsumerReports.org has a high probability of showing up.

As the search engine algorithms get ‘smarter’ they will continue to use and improve on these concepts to make search results more relevant and less likely to be manipulated artificially. In 2013 expect this to be a prevailing theme.

What do you think? Is it hard to get higher ranking in search engine? What will be direction of SEO in 2013? Share with us

An Article by Ammar Ali

Are Your SEO Methods Spammy?

2013-07-06T09:23:00.000-07:00

Optimizing your blog for SEO has never been any easier. On the other hand, getting the desired results has never been any harder. The competition is incredibly tough these days and Google, whose trends everyone needs to follow, is quite harsh when it comes to punishing those who are trying to abuse its ranking system.

So what are some of the spammy methods that are likely to be punished by Google and other search engines?

In this article, we are going to look Are Your SEO Methods Spammy?

Are Your SEO Methods Spammy?

Keyword Stuffing

Keyword stuffing is one of those things that Google have been warning about for quite some time already – and, as many webmasters and bloggers have already found out, the search engine can indeed punish you very harshly for that tactic. Keyword stuffing is the practice of trying to place as many keywords as humanly possible on a page, no matter whether it makes sense to do so or not.
It goes without saying that overdoing it when it comes to keywords does not bring anything to the readers and visitors of the website – so why should it count for anything in terms of search engine rankings?

5 Best SEO Tips To Use The Keywords Effectively

Avoiding Anchor Texts Over-Optimization

Knowing how to link webpages through the right anchor texts can be very beneficial to the search engine ranking of any given webpage. The thing is, it is not that great to over-optimize things by trying to manufacture keywords and anchor texts that just are not relevant to what the webpage is about.

Think about it as an exercise. If someone had to connect your webpage with a list of anchor texts, what words would he or she choose? It is easy and simply – just don’t forget to go through with those words. The key rule one has to follow here is staying as relevant as possible. Irrelevant keywords and anchor texts simply are not going to get you anywhere.

Duplicate Content

Just a few years ago, copying content and having poorly-written texts on webpages was quite okay. In fact, many webmasters were more than happy with hiring poor copywriters or even with just duplicating content without any shame or regrets. However, those days are gone. These days, trying the very same strategies can lead to a very quick fall of rankings when it comes to search engines.
In all honesty, Google has really stepped upped its efforts in this particular department. Fortunately, it is quite easy to avoid getting punished by Google – all one needs to keep in mind is that quality is worth more than quantity. Hiring good writers is one of the best and most obvious solutions.

Bad Linking Practices

And, finally, let’s also talk about what simply does not work in the world of linking practices. One thing that can really hurt the search engine rankings is the participation in various link schemes. Yes, that’s right – the practice that was considered to be okay a few years ago is not that great anymore. And it is not only about excessive link exchanging – far from it. It is also about trying to create multiple webpages in order to cross-link between them, linking to unrelated and irrelevant sites, and trying to gain additional links in the form of comments with optimized links.
It is also not a good idea to think that you can get anything from the so-called cloaking practice. What you are showing to the users should be exactly what you are showing to the search engine crawlers. So no, trying to show HTML code to the crawler instead of the animation that visitors get to see is not going to get you anywhere either.

Summing Up

At the end of the day, it is clear that it is getting harder and harder to trick Google into thinking that you have a better site than you really do. The best strategy to get a high search engine ranking is to simply focus on the over all quality of the website. Using clean and simple SEO strategies is still a great way to improve search engine rankings, but it is much better to invest one’s time into making your blog better than into trying one’s luck with shady methods.

An Article by Kostas Chiotis

Interesting Benefits of Blogging with exception of Money

2013-07-06T09:08:00.000-07:00

Interesting Benefits of Blogging You Should Know About

Blogging is becoming more and more popular day by day and more and more people are trying to get in this business.

Awareness about online money making and blogging is increasing, but still there are many misconceptions about blogging.

One of those misconceptions is the belief that all you can get from blogging is some extra cash and that’s it, but that’s not true.

Benefits of Blogging is still packed with heavy number even if we put the money making fact on a side.

Blogging is a lot more than just making some money and truth be told that those who are blogging for money only are never ever going to succeed.

Yes, You heard it right. If you are blogging just for money you’ll be fail sooner than later!
You can get all the other Benefits of Blogging; you can get one of them or get nothing. It all depends upon one person and that person is you.

Interesting Benefits of Blogging, Other than Making Money:

1. Blogging Improves Your Writing:

The first Benefits of Blogging is Writing.

Writing has a lot of to do with success of a person in this world and blogging just makes you an amazing writer.

You not only learn how to explain something, but you also find out how to keep your words interesting, entertaining and informative at the same time.

2. You Find Your Voice:

We keep trying to find the best for ourselves like the best job, best friend, best car and best wife, but most of us never try to find the best in ourselves.

Right?

Blogging makes you realize the voice that you have and that you are not worthless.

3. You Learn To Express Yourself:

Many people struggle in life not because they don’t have passion or desire to work hard, but because they fail to tell others about it because they don’t know how to express themselves.

Blogging teaches you how to talk in a way that impresses the people.

4. It Makes You Famous:

Don’t you want to get interviewed by some other blog owners?

Don’t you want to become famous?

Blogging can make you.

As the time passes, more and more people hear your name and you begin to become popular slowly and slowly while not realizing what you are getting.

And, when you realize that, you” have say thanks to blogging. ;)

Want To Become A Famous Blogger? Then Read This!

5. Blogging Saves You From Wasting Your Time:

Do you waste more time on social network?

Might be..

You know

It is so easy to get distracted online and waste countless hours doing nothing. This has lead to destruction of lives for many people.

But blogging saves you from becoming addicted to anything useless online and keeps you busy in doing what is better doing and that is blogging.

6. You Invest Into Your Future:

It doesn’t matter your blog is making money at this time or not while you are working at it, you are investing in your future.

This is because one day your blog will return the favor.

Why You Should Invest More Money On Your Blog?

7. Blogging Boosts Your Confidence:

I like this Benefits of Blogging most.

Confidence is really an essential piece of any human being and we need confidence in almost all fields of life.

We need confidence for dealing with people, for telling everyone what we want and to succeed as well.
Hence, if you have lack of confidence, blogging will make you confident like you have never imagined and destroys all the roadblocks in your life that were standing just because you didn’t possess enough confidence.

So these where some Benefits of Blogging except money.

Money is not everything but without it you can’t have anything.

Do you blog just for money? Did I missed any other Benefits of Blogging?

An Article by Ammar Ali

Tips for Getting Great Results for Your Blog

2013-07-06T08:58:00.000-07:00

Tips for Getting Great Results for Your Blog

Let’s face it…
We’ve all been deceived.
Once upon a time, we looked at blogging and thought, “Oh, I can do that. Writing a few posts a week? Piece of cake.” From the outside, it looks so simple, so easy, so fun, and so we rushed off to start a blog of our own.

But then we get a rude awakening:
This stuff is complicated. Blogging isn’t so much about writing blog posts as juggling dozens of little odds and ends, all of them important, all of them demanding your attention, and all of them requiring you to learn something.
And it’s easy to drop the ball, so to speak, or even all of them. Not because you want to neglect anything, but because it’s too much to keep track of.
What you really need is a checklist of sorts – an itemized breakdown of everything you need to do to transform your blog and dazzle your readers. That way, you can stop trying to handle everything all at once and just go through it one step at a time.
So, that’s what I created for you. Here are 58 things you need to do, along with some links to help you learn how to do them well.
Enjoy.

The Basics

1. Move to self-hosted WordPress, if you haven’t already. Yes, you can build a popular blog on WordPress.com or Blogger.com, but there are lots of reasons to move your blog to your own host, including having more control and looking more professional. (Note from Jon: for newbie bloggers, I recommend Hostgator (aff). If your blog is already gaining some traction, Synthesis is a good premium option.)
2. Are you in the right niche? If you make it too narrow you’ll struggle to build a large audience. Make it too wide, and you’ll find it really hard to stand out.
3. Rework your tagline. Your tagline needs to tell your readers who the blog is for, what it offers them and what makes it special (think unique selling proposition – USP). Clear is always better than clever.
4. Set up Akismet. It’s a plug-in that helps you eliminate comment spam. Most hosts include it by default, but you still need to set it up and get it going.
5. Schedule regular backups. You never know when your blog might get hacked, and the best defense is scheduling regular backups using a plug-in like BackWPup.
6. Create an ideal reader profile. If you know who your target audience is and write every post with them in mind, your results will improve significantly!
7. Develop a basic Editorial Calendar. Jot down the type of posts (list, interview, reader question, personal, epic, etc.) and fill in post ideas. This is fairly simple to do, and it keeps your content regular and flowing.
Improving your blog’s usability
8. Showcase a clutter-free design. Nothing sends your readers running faster than being greeted by a cluttered, tacky or spammy feel. Make a great first impression by with a stunning, clean and professional design and improve your website trust factor instantaneously.
9. Link to the archives. We would all like to believe our readers browse through the archives of our blog, but the reality is, they don’t. You need to remind them. In every new post, try to link to at least three or four old posts, sending your readers back in time to read your best work.
10. Display a list of your most popular posts. Showcase your best work and impress the heck out of first time visitors.
11. Position your opt-in form in a prominent position. People often hide their subscription form and then complain that nobody subscribes. Make it very easy for people to find your sign-up form. Top right on your sidebar or just above your main navigation bar are two good places.
12. Create a contact page. As soon as you start getting traffic, some of your readers will want to get in touch with you, so create a contact page and use a plug-in like Contact Form 7 to make getting in touch with you easy.
13. Show your social media profiles. Encourage visitors to connect with you on social media. This builds trust and deepens the connection.
14. Perfect your About Me page. This is the most frequently visited page of your blog after your home page. It also has the longest shelf life. It’s worth really looking at how others have done it, and then to make yours as professional and well thought out as possible. You certainly don’t want people bouncing off this page. They need to subscribe to updates then and there.
15. Have clear guidelines for guest posting. If you want to attract quality posts from other bloggers, have a section with detailed advice on the requirements and the process.
16. Add a sign up form after every post. Remind your readers that they should sign up to get your latest updates and special offers. People are distracted. They have tons on their minds. If you don’t remind them to sign up and make it very simple, they won’t do so.
Integrating Social Media
17. Display social share buttons. Again… If you don’t make it simple for people to recommend or share your work, chances are absolutely zero that they’ll do so. Make it really easy for them to participate.
18. Focus on and master one social platform. Instead of trying to be everywhere, attempt to do one well. Excellent results on one social network trumps mediocre results on five.
19. Schedule promotions for your own posts. Sign up for a free Hootsuite account and pre-schedule Tweets or Facebook updates.
About your content…
20. Maintain an idea file. Always be on the lookout for new ideas for getting inspired to write. And have someplace where you can easily record them to refer back to later. Use Evernote as an online catch-all for writing ideas.
21. Maintain a decent posting frequency. Posting every day is a silly strategy and you need to follow the 80-20 rule. Spend 20% of your time creating content and 80% promoting it.
22. Conduct surveys. At one point or the other, you’ll be struck by writer’s block. Ask your audience what they want to read about. They might surprise you.
23. Learn from the best. I don’t care what anyone says, content is still king. Make sure your content doesn’t suck. Otherwise, your subscriber count might be stuck on single digits — indefinitely.
24. Hone in your headline writing skills. You need to make your audience curious, and you always need to spell out the benefit of them reading the post. Make prospective readers and subscribers think: I have to read that, right now!
25. Start every post with an irresistible introduction. Draw your reader down into the rest of the post. Get them from one sentence to the next, working their way through your post. If people aren’t even reading, none of the other good benefits will come.
26. Make your writing screen-friendly. Take a step back and see how your writing looks — visually. Pretty it up by adding sub-headings, bulleted points, numbered lists, images and lots of white space. Make it easy on the eyes.
27. Incorporate effective communication principles in your writing. Clarity, conciseness, and connection: they make the world go round.
28. Show off your personality. Develop your personal writing voice. Dare to be a little different. Don’t try and sound like everyone else. This will help you seem less boring.
29. Tell stories. Captivate your audience instantly.
30. Add a call to action to every post. What do you want your reader to do? Give it a powerful ending. If you inspire people to act, they will see results and love you for encouraging them.
31. Create link bait. Give people reasons to link to you… Epic posts. Huge list posts. Interviews. Reviews of other (popular!) bloggers’ work and products. One successful link bait post can bring you traffic and subscribers for years.
32. SEO friendly content. Write for humans first, and they’ll make sure that your content ranks well for search engines. Win win.
33. Engage with your community. Aim to increase the number of comments on your posts every time you write one.
34. Have fun with content syndication. Submit your content to various content syndication sites like Alltop. These sites can be good sources of targeted and engaged readers.
35. Be consistent in your guest posting strategy. You don’t have a strategy, you say? How on earth do you plan to grow your list? If you can’t get people to come over to you, it only makes sense to go where they are. Devise a strategy.

Forming strong connections

36. Follow blogs in your niche. Your blog is not an island. You can’t do it alone. You have to find your tribe and become a part of it. Find your people or remain invisible.
37. Comment on other bloggers’ posts. Be strategic about it. Be smart. Know what you want to gain from your efforts. If you said traffic only, you’re in the doghouse. Quality connections are just as important.
38. Reach out to A-list bloggers via email. Keep it short and tell them why you appreciate their work. Ask how you can help them (not the other way around).
39. Follow them on social media. No brainer.
40. Link to them. Duh!
41. Interview them. Ask them to answer a few questions on a topic they’re passionate about. When they’re committed advocates for some cause, it’s hard for them to say no.
42. Ask for a guest post. Only after you’ve developed a meaningful connection with them and know their blog and audience intimately, pitch them a great idea. But be sure to do your homework first.
43. Ask them to share a post published on your own blog. Only after your guest post has done really well, or you have guest posted multiple times. Only when your post is your best work, and will really resonate with their audience. There aren’t any exceptions.

Monetization

44. Build your email list. First, attract the right kind of traffic to your blog. Then impress them with your savvy, knowledgeability and generosity, and guess what? They’ll subscribe.
45. Offer a subscribe incentive. Give new subscribers free access to an ebook or report they can’t refuse. Make it super useful. Make it a killer. Give them something they’ll want to read (not something you think they should read).
46. Do consultations. The best way to find out what your readers want to buy is to get on the telephone and do some good old-fashioned consulting. Listen to their problems, and then try out different solutions. Soon, you’ll find a common problem and a solution that seems to work for everybody. That’s when you know you have promising product idea.
47. Create a hire me page. You’re running a business, so start acting like you are. Add a hire me page for all to see. Don’t be shy about this. Use your blog to build your business.
48. Get and display testimonials. Back up what you offer by positive feedback from past and present customers.
49. Be careful with advertising. Only display ads on your blog if the income is too good to refuse. If you do, keep the ads relevant to your audience.
50. Consider affiliate marketing. When you’ve reached the point where you actually have a substantial list, it might make sense to recommend quality products that will solve some of your audience’s problems.
51. Venture into creating your own products and running continuity programs. Multiple income streams… The name of the game.
Developing a success mindset
52. Find mentors. Even the self-appointed ones who have no clue that they’ve taken this role work fine.
53. Invest in your online business education. Coaching, classes, courses, training, events, ebooks — whatever works for you. Keep doing it.
54. Shift strategies — evolve. It’s OK to change things as you grow. Your blog isn’t static. It’s constantly evolving, just like you are.
55. Be persistent — and consistent. You don’t have a choice.
56. Celebrate your wins. A few Facebook likes. A couple of retweets. A comment here and there. A guest post invitation by a popular blogger. 70 email subscribers in a day. Orders pouring in. Being completely booked out… You get the drift. Celebrate your positive moments to keep yourself motivated.
57. Thank your advocates and fans. You’re here today because of them. Don’t forget that.
58. Have fun! Be unforgettable.
And that’s a wrap!
I know, it’s a long, long list, but there’s also a bit of a silver lining at the end of the rainbow here. The good news?
You don’t have to juggle forever
Yes, blogging is a lot of work. Yes, it’s complicated. Yes, it’s overwhelming.
But it gets easier.
As you check off the items above, you’ll slowly have less and less to do. One by one, you’ll be snatching balls out of the air and putting them down forever.
Sure, there are a few types of tasks like creating great content and forming strong connections that you’ll always be doing, but you can check off at least half of the items on this list once and for all, never having to worry about them again. Or at least, not for a while.
And the best part?
You now have links to all the resources you need to help you do it. So, get to work, start checking those babies off, and make 2013 the year when you become a blogging superstar!

By: Marya Jan

How To Make Money On Ebay

2013-06-05T08:54:00.001-07:00

Selling on Ebay is just as great as selling on websites such as Kijiji or Craigslist. You can make some extra cash just by posting something on the internet. Fantastic!

There are two things you need to be aware of when it comes to posting on Ebay.

Fees

You must pay to list your items on Ebay. The insertion fee depends on how much your starting price is. You also have to pay a “final value fee”, which is based on the final sale price of the item. Finally, if you want to make any upgrades to your listing, such as adding a picture or subtitle, you have to pay fees for those as well.

Shipping

With Ebay, you have to package your item and then take it to the post office to be shipped. This can be an annoyance for some people, so keep it in mind if you decide to post on Ebay.

You will need to make sure you charge the correct amount for shipping. Most sellers have their own scale that they use to weigh their package and charge accordingly.

Some items have a better chance of selling on Ebay as opposed to Craigslist or Kijiji, such as collectible items.

If you decide to list something on Ebay, here are some tips:

Research Your Item

Before you list your item for sale, it’s a good idea to check Ebay and see if there is anyone else selling the same item and how much they are selling it for. This will give you a good idea of how much you should list your item for.

Make Your Listing End on a Sunday Evening

Many people are in a “buying frame of mind” on Sundays. I don’t know why, they just are. The best time for an auction to end is Sunday evening between 6pm-12am. Between 6pm and 9pm is best.

Take a Picture

A picture really is worth a thousand words, at least when you’re trying to sell something. It’s been proven that ads with photos have a much better chance of selling than an ad without photos. A description is not enough.

Make sure that your photo is of decent quality. A bad photo is just as bad as no photo at all.

Write a Good Headline

You want people to click on your ad. In order to encourage them do this, your headline has to draw them in.

Instead of saying “girls shirt for sale”, say something like “Tommy Hilfiger Girls T-Shirt, Size 5T, Like New”. Which ad would you click on? Exactly.

Write a Good Description

Your item description is just as important as your headline, so make sure you spend a bit of time on it as well. Sticking with the girls shirt example above, your description should look something like this:

Girls Tommy Hilfiger Tshirt
Size 5T
Dark Purple
Like New Condition
100% Cotton

Don’t forget if to mention if there is any flaws with the item, such as a small stain or missing button. It’s also a good idea to mention if your item has been in a smoke and/or pet free environment.

Keep Your Shipping Charges Reasonable

There are a few people who will post on Ebay and list an item for dirt cheap (think $1.99 for an iPad) and then rack up the shipping costs (think $199 for that same iPad). This is not a good idea. You will likely end up with a bad reputation – and reputation is everything on Ebay.

If you plan on posting on Ebay often, I suggest purchasing a a small kitchen scale to weigh your items before you list them. This makes it easy to calculate shipping costs and charge the correct amount.

Ebay can be a great way for you to earn some extra cash. There are many people who actually make a living buying and selling on Ebay.

Just remember to follow the steps above and you will be well on your way to your first sale.

Source: Cassie Howard at MrsJanuary

Do you have any tips for making money on Ebay?

How To Sell Your Stuff Online: Kijiji & Craigslist

2013-06-05T08:51:00.001-07:00

Have you ever wanted to sell your stuff online but weren’t sure how to do it? Or maybe youhave tried it but weren’t able to sell much (if anything at all).

Making money from online classifieds, such as Kijiji and Craigslist, is not as simple as posting the ad and watching the money roll in. In order to make the sale, you have to be prepared to put in a little work.

Here are some tips to help you sell your stuff online:

Take a great photo.

Photos often sell the item for you, so make sure you have a very good photo of your item.

Even better, post multiple photos of your item from different angles.

If your item has any defects (scratches, stains, etc.), be sure to take a photo of those as well. It shows people you are honest.

Do some research.

Before you post your ad, do a bit of research on the item you plan to sell.

Take a few minutes to see how much money others may be selling the same (or a similar) item for.

Ebay is great for this, because you can also see how interested people are in that particular item by viewing how many bids have been placed.

Include a catchy headline.

The very first thing people see is your headline (the title or item name), so you better make it good if you want people to click on your ad.

You want to pull people in without being obnoxious. For example:

Good Headline: Brand New Baby Boy 6-12M Clothes, NWT (new with tags)
Bad Headline: **Lots of boys clothes for sale!!!**

Another good example:

Good Headline: Solid Maple Wood Dining Room Set – Table, 6 Chairs, Buffet & Hutch
Bad Headline: Kitchen Set

Add as much information about the item into the headline as possible so people know what to expect when they are viewing your ad.

Include lots of detail in your description.

Finally, you must add a description for your item. It’s best to be very descriptive.

Be sure to include dimensions, colours, scents, and make note of any damages (if applicable).

You may also want to include your nearest intersection (or nearest intersection of the place you plan to meet), so that people know if you are close enough to them to make the deal worth it.

If you offer delivery, let people know. If you don’t, mention that as well.

Act fast to inquiries.

When you receive a phone call or email about your item(s), be sure to respond in a timely manner.

The longer it takes you to get back to an interested party, the less likely it will be that you end up making the sale.

Be prepared to negotiate.

Many people treat online classifieds as online yard sales. Just as most people would haggle on prices at a yard sale, you can expect the same thing from your online sales.

Not everyone will try to get a discount, but there are quite a few people that will (myself included!). Be prepared for this and price your items accordingly.

Keep information of everyone interested.

If you get interest from more than one person, be sure to keep the contact information for everyone until you have actually sold the item.

It’s not unusual to have someone tell you they are interested in your item, and then not show up to buy it when they say they will.

Because of this fact, it’s important to keep a list of “back-ups” that you can contact to purchase the item instead.

Re-list your items weekly.

Since Craigslist and Kijiji are free websites, there are thousands of people posting on them on a regular basis.

Your sale items will never stay on the main page all day. It doesn’t take long for more people to post – bumping your items further and further away from the main page.

Make a habit of re-listing your items once a week for 4 weeks. After that, consider donating them instead.

Selling online is a fantastic way to make some extra cash, but it can take some time to actually sell the item(s) that you are listing.

Make a deadline for when things need to be sold (4 weeks is the norm for me) and if they don’t sell by that date, they probably aren’t worth selling. Perhaps a donation to your local thrift shop would be a better idea.

Source: Cassie Howard at MrsJanuary

Do you have any tips for selling on Kijiji or Craigslist?

6 Ways To Make Money Online In Canada

2013-06-05T08:48:00.000-07:00

6 Ways To Make Money Online In Canada

I am often asked how to make money online, and although there are many ways to do so, this is not something that is easy.

There is no possible way to “get rich quick”, and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. If you want to make money online, it’s going to take awhile to make more than a few dollars, and it’s going to involve quite a bit of work. Lots and lots of actual work. If you don’t treat your online endeavour as a job, you’re not going to make much money. It’s that simple.

However, if you’re not afraid of working hard, you can earn a decent income online. Here are a few ways to make money online in Canada:

1. Sell Stuff

There are many places that you can sell things online, including Kijiji, Craigslist, Ebay, and Amazon.

You can sell pretty much anything you want on these sites. It’s very easy to make money by getting rid of things around the house that you no longer need. My personal favourite website is Kijiji because it is free to list things for sale and the site is very easy to use.

2. Sell Homemade Goods on Etsy

Are you crafty? If so, you should really consider selling your stuff on Etsy – one of the best sites for selling homemade goods. There are a ton of members and visitors that visit this website every day to see what’s new, so you will have a large audience that you can sell your products to.

Check out this great post to learn how to increase your chances of selling your goods: 12 Tips for Selling on Etsy.

3. Become a Freelance Writer

There are many websites out there that will actually pay you to speak your mind. If you are knowledgeable about certain things (finance, child care, housekeeping, etc.), there is likely a company that is looking for someone like you to write articles for their website, magazine or newspaper.

About.com and Wise Bread are 2 companies that I would recommend looking into.

4. Start a Blog

Before I say anything about blogging, please note that you should NOT start a blog to make money. You should start a blog because you love to write and share with others. If you do this, eventually the money will come. It just takes awhile.

There are many ways that you can make money with your blog: Google Adsense, private advertising, affiliate marketing (such as Amazon Associates), eBooks and more.

Here are a few more tips on blogging for money.

5. Use Swagbucks

Using Swagbucks is a great way to earn “money” online. All you have to do is use their search engine and you will earn “bucks”. Once you have enough of those bucks you can trade them in for cash (through Paypal) and/or gift cards to local and online stores.

Be sure to check out my article on how to earn Swagbucks faster.

6. Complete Surveys

There are many reputable survey sites such as Canada Talk Now, Opinion Outpost, and Points2Shop that you can work for.

Don’t expect to make a whole bunch of money taking online surveys. You will often only be able to earn pocket change.

That money can go toward a monthly treat (a specialty coffee, a new book, etc.), though, so it may be worth the small amount of time it takes to complete these surveys.

Making money online is very hard. I didn’t start making much money myself until I’d been blogging for over 2 years!

Although it does take time (like any other job), there is something so rewarding about being able to work online from your own home (or anywhere you can get an internet connection). Maybe it’s the fact that you get to live in your pajamas (not that you should!), take breaks whenever you want and be your own boss – those are some of the things I love about my job!

The main thing to remember is that if you want to make anything more than pocket change online, you absolutely must treat your job as a job – not as a hobby.

Source: Cassie Howard at MrsJanuary

Do you have any online money making tips?

Walmart Canada Coupon Policy

2013-06-05T08:38:00.000-07:00

Here is the Walmart Canada coupon policy:

The following represents guidelines shared with our stores to facilitate coupon handling.

Coupon is accepted only if store carries the item

Must be presented at the time of purchase

Only Canadian coupons are accepted

The item purchased must match the item presented on the coupon. (identical in size, quantity, brand, style, flavour, color and /

or any other specs used to identify the product on the coupon)

Expiration date must be present & be redeemed prior to the expiration

Print-at-home internet coupons:

Must be legible

Must have “Manufacturer Coupon” printed on them

Have have a valid name & Canadian remit address

Must have a valid expiration date

Must have a scannable bar code

Can be buy one, get one free (BOGO) coupons

Are acceptable in black, white or color

Manufacturer’s coupons

Dollar/cents off

Free items

Buy one get one free (BOGO)

Has “Manufacturer Coupon” printed

Must have valid name

Must have valid expiration date

Must have a scannable bar code

Competitors coupons qualify if:

Issued by a Canadian competitor

For a specific item for a specified price i.e. $2.99

Buy one, get one free (BOGO) coupons for items with a specified price

They have a valid expiration date

Are acceptable in black, white or color

# of coupons that can be used for each item:

Only one acceptable coupon may be presented for each purchased item within a transaction

Store managers reserve the right to limit quantities where multiple coupons are being used for multiple purchases of the same item

When coupon value exceeds the price of the item:

The excess amount can be given as cash or can be applied toward the basket purchase , at the customer’s choice

Free merchandise with a coupon (BOGO/B1G1):

No sales tax is applied on the free merchandise

How to Have a Baby Without Going Broke

2013-06-05T08:35:00.001-07:00

Have a Baby on a Budget.

Whenever someone asks me the question “is it expensive to have children?”, I always groan. For some reason, people seem to think that it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to raise a child from birth until age 18, and this is simply not the case at all.

It is possible to have a baby without going broke, I promise. The key is to be resourceful, and to learn as much as possible about the things you should spend money on, and the things you shouldn’t.

Here are a few of my tips for having a baby on a budget:

Determine what you actually need

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t actually need a wipes warmer for your baby. They will survive just fine without one. On the other hand, there are things that, of course, arenecessary for a baby, such as a car seat, stroller, crib, a highchair or booster seat, some clothes and diapers. Everything else is extra. As a reference, here is a great article (and checklist) on newborn essentials.

Sign up for baby freebies

There are so many companies out there that offer free baby samples to expecting parents. Some of my favourites include Nestle, Toys R Us, Sobeys and Sears. You will often receive free diapers, wipes, coupons, baby bottles, baby spoons and even prenatal vitamins.

Join rewards programs

Consider signing up to rewards programs, such as Air Miles, Shoppers Optimum and Club Sobeys, so that you can earn points to use towards purchases of diapers, formula, baby wipes, baby toiletries, medicines and other baby items you may need.

Buy used whenever possible

Most of the things you are going to need for your baby can be purchased second hand. Things like clothing, toys, dressers/change tables, diaper bags, bedding, and baby monitors are all items that you can purchase used. Invest in things like the car seat and crib, since these are very important things you should not buy used.

Watch for deals on daily deal sites

You can sometimes find deals for baby items (clothing, toys, furniture, bedding and baby gadgets) on various different daily deal sites. I once saw Melissa & Doug toys on a daily deal site for 50% off and I snatched those up right away because that is a very good quality toy brand.

I have also purchased brand name diapers on daily deal sites for a fraction of the retail price. Check these sites daily, because you never know when a great deal will come along.

Use cloth diapers

There’s no denying that using reusable diapers is going to save you a ton of cash. There are many different companies out there that sell cloth diapers and the prices range anywhere from $200-$800 for a starter set. This works out to much less than the average $0.25 per diaper that you would pay for brand name disposable diapers.

If you really want to have a baby without going broke, save your money and opt for cloth diapering over disposables.

Make your own baby food

Preparing your own baby food at home is not only very easy, but it’s also a huge money-saver. Commercial baby food is extremely expensive and has a ton of preservatives in it that you probably don’t want to be feeding to your child anyway.

An easy way that I used to make baby food was to simply stick whatever we are having for dinner into our Magic Bullet and puree it for our baby. Now that she is older, she still gets whatever we eat, we just chop it up into small pieces for her.

These are only a few examples of ways that you can cut back on baby costs, which means that, yes, you can have a baby without going broke!

Source: Cassie Howard at MrsJanuary

What are your tips for saving on baby goods?

Where To Find Coupons

2013-06-05T08:30:00.000-07:00

Knowing where to find coupons in Canada can save you hundreds of dollars a year. This article on where to find coupons, shows you how to get coupons in Canada that are located in many different places!

The average Canadian family spends approximately $800 a month on groceries – and that’s not including cleaning supplies, health and beauty aids or baby necessities, which can add hundreds more to your bill every month.

Coupons allow you to save a lot of money off your grocery bills without much effort. Sure, it will take some time to get the hang of using coupons “properly”, but once you learn to shop smart, it will become much easier.

With just a bit time and determination, you can start saving your family hundreds or even thousands of dollars every year with coupons.

Isn’t that worth a bit of your time?

If you’re wondering where to find coupons, I’ve listed a bunch of places below where you can get coupons in Canada.

Tear Pads

On your next shopping trip, walk down each aisle and scan the shelves closely. It’s likely that you will find at least 1 shelf with a tear pad full of coupons. Take what you need, but always leave some behind for other shoppers.

I suggest taking 1 or 2 of a coupon, even if you don’t use the product(s). You can use those for coupon trading and coupon trains (explained below). Don’t ever take an entire pad full of coupons – that’s just poor coupon etiquette.

Online Coupon Companies

There are many great Canadian online coupon companies available. Use these sites to select coupons that you want and you will get them mailed directly to your home, free of charge.

Printable Coupons

You can also search your favourite companies’ websites to see if they offer printable coupons (or you can visit our coupon database for Canadian printable coupons). Many of them do.

Be sure to sign up to their mailing lists, as some companies send out coupons in their newsletters. I suggest setting up a separate email account for these newsletters so that your personal email address doesn’t get overrun with offers from these companies.

Other printable coupon websites to check out: Smart Source, Living Well, Les Surgeles(French), Healthy Shopper

Contact Companies Directly

Sometimes calling or emailing a company and letting them know your family enjoys their products is enough for them to mail you a coupon. Ask them if they wouldn’t mind sending a coupon for their products, and include your address. Not all companies will send you coupons, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.

Visit: Canadian companies that will mail you coupons.

On Products

Look in and on the packaging of the products that you buy for special loyalty coupons. These can be in the form of a peelie (a coupon attached to the product, to be peeled off) or written directly on the package (such as a cereal box), to be cut out.

Please do not take peelie coupons off of products that you are not going to purchase.

Coupon Trading

Coupon trading is a great way to get coupons that you want, and get rid of the ones that you don’t. Check out the Mrs January coupon trading forum to trade with other couponers. You could also trade coupons with your friends, family and co-workers.

Coupon Trains

Coupon trains can be a bit complicated when you first get started, but after your first ride or two, you should be able to get the hang of how they work. Simply browse the trains available in our forum and the person who started the train will message you to get your address. (Or you could start your own train, of course!)

You should then receive an envelope stuffed with coupons in the mail. Take out the coupons you would like and replace them with coupons you already have and don’t need. Mail the envelope to the next rider on the list (the list will be in the envelope with the coupons). That’s it!

Coupon Inserts

Every few weeks, you can find Canadian coupon inserts in your local newspaper. There is Redplum every 4 weeks or so, SmartSource every 3 weeks or so and Brandsaver every 3-4 months. These coupon inserts are usually put in with your FREE newspapers (the ones that come with store flyers), but you can also find them in some paid subscription newspapers as well.

Keep in mind that using coupons is not the only way to save money on groceries.Check out my eBook, Money In Your Pocket, for many more ways to save on your grocery bill.

Canada Coupons – Where To Find Redplum & Smart Source Coupon Inserts

2013-06-05T08:26:00.000-07:00

Are you looking for Redplum & Smart Source coupon inserts in Canada? Below is a list of newspapers that you can find them in.

If you are not receiving inserts in your local paper(s), let them know and they should be able to help you out.

Alberta

Brattleford Regional Ad Post
Fort McMurray Today
Fort Saskatchewan This Week
Grande Prairie Herald
Leduc Rep
Sherwood Park News
Calgary Herald
Edmonton Journal
Calgary National Post
Lethbridge Herald
Medicine Hat News
Red Deer Advocate
Calgary Sun
Edmonton Sun
Bow Island Commentator
Coaldale Sunny South News
Taber Times
Edmonton Examiner

British Columbia

Trail Times
Cranbrook Townsman
Dawson Creek Mirror
Kelowna Daily Courier
Kimberley Daily Bulletin
Merritt News
Nanaimo Daily News (Free Press)
Penticton Southern Exposure
Squamish Chief
Sunshine Coast Reporter
Abbotsford/Sumas/Mission Times
Aberni Valley The Pennyworh
Campbell River Courier Islander
Chilliwack Times
Coquitlam Now
Courtenay Comox Valley Echo
Duncan Cowichan Valley Citizen
Harbour City Star
Langley Advance
Maple Ridge Ridge Meadow Times
Richmond News
Surrey Now
Grand Forks Boundary Bulletin
Vancouver National Post
Vancouver Sun
Kamloops Daily Extra
Kamloops Daily News
Kelowna Event
Penticton Herald
Prince George Citizen
Burnaby Now
Delta Optimist
New Westminister Record
Fort St. John Express
Vancouver Province
Victoria Times Colonist
Dawson Creek (Fort St. John) Regional News (Peace River Block News)
Fort St. John North Peace Express
North Vancouver North Shore News
Creston Valley Advance
Hope Standard
Prince George Review
Whistler Question
Oceanside Star
Tofino The Westerly
Parksville Qualicom News
Mackenzie Times
Agassiz-Harrison Observer
Fernie Free Press
Vernon Morning Star
Wiliams Lake Cariboo Advisor
Bridge River-Lillooet News
East Kootenay Weekly

Manitoba

Nickel Belt News
Selkirk/Gimli/Stonewall Interlake Papers
Winnipeg Free Press
Brandon Sun/Westman
Winnipeg Sun
Brandon Wheat City Journal

New Brunswick

Woodstock Bugle-Observer
Fredericton Gleaner
Moncton Times Transcript
Restigouche La Voix
Saint John Telegraph Journal
Bathurst Northern Light
Campbellton The Tribune

Newfoundland

Gander Beacon
Corner Brook Western Star
St. John’s Telegram
Grand Falls Advertiser

Nova Scotia

Bedford-Sackville Weekly News
Dartmouth-East Cole Harbor Weekly News
Halifax-West Clayton Park Weekly News
Digby/Kentville/Yarmouth (Halifax) Chronicle Herald Provincial Ed.
Halifax CH/Mail Star
Amherst Daily News
Antigonish A&G Transaction
New Glasgow News
Sydney/Cape Breton Post
Truro Daily News
Bridgewater Bulletin

Ontario

Ajax/Pickering News
Brampton Guardian
Burlington/Hamilton Spectator
Cambridge Reporter
Etobicoke Guradian
Mississauga News
North York Mirror
Oakville Beaver
Oshawa/Whitby/Port Perry/Clarington This Week
Scarborough Mirror
York/Bloor West Guardian
Bancroft This Week
Barrie Examiner
Belleville Intelligencer
Brantford Expositor
Chatham Kent Citizen
Collingwood Enterprise-Bulletin
Cornwall Standard Freeholder
Dunnville Chronicle
Frontenac This Week
Guelph Smart Shopper
Hanover Post
Innisfil Examiner
Kirkland Lake Northern Daily News
Midland Free Press
Niagara Falls Review
North Bay Nugget
Northumberland Today
Orillia Packet & Times
Owen Sound Sun Times
Pembroke Observer
Picton County This Week
Sarnia Observer
Sault Ste. Marie Star
Sudbury Star
Timmins Daily Press
Trenton Trentonian
West Niagara News
Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa National Post
Toronto National Post
Windsor Star
Thunder Bay (Ontario) Times-News/Chron.-Jrnl.
Guelph Mercury
Kitchner/Waterloo Record
Markham Economist
Richmond Hill/Thornhill/Vaughn Liberal
Brockville Recorder
Chatham Daily News
Fort Erie Times
Kingston Whig Standard
London Free Press
St. Catharine’s Standard
St. Thomas Times Journal – Elgin County Mkt
Stratford Beacon Herald
Welland Tribune
Woodstock Oxford Review
Toronto Star
Aurora/Newmarket Banner/Era
Ottawa Sun
Toronto Sun
Alliston Herald
Arnprior Chronicle-Guide
Barrie Advance
Bolton-Caledon Enterprise
Carlton Place Canadian-Almonte Gazette
Collingwood The Conection
Dunnville Sachem
Georgetown/Acton Independent/Free Press
Grimsby Lincoln News
Kanata Kourier-Standard
Kemptville Advance
Midland Mirror
Milton Champion
Niagara This Week
Orangeville Banner
Orillia Today
Perth Courier Weekender
Renfrew Mercury Weekender
Smith Falls This Week
Stittsville News
Uxbridge Times Journal/Tribune
Highlands Weekender
Kingston This Week
Kitchener/Waterloo Smart Shopper
Lindsay Daily Post
Peterborough Examiner
Simcoe Reformer
Elliot Lake Standard
Windsor Smart shopper

Prince Edward Island

Charlottetown Guardian
Summerside Journal Pioneer

Quebec

Sherbrooke Record
Montreal Gazette
Montreal National Post
Chicoutimi (Saguenay) Le Quotidien
Granby La Voix de L’Est
Montreal La Presse
Ottawa Le Droit
Quebec Le Soliel
Sherbrooke La Tribune
Trois Rivieres Le Nouvelliste
Baie Corneau/Forrestville Objectif Haute Coute Nord
Montreal Le Journal de Montreal
Quebec Le Journal de Quebec
Jonquiere Le Reveil a Jonquiere
Rimouski Progres Echo Dimanche
Rouyn/Noranda Le Citoyen
St. Jerome Le Mirabel
Montmagny Le People Cote-Sud
Montreal Publi-Sac
Gaspe Le Pharillon
Montreal (St. Therese) La Voix des Milles-lles
Val d’Or Le Citoyen Abitibi-Est
Montreal AMS de Quebec

Saskatchewan

Estevan SE Trader Express
Humboldt Regional Trader
Parkland Review
Lloydminster (Alberta) Daily Times/Meridian Booster
Assisinboia Times
Regina Leader Post
Saskatoon Star Phoenix
Moose Jaw Times Herald
Moose Jaw News EMC
Prince Albert Herald
Maple Creek News
Swift Current The Southwest Booster
Yorkton This Week & Enterprise

Source: Cassie Howard at MrsJanuary

How To Be An Extreme Couponer In Canada

2013-06-04T19:28:00.000-07:00

Learn How to Extreme Coupon in Canada!

Learn how to extreme coupon in Canada. Ever since the TLC show Extreme Couponing has aired, I have received numerous emails from readers begging me to give them tips on how to be an extreme couponer like the people they see on the show.

I’m sorry to break it to ya folks, but what you see on the show is not really how it all goes down. Those shoppers save up all of their “Free Product” and “High Value” coupons to use on the show, so that their hauls will be much more impressive.

They know well in advance when their shopping date will be, so they have plenty of time to order coupons (many use a coupon clipping service at a cost – a cost that is never factored into their out of pocket total).

It’s television – pure entertainment.

Is it possible to be an extreme couponer in Canada?

Yes, but don’t expect to get the same types of deals as those you see on Extreme Couponing.

Many of the people on the show have stores in their community that will double (sometimes triple!) the value of coupons. They also have catalinas that print on your receipt, which are coupons you can use for future purchases (for example: save $5 on your next purchase of $20).

In addition, they often have better in store promotions than those of us in Canada (for example: buy 5 General Mills products and get $5 off your purchase).

So, yes, you can be an extreme couponer in Canada. Just don’t expect to go to the store every week and buy $600 worth of groceries for $10. It’s near impossible.

My eBook, Money In Your Pocket, is a great resource for saving money on groceries in Canada. Please check it out if you are looking to cut back on your grocery bills.

How to Become an Extreme Couponer

Learning how to extreme coupon in Canada takes time. Becoming an extreme couponer and building a large stockpile doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time to learn how to shop smart and get used to using coupons in large quantities. It took me well over a year to build my stockpile and I am still (and always will be) constantly taking from and adding items to it.

Find Coupons

If you really want to get serious about couponing, the first thing you need to do is find coupons – and find a lot of them. There are many ways to do this: tear pad coupons, coupon inserts, online coupon companies, printable coupons, coupon trading, etc.

Organize Coupons

Once you find a bunch of coupons, you will then need to organize them. My favourite way to organize coupons is the binder method, but of course, there are many other options. Choose the organizational system that you think would work best for you.

It’s important to always stay on top of your coupons. When you get new ones, organize them right away. They start to pile up very fast! Also, don’t forget to go through your coupons at least once per month and remove all of the expired ones.

Check Your Flyers

There are new store flyers every week. When you receive them, look them over and make note of the items that you think are good deals and would like to buy. Then, check your coupons to see if you have any to match up to those sale items.

I post weekly coupon match-ups every Thursday, so if you don’t have time to check your flyers, just watch for that post.

You always want to shop with a list when you go grocery shopping. Otherwise, you will just walk up and down the aisles adding random items to your cart with no real rhyme or reason. To save yourself some money, always shop with a list and never buy anything that is not on it (unless you find some great clearance deals, of course!).

Also, you need to fill your belly before you go shopping, otherwise you will shop on impulse and fill up your cart with junk food. Trust me on that one.

Stock-up on Sale Items

You always want to stock up on items when they are at their rock-bottom prices. This is how you build a grocerystockpile. Give yourself a monthly “stocking up” budget and use that money to stock up on items when they go on sale.

If you use lots of frozen vegetables and normally pay $1.99 a bag, wait until they go on sale for $1 or less and then stock up. Sales typically run about every 3 months, so purchase a 3 month supply (if you can afford it) at that low price and then you don’t have to worry about frozen vegetables for 3 months.

Always save your coupons to match up with great deals. I know it can be tempting to use a whole bunch of coupons when you first start out, but you will get the best bang for your buck if you hold on to those coupons and wait for a sale to combine them with. Avoid full price whenever possible, even if you have a coupon.

Organize Your Stockpile

Once you start using coupons for awhile and purchasing things that are on sale, you will begin to amass a collection of items. This is called a stockpile. In order to avoid chaos in your home, you need to organize your stockpile. Basements work best, but if you don’t have one available to use, here are some other ideas for stockpile storage.

Remember to always add newer items to the back and move older items to the front, to prevent expiration issues. You’re not saving any money if you just end up throwing things out!

Donate Your Extras

When you start getting the hang of using coupons and stockpiling, you will probably end up having a whole heap of items that you can’t possibly use before they expire. I would suggest donating those stockpile items to local food banks, shelters and even friends and family. Help others in need. Pay it forward. If you do good, good will come to you.

Becoming an extreme couponer is hard. It takes a lot of time, and it can be stressful. You have to find coupons, clip coupons, organize coupons, plan shopping trips, go shopping and put everything away. You will sometimes deal with cashiers that don’t want to accept your coupons. There will be great big hauls and there will be very small hauls. Expect that.

If you want to be extreme, couponing becomes a job. It’s not easy – but it can certainly be worth it!

Source: Cassie Howard at Mrsjanuary

Baby/Toddler Freebies For Canadians

2013-06-04T19:24:00.000-07:00

Free Baby Samples Canada

Are you pregnant? Have a baby? If so, I’ve got some great news – you’re entitled to FREE stuff! Yep, just for having a baby. Aren’t kids great?

There are lots of free baby samples available for you to order. Companies are dying to get you to try their baby products, so they send out free samples to pregnant mom’s and new parents all the time.

Here’s a list of the best baby freebies for Canadians:

Johnson & Johnson

Freebie: One coupon for a free trial “take along” kit, complete with baby lotion and baby wash.
Get this freebie: Call 1-800-361-8068 or Email

Babies/Toys R Us

Freebie: One sample package, including: 1 Huggies newborn diaper, small package of Huggies wipes, 1 rash cream sample, Johnson & Johnson baby wash sample, Playtex drop-ins bottle, nursing pads, Lanolin sample, Nuk pacifier, 2 baby spoons, diaper coupons, baby wash cloth.
Get this freebie: Create a baby registry in store.

Heinz Baby Club

Freebie: Baby cereal, growth chart, coupons.
Get this freebie: Join the club.

Similac Baby Club

Freebie: Similac Mom sample, Similac infant formula, cheques/coupons every so often for $3-$5 each.
Get this freebie: Join the club.

Enfamil Baby Club

Freebie: Coupons, formula sample, coupon for FREE pack of ready-to-feed formula.
Get this freebie: Join the club.

Nestle Baby Club

Freebie: Infant formula sample, backpack, coupons, change pad, small Nuk bottle, small bag of Huggies diapers for newborns (samples may vary).
Get this freebie: Join the club.

Milupa

Freebie: Baby spoon, baby cereal, coupons.
Get this freebie: Call 1-866-335-9080 and ask for promotional package.

Save On Foods

Freebie: Various coupons emailed to members that have joined the More Rewards program.
Get this freebie: Sign up here.

Sears

Freebie: Playtex drop-ins bottle, newborn Huggies diaper, Zincofax diaper rash cream sample, coupons.
Get this freebie: Create baby registry & join “waiting club” in store.

Lansinoh

Freebie: Nipple cream sample, 5 cloth wipes, 2 breast milk storage bags, 2 disposable nursing pads.
Get this freebie: Email and tell them you plan to breastfeed. Ask for samples.

Hydrasense

Freebie: Hydrasense samples, bath toy, coupons.
Get this freebie: Join the club.

Nursery Water

Freebie: Reusable bag.
Get this freebie: Order here. (They give away free bags once per day, around 12pm EST.)

Pampers Gifts to Grow

Freebie: Collect PINS from diaper/wipe packages and redeem for great prizes. We also have a list of free Pampers Gifts to Grow pins.
Get this freebie: Sign up here.

Huggies Enjoy the Ride

Freebie: Collect PINS from diaper/wipe packages and redeem for great prizes. We also have a list of free Huggies Enjoy The Ride pins.
Get this freebie: Sign up here.

Nestle Toddler

Freebie: Toddler drink.
Get this freebie: Order here.

Shoppers V.I.B

Freebie: Bib, Huggies diaper, Huggies sample pack wipes, Heinz baby food sample, Aveeno baby wash, Optimum coupons for baby products.
Get this freebie: Sign up here.

Sobeys Baby Club

Freebie: Prenatal vitamins for 2 years (must pick up monthly), pharmacy consultation, welcome kit, baby coupons.
Get this freebie: Sign up at your local Sobeys pharmacy.

Thrifty Foods

Freebie: 8×12 Birthday cake for your child’s first birthday.
Get this freebie: Visit your local Thrifty Foods.

It’s always nice to receive free samples in the mail. Especially when they are for products that are expensive to purchase in the stores (like diapers and formula). Thankfully, there are many companies that are willing to send samples to expecting parents. It’s a great way to test out their products before you actually buy a full size version.

I hope that this list of free baby samples for Canadians has helped you. I made sure to only include companies that I personally have received samples from. There are many baby freebies available, but I warn you to be cautious about the ones you sign up for, as there are many scams out there.

The baby freebies above are freebies that are legitimate and have been received not just by myself, but by many others.

Enjoy!

Source: Cassie Howard at MrsJanuary

If you have signed up for baby/toddler freebies before, please let us know what you received!

Canada Birthday Freebies

2013-06-04T19:17:00.000-07:00

Free Birthday Stuff Canada

Is your birthday coming up? If so, happy birthday! Looking for free stuff on your birthday? You’ve come to the right place.

Many stores offer great birthday freebies to their customers, so be sure to take advantage of some this year. Below is a list of over 45 different birthday freebies that you can snag. Go get ‘em!

Last Updated: January 13, 2013

Restaurants/Fast Food:

Applebee’s – Free dessert shooter on your birthday. Must show ID.

Baskin Robbins – Buy 1 Get 1 Free ice cream cone on your birthday. Join the Birthday Club.

Boston Pizza – Your choice of 3 starters: pizza bread, cactus cut potatoes or yam fries.Join mailing list.

Casey’s – Free entree (up to $15) and free beverage.

Coldstone Creamery – Free ice cream creation on your birthday. Join mailing list.

Dairy Queen – Get a coupon for a B1G1 “treat”. Join the Blizzard Fan Club.

Denny’s (various locations) – Free entree on your birthday. Join the Birthday Club..

East Side Mario’s – Spin the wheel and win a prize.

Garden Buffet (Windsor, Ontario) – Enjoy a free meal on your birthday.

Imperial Buffet (Toronto, Ontario) – Buy 2 Buffet Meal, get 1 free. Only valid on actual birth date. Must show ID.

Jack Astor’s - Free dessert on your birthday. Join VIP Club.

The Keg – When dining at the restaurant, mention that it’s your birthday and you will get a free slice of Billy Miner pie.

Mandarin – Wear a hat, receive a photo and a piece of cake.

Marble Slab – Will be sent a coupon for a free ice cream on your birthday (good for 1 week).Join mailing list.

Milestone’s – Free entree when you purchase 3 others (so bring 3 friends or family members). Must show ID. Join Milestones Club.

Montana’s – Free dessert on your birthday.

Panera Bread – Free pastry on your birthday. Must pick up a membership card and register it.

Pizza Delight - Free meal (choose from birthday menu).

Pizza Pizza – Free slice of pizza and can of pop. Join Kids Club. (Kids Only)

Pomodori Pizza – Free slide of pizza (in Rothesay NB)

Quizno’s – Free cookie with the purchase of any sandwich (must present an email printout that they send to you around your birthday). Join the club.

Red Robin – Free burger on your birthday. Join the E-Club.

Steels Cafe & Grill – Free meal when you show ID. Visit their website here

Swiss Chalet - Free dessert on your birthday and Kids eat free on their birthday.

The Firehall (in Oakville’s Bronte village) – Free entree up to $15 for the Birthday person

Tony Roma’s – Free entree & mini dessert (maximum $15 off your entree). Must sign up at the restaurant before your birthday and you will receive an email with a coupon to print around your birth date.

Tucker’s Market Place – Free meal on your birthday.

Tutti Fruti – 50% off breakfast on your birthday.

What A Bagel – Free dozen bagels.

Beverages:

Booster Juice – Free regular smoothie on your birthday. Join Booster Nation Club.

7-11 – Free small slurpee on your birthday.

Blenz (Vancouver) – Free drink on your birthday. Must show ID.

Orange Julius – Free premium fruit smoothie or Julius fruit drink. Join QuenchClub.

Starbucks – Use your Starbucks card and get a free drink on your birthday. Get your Starbucks card.

Timothy’s Coffee – Free baked treat with any medium coffee purchase. Must present coupon sent to your email. Join the club.

Shopping:

American Eagle – receive 15% off your purchase during birthday month. Sign up for AE Rewards

Cleo – 10% off all merchandise (including sale & clearance). You can combine this discount with other in-store promotions.

Giant Tiger – One free gift. Choose between 3-4 items.

Home Outfitters – Receive a coupon for 10% off your entire purchase.

Party Packager’s – Your child will receive a FREE ready-made loot bag, filled to the brim with goodies or a 10% discount on purchase (you have a choice of which coupon you would like to use). Parent receives 10% discount on next purchase just for signing up. Join the club.

RW & CO. – 25% off the last ticketed price on all merchandise (must present an email printout that they send you around your birthday). Valid ID required. Join the club.

Sephora – Benefit mascara and highlighter. (with your beauty insider card). Get a Beauty Insider card.

Shopper’s Drug Mart – Coupon for 8,000 Optimum points when you spend $50. You can also get a FREE makeover or beauty consultation (update your profile with your birthday and you will be emailed this coupon).

The Body Shop – Free “Love Your Body” membership (which entitles you to 10% off all year). If you already have the card, you will receive a $10 off coupon to use.

Value Village – 20% off on your birthday if you’re a member of the Super Savers Club.

Other:

Menchies – Free Frozen Yogurt (up to a $5 value) when it is your birthday.

NeVaeh Kids Spa – Receive a free cupcake with sparklers at no charge when you bring your little one in for a service on or near their birthday. Visit website.

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory – Free gift (usually a chocolate bar) if you include your birth date when registering your Rocky Card.

Semperviva (Vancouver location’s) Free Yoga Class

Swagbucks – 50 free swagbucks on your bday

Entertainment:

Chuck E Cheese – Will be sent a printable coupon for free tokens for child’s birthday and a coupon for childs 1/2 birthday.

Cypress Mountain (BC) – Free skiing, just show ID at ticket counter and receive a free lift pass. Visit website

Medieval Times – Free feast and tournament. Join the Birthday Fellowship.

If you know of any other birthday freebies in Canada, please let us know!

Coupon Companies That Will Mail You Coupons (Canada Online)

2013-06-04T19:12:00.000-07:00

Companies That Will Mail You Coupons

Are you searching for an easy way to get Canadian coupons and don’t know where to look?

If so, you’ve come to the right place. Coupons in Canada are easy to find, if you know where to find them. One great place to look is the websites of Canadian online coupon companies.

You can find some great online coupon companies that will mail you coupons in Canada – for free. No strings attached. (These coupons are often referred to as mail-out coupons.)

Top 4 Canadian Online Coupon Companies:

Save.ca Coupons:

Though the amount of coupons they offer at any given time has gone down quite a bit, Save.ca is still a popular Canadian coupon company. They don’t have a minimum amount of coupons required per order and the coupons you order will be mailed to you the next business day.

You can expect to receive your coupons within 1-2 weeks of placing your order. If you want to order more than 1 of any particular coupon, you will need to wait 45 days.

Save.ca also has printable Canadian coupons.

Coupons Canada: Entire list of all available Save.ca coupons.

Brandsaver.ca Coupons:

This website is very similar to Save.ca, except when they update their coupons, they don’t just add 1 or 2 at a time – they normally have an entire page full of new coupons. However, they only update their coupon page a few times per year and they are often the same coupons with each update, with only a few new ones added.

You must order a minimum of 4 coupons and a maximum of 32, and you can expect to receive them up to a month after placing your order. If you want to order more than 1 of any coupon, you will need to wait 60 days. Please note that to access Brandsaver, you need to be at least 18 years of age.

Coupons Canada: Entire list of all available Brandsaver.ca coupons.

Websaver.ca Coupons:

This site has an average of 5-10 coupons available on the main page at one time. It’s also very similar to Save.ca and Brandsaver.ca in that you just select the coupons you want and hit the order button. Easy peasy! Get mail-out coupons sent to you for free – and only the coupons that you choose.

You must order a minimum of 3 coupons and a maximum of 32, and you can expect to receive them within 1-2 weeks or placing your order. If you wish to order more than 1 of any coupon, you will need to wait 45-60 days.

Websaver.ca also has printable Canadian coupons.

Coupons Canada: Entire list of all available Websaver.ca coupons.

Gocoupons.ca Coupons:

A much smaller site, GoCoupons.ca has only a handful of coupons available at all times – usually no more than 5. This website often has the same coupons over and over again, with new ones added infrequently. However, the coupons that they do keep repeating are good ones (most of them, anyway!).

You must order a minimum of 3 coupons at one time and you can expect to receive them in about 4 weeks. If you want more than 1 of any coupon, you must wait 7 days.

Coupons Canada: Entire list of all available GoCoupons.ca coupons.

The online coupon companies listed above are 4 that I recommend if you’re searching for more coupons. All of them have been around for awhile now and can be trusted. Rest assured that if you order coupons from them, you will receive those coupons.

Coupons are added to and removed from each site often, so be sure to check them regularly for new offers.

The Secret to Using Your Blog to Generate Sales

2013-06-03T14:46:00.000-07:00

This is a guest contribution from Karl Staib of Domino Connection.

You’ve probably been at a party where some fool is talking his face off at everyone he meets. He talks about his trip to Spain and how he is such an amazing photographer. He never asks, “What you do or what interests you?” He just blathers on and on about himself.

On a good day I silently chuckle at this guy’s lack of social common sense. On a bad day I snap and scream, “PLEASE listen to me for just 10 seconds!”

When all you do is talk about yourself, you send people running in the other direction. If you don’t care about other people they for sure won’t care about you.

This was how the old school way of marketing worked. Megaphone style.

Image by nem_youth

Many of you might not think of your blog as a business and I understand, but one day you might want to create a ebook, product or use your blog to leverage a new career. When you improve your engagement your blog it becomes a tool to help you level up your life and career.

Spray and Pray

Back in the day, companies used to spray and pray. They sprayed their message in as many places as possible (magazines, newspapers, TV, radio, etc) and prayed that they picked the right advertising spots. Larger companies could afford to pay for market research, so they were able to make sure most of their efforts paid off.

Smaller companies didn’t have this luxury. Straight out of college, I worked in the marketing department for a high pressure valve company. They grossed about 10 million a year in sales. Not too shabby, but nothing compared to the bigger players in the industry.

We had to carefully choose our national magazines and our marketing company told us who read the magazines and which ones we needed to advertise in. We had to believe them. We had nothing else to go on.

This style of marketing has been turned upside down due to blogging and social media. Every business has the opportunity to measure their engagement on their website, email and social media accounts. The problem with all these new tools is we have the wrong attitude toward them. Companies are afraid to be transparent and engage with their customers.

Why? Because it’s hard work.

Truly Listen

Mr. Blather Lips, from the introduction, had a great time at every party he went to because he didn’t have to gauge people’s emotions. He just blathered on until he found someone to listen or it was time to go home.

Now businesses actually have to listen to their customers because if they don’t, a social media storm comes crashing down upon them. Just ask Netflix if they wished they had a better plan for when they doubled their prices.

Listening to your readers isn’t just for dealing with social media storms. It’s also so you can anticipate them and avoid them before they even happen. Now, every business has the opportunity to do market research. You can ask specific customers if they would be willing to fill out an online survey. You can ask them direct questions on your blog or social media that help you figure out what they want from you.

You don’t have to guess what you think people need. You can ask them directly and find out. You can even include them in the process of creating your product.

Invitation to Join In

Threadless created their million dollar t-shirt company from this idea. They have people send in t-shirt designs, have the users vote on which designs they would like to buy and print only the most popular ones. They already have a built in audience for their t-shirts. It’s a win-win for everyone.

The company prints the most popular, making some good cash and the buyers get a limited edition t-shirt that they are proud to wear. Even the winning t-shirt designs are helpful to the designers. They can add this accomplishment to their resume.

You probably knew that engaging your ideal people was wise, but now what?

Now you have to go out and find them and start a conversation, but before you do you need to find out where you can connect with them.

Write a description of the ideal client for your product

You have to ask yourself some specific questions to help you gain clarity:

What does she look like?

What motivates her?

What does she do for fun?

What are her career goals?

Where does she hang out? (Facebook, conferences, Twitter, etc.)

How do you engage with her? (light banter, philosophically, monetarily, etc.)

The hard part is making the mental switch from talker to engager.

I’m not just talking about being a better listener. That’s a good start, but to engage with people you have to be listening and asking great questions. It’s part art and part science.

If you want an example of someone who understands her community then visit Mayi Carles to see how she is creating content that engages and builds trust. You’ll notice that she creates content around branding and business building. All a perfect target market for her.

Engage Your Readers

Image used with permission

If you want to engage your readers, start by asking questions to show them how much you care about their success. Ask them:

What topics they would like you to cover?

What products you could create to help them?

How you can improve your services?

By keeping the focus on your readers you’ll improve engagement, find new ways you can help them and use your blog to grow your influence.

You will also learn the type of language they use. It’s this copywriting trick that you need to use to engage your ideal readers.

Using the language they use in the copy on your sales page will increase your conversion rate. It’s that simple.

For example, let’s say Problogger gets a lot of questions on how to create content for their blog. His ideal people might not reference the word “copy” they might use the word “write” or “blog”. If this is the case then the key to writing a great sales page is to insert these words into the page so they feel comfortable with the sales copy.

Your Turn

How have you learned to increase your visitor’s engagement on your blog? (Please share in the comment section.)

Check out Karl Staib of Domino Connection and his e-course “How to Create an Amazing Product Launch,” You can also click here to download the Domino Connection sales page checklist for free so you can create a compelling sales page that converts potential customers into buyers.

Source: Darren Rowse at ProBlogger

11 Quick Tips for Writing Compelling Posts On Your Blog

2013-06-03T14:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I ran a workshop for a small group of bloggers here in Australia. One of the sessions I covered was on writing compelling content.

Here’s a brief look at a few of the recurring themes in what I shared:

Be Useful – if your post isn’t informing, inspiring, entertaining or making someone’s life better – don’t publish it until it does.

Share your Opinion – opinions are often what sets bloggers apart from the pack.

Cut out the Fluff – before you hit publish, revise your post and remove anything that doesn’t add value.

Visualise Your Reader – writing with a reader in mind personalises your writing.

Make Your Posts Scannable – only 16% of people read every word online. Format your posts so that your main points stand out.

Work and Rework You Headlines – a good headline can be the difference between a blog post being read, or ignored.

Write with Passion – when you show you care about what you’re writing, your readers are more likely to care too.

Give your Readers something to do Next – ask your readers to DO something once they finish reading. It could be to read something else, comment, apply a lesson, share the post etc.

Tell Stories – stories are powerful ways of connecting with, inspiring and teaching your readers – they also create memories

Give Your Posts Visual Appeal – the inclusion of an eye-catching image or a well designed diagram can take your post to the next level.

Practise – the best way to improve your writing is to write. Practise Makes Perfect.

7 Articles That Will Help You Write Your Next Blog Post (mybloggerstips.com)

How To Get Unstuck When It Comes To Creating Content (solo-e.com)

36 Copywriting Tips To Relieve Your Content Creation Woes (business2community.com)

4 U's of Web Copywriting: Tips for Writing Great Headlines & Copy (business2community.com)

Is Making Money from Blogging Passive Income?

2013-06-03T14:42:00.000-07:00

Recently, I attended an event and heard a speaker talk about how they’d build a passive income from blogging. The person sitting next to me leant over toward me and at whispered:

“Based on your Twitter Stream, I’m not so sure that blogging is ‘passive’ – is it?”

Do you think that income earned from blogging could be classified as ‘passive income’?

Wikipedia defines ‘passive income’ as:

Passive income is an income received on a regular basis, with little effort required to maintain it.

Wikipedia also goes on to define it from a tax perspective, which I’m won’t get into here. I’m more interested talking about the ‘with little effort required to maintain it’ aspect of the definition, which I think is what many people are attracted to when they hear anyone talk about ‘passive income’.

Let me kick off the discussion by making a few comments:

Most Bloggers Making a Living from Blogging, Work Hard

This has been a recurring theme here on ProBlogger, since I started the blog in 2004. While there’s no single way to make a living from blogging, most full time bloggers I know – who blog as their primary income stream - work pretty hard on their blogs.

They:

Post content on a daily basis

Spend a significant amount of effort to maintain the community around their blogs

Work hard on promoting their blogs and finding new readers

Build relationships with other bloggers

Work hard to maintain their income streams (whether that be by liaising and working with advertisers or developing and launching products)

Also work on any number of other tasks including SEO, maintaining social media accounts, answering emails, moderating comments, blog design, racing other blogs, managing hosting etc

Some full time bloggers have grown to the point where they are able to outsource some of the above – but then there’s the task of managing a team!

Income from blogging is neither quick or easy. In short, if you expect to earn an income from your blog, you need to consistently put time and effort into it.

Some Aspects of Blogging Will Generate Passive Income

Having just said that blogging for income takes a significant amount of work, there are some elements of blogging that could be said to generate ‘passive income’. Let’s look at a few examples:

There’s Gold in Those Archives

Each post I publish could potentially generate an income for me, on the day it’s published but also tomorrow, next week, and next month. Even years into the future.

Example 1 – when I dig into my Google Analytics account and drill down into the AdSense stats there, I see that last month my post ‘Aperture‘ on dPS earned me $233.23 and this Wedding Photography Tips post earned $222.61.

Those posts were published in 2007, five and a half years ago!

Example 2 – when I look at my Amazon Affiliate earnings, I can see that my Popular Digital Camera and Gear post generated $60 yesterday for me. That post has been up since 2009 and while I do update it from time to time, it has been over 2 months since I reviewed it.

Of course, part of the reason those old posts continue to generate income for me is because I continue to publish new content on the site. Alongside the new content, the posts in my archives have the potential to earn income for years to come (if all goes well).

You could argue that a blogger who spends years doing all of the above could then completely stop doing any work and still make some income based upon continued traffic from search engines. However, that traffic (and the income from it) would decrease in time without you maintaining your blog (depending a little on how evergreen the content of your blog might be).

The Long Tail of Products

In a similar manner, when you develop a product to sell to your readers that product can continue to generate an income for you into the future, without needing continual development.

Example – when I first wrote and released 31 Days to Build a Better Blog, it took significant work to get ready to be published. There was the time I put into creating the content, the editing, the design, the setting up of shopping carts, the marketing etc.

In return for that effort the eBook produced a good income when it launch during the launch period.

However, it has continued to sell almost every day since then. I did a full update of the eBook and added new content in 2012 but other than that, the 31DBBB continues to sell (as do our other eBooks) thanks to it being promoted in our sidebar/navigation areas and through annual discount promotions we’ve run.

This is the beauty of creating something to sell for your readership, particularly if it’s evergreen and doesn’t date.

Is Making Money from Blogging Passive Income?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic – do you see the income you earn from blogging as ‘passive income’?

Source: Darren Rowse at ProBlogger

Passive income opportunities (professionalslippers.wordpress.com)

Is Making Money from Blogging Passive Income? (problogger.net)

Passive Income: Good or Bad? (fiduciaryincometax.wordpress.com)

Passive Income Opportunities (mycottageview.wordpress.com)

Turning Passion Into Profits With A New Unique Type of Online Business (prweb.com)

how to make passive income blogging (boyalasco.com)

Top 10 Blogging Tips for Beginners

2013-06-03T14:32:00.000-07:00

I'm excited to finally get this post written! I frequently get emails asking for advice on starting a blog, and I always wish I had the time to respond with a really helpful answer, more than just a paragraph. And, now I can direct readers to this post.

There's obviously a lot more I can learn about blogging, but I definitely have a few thoughts I can share. One of these days I'll do a post about blogging, beyond the basics. Until then...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Blog[/caption]

1. Write about what you love. Stay true to your blog.

What is your blog about? Cooking? Parenting? Crafting? Government? Boogers? Whatever it is, make sure it's "you." Maintaining a blog is a lot of work and if you don't love boogers enough to write about them several days a week, until the end of time (or you quit), don't start. If you don't have the passion for your topic, you don't have much to offer your readers... and, they will soon be gone.

I personally LOVE coming up with ideas and giving advice. I always have. It may sound weird to some, but that is "me." When I get a phone call from a friend in need of ideas or advice, I get a rush. Really. That's how much I like it. People ask me all the time I ever worry that I'll run out of things to write about, or ideas to share on the blog, and I can easily say "no." I feel confident that I can spew out ideas for the rest of forever, assuming I'm never bound by duck tape and gagged with a smelly sock. That may be a big assumption. Clearly, a blog about ideas would suit me well. And, it has.

So, think about where your passion lies, and blog about it. One word of caution I have is to not get caught up in the linky-party or giveaway trap, in an effort to gain readers. I've seen several great blogs quickly go downhill, because they become obsessed with hosting giveaways and linky parties. Their content suffers and I don't know about everyone else, but I take off, in a flash. See ya. It's fun to host giveaways, every once in a while. It's fun to host linky parties, every once in a while. But, unless you are a blog dedicated to those things, that is NOT why the majority of your readers are coming to you. They are coming for your content, to revel in your passion. Don't leave them hanging. What you want is readers who LOVE reading what you write about, not readers who sign up because they have to, in order to enter the giveaways. That's not how you build an audience. I do giveaways now and then, as a treat to my readers, to build some excitement, and hey... to get some free stuff for myself. I may do a linky party someday, haven't yet. But, I want to keep it minimal. I know that's not why y'all are here.

Anyway, my whole point... write about what you love and stay true to your blog.

2. Be different.

Whatever you choose to blog about, the truth is, there are probably already a zillion other blogs on the same topic. So, spend some time thinking about ways your blog can be different than the rest. If you're doing a craft blog, see if you can come up with some ideas that most other craft blogs don't do. Recently I stumbled on a craft blog that was dedicated to little boy crafts. I thought that was so clever, because really... lots of the crafty stuff we see if more appealing to little girls. Look at other blogs, in your same genre, and change yours up a little. Maybe if you're doing a cooking blog, you could host monthly reader submissions, where they submit their recipe for say... lasagna. You try it, pick a winner, and give them a prize! That sounds fun... never heard of any one else doing it. Ya know what I mean? Maybe the premise of your blog will be basically the same, but just see what you can do to come up with something different, like the submission contest I just mentioned.

For me, I knew there were a ton of women's blogs giving their readers "ideas." Nothing new. But, I decided to do a few things different. First, I wanted to have a post ever day, not just a couple times a week. Second, I wanted to give even new and undiscovered bloggers a chance to share their ideas on my blog. As opposed to only accepting guest posts from superstar bloggers. Third, I wanted to address topics beyond just cooking and crafts. If I wanted a post on infertility, potty training, or complimenting people, I would do it. I wanted each day's post topic to be a surprise to the reader. So, that's that. That is what my goals were, as far as "setting myself apart," and unless I'm delusional, I think that my readers have liked it.

3. Write the same way that you talk.

I love reading a blog where the personality of the author shines right through their written word. You feel like they're right in front of you, sharing their thoughts. The posts are more engaging and easier to read... is that redundant? Either way, let your personality shine through. Let your readers build a connection with YOU, while they read your content.

I get emails, all the time, from professional writers wanting to offer their content. Now, they obviously have their place in the blogging world, but their professional articles don't fit here. Part of my vision for this blog is to have people feel comfortable. To have women introduce themselves, and share with y'all, just as a good friend would. Nearly all of us are women, many of us are mothers. There is a lot that we can share, to help each other out. When a post is overly professional, it is hard to relate to, and not an easy-read. So, my advice... keep it casual. People will love it. That doesn't mean to be a foul-mouthed yucky, just be you, in a good way, casual.

If for some reason, you have really bad spelling (and won't use spellcheck), can't remember the difference between "lose" and "loose," or have a hard time organizing your thoughts, maybe you should wait on the blog-thing. Readers are fairly forgiving of misplaced commas, and the likes. But, don't you dare mix up "their," "they're," or "there." You'll be in a world of trouble from the grammar-police. There all over the internet. ;)

...did you catch that?

4. Good content is key.

Write content that YOU would want to read. Avoid the painstakingly obvious. It stinks to get really excited about a post title, only to find the content so obvious and worthless. Hmmm... I don't know, I imagine that someone, somewhere, could think that about any given post I write. You'll never please everyone. But, really put effort into being creative. Let's say you are doing a post called, "5 Great Games for Kids." In my mind, I'm like, "sweet!" I open the post and suggested is: Ring-a-Round-the-Rosie, Mother, May I?, Simon Says, Hide and Seek, and London Bridges. "Okay, really??? That's what you have to offer??" No, thanks. See what I mean? The internet (and, magazines, for that matter) tend to be full of the obvious. Make your blog stand out with GOOD, creative, helpful, inspiring content.

5. Improve your photography skills.

If you want your blog to grow, your photography skills need to improve... unless, you're already a pro. Looking back at the posts, from the first year I blogged, my photography sucked (to put it lightly.) I had no idea how crappy it was, until I got better. And, still... sigh... I have a LONG way to go. But, I can't tell you the wonders that good photography will do for your blog. You want your readers to share your content. If it's super great, with crappy pictures, they will still share it. But, they will share it a hundred-fold, if you've got attractive photos to go along with it. Think of recipes. The best recipes could have the worst pictures, and some of the worst recipes can have some of the best pictures. But, guess which ones people are most likely to make and to share? That's right. There are lots of great photography books out there, online tutorials, and classes you can take. Here's a link to some free online photography lessons, from Two Peas in a Bucket. Also, you could just do a Pinterest search, and find some great ones out that other people have loved. The more professional your pictures look, the more professional your blog seems.

6. Nice formatting is more inviting.

The more time I have spent blogging, the more I have become opinionated about formatting. So, maybe some of you don't care at all. But, to me, I love a post to be aligned to the left, with the pictures centered. (I used to love centering all of my posts, but then realized it looked like I was writing poetry, which I was clearly NOT.) Posts that are aligned to the left are just easier to read. Also, using headings (with large font, bold, or underline) can help readers follow your post, and jump back around to key points. For example, you're explaining how to make Bacon Stuffed Bacon. Sounds good, right? Well, make a little heading for all the ingredients needed.

Ingredients Needed:

Bacon

Bacon

another example...

Bacon Fried Bacon

Bacon

Bacon

Directions: Fry your bacon. Wrap it in more bacon. Fry that bacon.

Headings help separate key information or explain what is about to be read. They also break up long blog posts, and make them seem more readable. They're great. I love them. It seems like common sense, but I still think headings are under-used. Something that makes me absolutely queasy, is a blog post that rapidly changes font colors. I would avoid that. Try to convey your cute personality through your writing.

7. Do your research. Study other blogs, and stop when you start to feel lame.

One of the best things you can do to help your blog grow, is to study bigger blogs. What are they doing that you like? What do you not like? Look at lots and lots of them, and take notes. Maybe they have some cool widgets that would be helpful to you. Maybe they are running a contest that is really exciting their readers. Maybe they are using an advertising agency that you've never heard of, and want to look into. There are so many things you can learn! Obviously, you don't want to copy every thing someone else is doing, but pick out your favorite things from several different blogs, come up with ideas of your own, and even learn things you would never want to do.

But... sometimes just when you're feeling excited about your blog, you decide to check out some other ones, and then you start to think, "Gosh. Mine stinks. I shouldn't do this anymore." That's when you get off their blogs and focus on your own. Blogging is not a competition. It's a fun way to express ourselves and share our passion with the world. There's room for everyone. Maybe your blog will never be HUGE, but it can still make a huge impact on your readers. So, focus on that. The minute I start to try and mimic someone else, is the minute I suck. You will always get the best response when you're being yourself.

8. Fake it 'till you make it.

Is that lying? I guess, in some situations. But, more what I mean is put your best foot forward and be overly confident. It can get you far. Your blog may be as small as a pea, but make it look as big as the best. Obviously, money can be an issue. But, just do what you can to have a nice layout, and an attractive header. When this blog first started, I designed it all myself. I read lots and lots of tutorials online and learned how to make a header, do a custom layout, and such. It was great for my beginning blog look, but eventually I realized I needed to step it up. I started shopping for blog designers, and found one who suited my taste. I think it ended up being $600 dollars.

Another year later, the time came again when things had to change. I had learned a few things and decided the blog would be more efficient and professional if it was designed differently. I hired Dan, from Single Dad Laughing, to design the blog, as it is now, and am still loving it. But, each time, I always felt like the blog looked better than it really was! :) But, it kinda forced me to rise up and improve everything else. Besides motivating you to continuously improve your blog, a professional looking blog attracts more people. It makes them think, "there must be some good stuff here."

When this blog was new, I didn't have any advertisers, of course. But, I didn't want advertisers to think my blog wasn't worth advertising on. Boo. So, I faked it. I advertised for my mom, my brother, and all of my friend's small businesses. For free. I made it look like a potential place to advertise, for some of the small-time businesses, like small Etsy shops. And, it worked. I had some small shops advertising on my blog, and as the blog has grown, I'm now able to get some bigger fish. And, there is more growing to do!

When the girls on the morning show, Good Things Utah, noticed my blog and emailed me. They asked if I liked to cook. The truth was, I kinda did. Kinda. The blog hadn't been around that long, and I hadn't made lots of recipes, ever. I would have never considered myself a "cook" enough to go on a TV show, that's for sure. But, I took a deep breath, and faked it. I said, "With my eyes closed." I was scared out of my mind. But, it worked. Not only did it help my blog, but it boosted my confidence. I started cooking, like crazy, and now... as you've noticed, the blog has tons of recipes! And, I've done several other TV appearances, and had many other opportunities, which have all been fun. I could literally tell you several stories about times I've had to pry myself out of my sweatpants, into my fancy pants, to seem impressive. Inside, I'm totally unsure of myself, but I suck it up, put on my confident face, and things are better because of it. I learn a lot, get new opportunities, and things improve. Try it.

9. Be a force for good.

There are so many super great blogs on the internet. There are also a lot of crappy ones. And, by crappy, I don't mean new and undeveloped. I'm talking depressing, bitter, foul, make-you-wanna-die blogs. And, sometimes I can't believe how many followers those blogs will have, until I remember that "misery loves company." Sure, everyone has a bad day or a rough patch, and it feels good to let out a good rant. I do it myself, sometimes. It's just so disheartening to stumble upon these blogs that are dedicated to their bitter attitude. Sometimes it's super blatant, other times it is a constant underlying theme. There was this great quote being passed around on Pinterest, that said it perfectly... "Promote what you love, instead of bashing what you hate." Blogging is a fantastic platform, use it for good. And, whether you believe in luck, karma, or blessings, remember that goodness brings about goodness, not only to others, but to yourself.

10. Make friends. Be kind, be personable, be humble.

Remember, never find yourself too cool to respond to your readers questions and comments. Your readers will love to hear from you, and will be impressed that you addressed them specifically. Interact with them on your social media networks, like Twitter or Facebook. Visit their blogs, if you can, and leave a comment. Be complimentary and humble, and all of those good things. Not only does it make you a better person, it makes people more likely to want to read your blog, and tell others about it.

Last of all, have fun!

http://monitoring-social-media.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/blog-image.jpg

10 Ways to make your Blog more Attractive to Advertisers

2013-06-03T14:27:00.000-07:00

Today’s guest post comes from Chad Randall, the Director of Sales for b5media and the author ofAdvertiseSpace. Chad has been working in the online advertising industry for over 6 years now, and has personally sold more than $5,000,000 in online ads. I figured he’d be a good person to ask about how to make your blog attractive to advertisers.

1. Have an “Advertise with Us” Banner on your site

This is the single most important issue. It should click to an Advertising information page and have an easy way to contact you for more information and rates. Key points: Make it a graphical image or a tab. Keep it above the fold.

2. Keep the ads on your site specific to your site

Don’t have smiley ads and wallpaper ads if your site is site is about mobile phones.

3. Show them the banners

If you currently have no paid placements on your site, put up house ads or partner ads in the same spot you would run a paid spot. (A house ad refers to banners for other products or sites that you or your company own)

4. Throw up a free bonus ad.

By putting a free advertisement on your site, you may not only encourage similar ads or competitors to that product, but the company you added for free may decide to advertise with you. Ask for full disclosure of the performance of the campaign in return. (Total clicks, total purchases etc. ) Key points. Put the free bonus up with a direct URL without tracking tags or affiliate tags.

5. Show your site stats.

You need to show at least the basics for site statical information: Monthly unique visitors and total number of impressions are the 2 key ones. Other less important can be Google PR & Alexa rank.

6. User demographic information. Know your audience.

The bare minimum is Male/Female % and average age of your readers. Other potentially useful information includes geographic, HHI, single/married, number of kids. etc. How do you get this info? You can do site polls, survey’s, or get more detailed stats from ComScore or Quantcast.com

7. Have an ‘About Us’ section.

Clearly explain who you are and what your site is about. And also why you are an ‘authority’ on what you are writing about, and why anyone should care about what you have to say.

8. Don’t use Google AdSense on your site.

OK, this could be the most painful one for most people especially if you are generating a few hundred bucks a month from it already. But Google ad sense devalues your site and makes it look unprofessional. You have to ask yourself, “Do I want some real revenue from my site or Google’s table scraps.”

9. Keep your blog on topic.

If you are all over the map in regards to topics about which you talk about, advertisers won’t know if they are a good fit for your site.

10. Keep your blog professional.

If you are talking about your cat, (Matt Cutts), ranting about your drive to work, swearing or bashing every product you can think about, it will scare away advertisers.

Source: Darren Rowse at ProBlogger

Google Adsense vs Alexa High Ranked Blog (thenewonlineclassifieds.wordpress.com)

AdSense (ashokpunethaa.wordpress.com)

There is Life After Google AdSense (chroniclerwriting.com)

Online Advertising in Vietnam Just Got Way Better: Google AdSense Debuts In Vietnam (techinasia.com)

New: Google AdSense Ad Code For Responsive Design, A/B Testing & More (marketingland.com)

10 Tips for Using Affiliate Programs on your Blog

2013-06-03T14:25:00.000-07:00

We’ve now looked at a number of popular affiliate programs for bloggers and today I’d like to finish off this series by giving a few tips that should help bloggers get the best results out of any affiliate program that they choose to run with.

1. Consider your Audience

It almost goes without saying – but it’s worth putting yourself in your readers shoes and consider what they might be looking for as they surf by your blog. Are they shopping for specific products? Might they be looking for related products or accessories? What would trigger them to purchase? Start with your reader in mind rather than the product. If you take this approach you could end up doing your reader a favor as well as making a few dollars on the side.

2. Genuine Recommendations and personal endorsements always work best

There are literally hundreds of thousands of products and services for you to choose from to recommend to your blog’s readers but making money from them is not as simple as randomly adding links to them from your blog. Your blog’s readers come back to your blog day after day because something about you resonates with them – they have at least some level of trust and respect for you and perhaps the quickest way to destroy this is to recommend that they buy something that you don’t fully believe will benefit them.

The best results I’ve had from affiliate programs are where I give an open and honest appraisal of the product – including both it’s strengths and weaknesses. The most successful affiliate program I’m involved with here at ProBlogger is Joel Comm’s e-book which I reviewed here. If you read the review you’ll see that I not only tell readers who I believe the book is for but I also mention those it is NOT for. In a sense I critique it. On a surface level one might think that this wasn’t a wise move and that I should have given a glowing review – however the sales that I’ve had through the program have proven otherwise. People want to know what they are buying first and even if they know a product has limitations they will buy it if it meets their particular need.

3. Link to Quality Products

We all like to make sure we’re buying the best products money can buy – your readers are no different to this and are more likely to make a purchase if you’ve found them the best product for them. Choose products and companies with good reputations and quality sales pages. There is nothing worse than giving a glowing review of a product only to send your reader to a page that looks cheap and nasty.

4. Contextual Deep Links work Best

When I started using the Amazon Associate Program I naively thought that all I had to do was put an Amazon banner ad (that linked to Amazon’s front page) at the top of my blog. I thought that my readers would see it and surf over to Amazon and buy up big – thereby making me a rich man. Nothing could have been further from reality – I was deluding myself.

I always says to bloggers that I’m consulting with that they should learn something from contextual advertising when it comes to affiliate programs. The secret of contextual ads like Adsense is that a reader is reading a post on a particular topic on your blog and when they see an advertisement for that same product they are more likely to click it than if they saw an ad for something else. The same is true for affiliate programs. A banner to a general page on every page on your site won’t be anywhere near as effective as multiple links throughout your blog that advertiser products that are relevant for readers reading particular parts of your blog.

So if you’re writing a blog about MP3 players and have a review for a particular product – the most effectively affiliate program that you could link to from within the content of that page would be one that links directly to a page selling that specific model of MP3 player. This is how I use the Amazon program today. It is more work than contextual advertising because you’re not just putting one piece of code into a template but rather need to place individual links on many pages – but I find that it’s been worth the effort.

5. Consider positioning of links

One of the things I go on and on about with Adsense optimization is the positioning of ads. I tell bloggers to position their ads in the hotspots on pages (like the top of a left hand side bar – or inside content – or at the end of posts above comments etc). The same principles are true for affiliate advertising.

6. Traffic levels are Important

While it’s not the only factor – traffic levels are obviously key when it comes to making money from almost any online activity. The more people that see your well placed, relevant and well designed affiliate links the more likely it is that one of them will make a purchase. So don’t just work on your links – work on building a readership. Not only this, consider how you might direct traffic on your blog toward pages where they are more likely to see your affiliate links.

7. Diversify without Clutter

Don’t put all your affiliate efforts into one basket. There are plenty of products out there to link to so there is no need to just work on one. At the same time you shouldn’t clutter your blog up with too many affiliate program links. If you do so you run the risk of diluting the effectiveness of your links and could disillusion your readership.

8. Be Transparent

Don’t try to fool your readers into clicking links that could make you money. While it may not always feasible to label all affiliate links I think some attempt should be made to let people know what type of link they are clicking on. I also think consistency is important with this so readers of your blog know what to expect.

9. Combine with other Revenue Streams

Affiliate programs and advertising programs are not mutually exclusive things. I’ve come across a few people recently who have said they don’t want to do affiliate linking because it will take the focus off their Adsense ads. While there is potential for one to take the focus off the other – there is also real potential for both to work hand in hand as different readers will respond to different approaches. You should consider the impact that your affiliate links have on other revenue streams – but don’t let one stop the other.

10. Track results

Most affiliate programs have at least some type of tracking or statistics package which will allow you to watch which links are effective. Some of these packages are better than others but most will at least allow you to see what is selling and what isn’t. Watching your results can help you plan future affiliate efforts. Keep track of what positions for links work well, which products sell, what wording around links works well etc and use the information that you collect as you work plan future affiliate strategies.

Source: Darren Rowse at ProBlogger

Keep Profits Rising With These Tips In Affiliate Marketing (federico-online.com)

Maximize Your Internet Marketing Income With This Advice (federico-online.com)

Tutorial to Set Up a magento Affiliate Program on a New Blog or Website (magentoaffiliate.wordpress.com)

As Google Prepares to Retire Google Affiliate Network, E-Retailers and Bloggers Look for Alternatives (prweb.com)

High Traffic Academy Believes People Can Gain Traffic to Their Sites, Blogs and Affiliate Programs by June 8 (prweb.com)

What To Look For In A Multi Level Marketing Affiliate Program (expertscolumn.com)

Tips on Affiliate advertising (liveindependent1.wordpress.com)

Positioning your Adsense Ads

2013-06-03T14:22:00.000-07:00

The amazing thing about the Adsense advertising system is how one simple change in positioning of your ads can have a profound impact upon the earnings you receive from it. I still remember a fateful night about 8 months ago when I learnt this lesson and doubled my income overnight (no this isn’t one of those posts where I’m selling something – relax).

It was 10.30pm and I was about to head to bed when on a whim I decided to shift my Adsense ads from the position that I’d always had them at the top (banner position) of the blog I was working on at the time. I shifted the ad to a new position and then got distracted with something else and forgot about it.

A few hours later (I got very distracted) I again was thinking of bed but decided to check my Adsense stats for one last time before shutting down my powerbook – imagine my surprise when I found that my click through rate was 40% higher than normal (and so was the earnings for that time of night)!? At first I thought I was dreaming, then I considered that maybe Google had made a mistake, then I panicked that someone had been randomly clicking all my ads – and then I remembered the repositioning of ads that I’d done a few hours before.

Needless to say I didn’t sleep much that night. I lay awake excited by the potential that I’d just unlocked in my blogs, inspired by the fact that I could make the same changes to all my other blogs tomorrow, kicking myself that I hadn’t done it earlier (what a missed opportunity) and wondering if there might be an even better spot to try putting my ads.

The following morning I lept out of bed and checked my Adsense stats again to find that my click through rate was even higher than the night before and that I’d stumbled upon a way of doubling my income – literally over night.

Source: Darren Rowse at ProBlogger

Google Adsens (linkearnbd.wordpress.com)

Google Adsense vs Alexa High Ranked Blog (thenewonlineclassifieds.wordpress.com)

Earn From Adsense (earningsource4u.wordpress.com)

What is Google Adsense and how can you make money from it (fullbloglab.blogspot.com)

Adsense Tips for Bloggers

2013-06-03T14:20:00.000-07:00

How do you make money from the Google Adsense Program? What AdSense Tips can you share with us?

I have been asked this question so many times in the past few weeks that I thought I should write something on the topic. It seems increasingly bloggers want to try to cover their hosting and ISP costs with some revenue from their blog – and increasingly they’re doing it and are able to make a few (or quite a lot) dollars on the side. Many are turning to Google’s Adsense program.

Covering costs of my Digital Photography Blog is why I originally signed up with Google Adsense – blogging can get expensive when you have high levels of traffic and a lot of pages.

Whilst the agreement you sign with Google stresses that you are not allowed to give specific information about your earnings from the program I can say that I’m glad I’ve signed up because its well and truly covered my costs – and then some. In fact I think its quite feasible to expect that Adsense coupled with other strategies for making money from Blogging could quite easily generate a decent living. It takes time and hard work, but I think its very doable. (Update: Since writing this series I’ve revealed that I am now looking at making over a six figure income this year in 2005 from blogging).

So how do I make money from Google Adsense? Let me share some AdSense Tips that heve helped me.

This will be the first in a series of posts on this topic. Let me say up front I’m no expert – there are a lot of people out there making a lot more money than I am using Adsense – however most of them are not telling their secrets – well not for free anyway. I’ve got no secrets to hide and am willing to share what I’ve learnt since I signed up for the program 8 months ago. If you want a REAL expert’s opinion on Adsense I’d recommend buying Joel Comm’s What Google Never Told You About Making Money with Adsense E-Book. Joel earns $15,000 per month from Adsense and has some good things to share.

I know some bloggers are put off or offended by the idea of making money from blogging so I’ll try not to let these posts dominate my blog – however if you are not interested in the topic, simply skip over these posts.

I am going to assume a few things in this series to cut down the amount of introductory comments I have to make. Here is what I am assuming:

You have a blog. Whilst most of the following tips will apply to other types of websites I run Adsense on blogs and will speak from that experience.
You have (or will) read a basic overview of Adsense and have some understanding of what it is.
You have(or will) read the program policies as outlined by Google. These give details of site eligibility, ad placements and other requirements for using the system.

Enough introductory comments – lets get stuck into the Adsense Tips for Bloggers!

The full series of AdSense Tips is Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 and Part 8.

Source: Darren Rowse at ProBlogger

There is Life After Google AdSense (chroniclerwriting.com)
Google Puts Out Weird Cartoon About Porn And AdSense (webpronews.com)
Google Adsens (linkearnbd.wordpress.com)
Responsive AdSense Ads & Why You Should Avoid Them (wpjedi.com)
AdSense (ashokpunethaa.wordpress.com)
Amazon.com: Google AdSense Secrets: 4th Edition eBook: Joel Comm: Kindle Store (wealthshare.wordpress.com)

Making Money Because of Your Blog – Indirect Methods

2013-06-03T14:09:00.000-07:00

We now turn our attention to ways of making money from blogging that are more more ‘indirect’ in nature – or how to earn money because of your blog rather than from it.

Many of the following methods are the result of the profile and perceived expertise of the blogger themselves (whereas many of the direct methods mentioned previously are less reliant upon this).

Building a profile as a blogger doesn’t happen quickly and starting a blog with some of these hopes should be seen as a long term thing. My own experience in this area is that now after 18 months of blogging here at ProBlogger that it’s only been in the last few months that I’ve had opportunities open in most of these areas.

Consulting – when you are perceived as an expert on a topic you will find that people naturally come to you for advice – some of them willing to pay for it. Some niches are probably better positioned than others for their bloggers to get into paid consultancy work of course. I spoke with one blogger recently (blogging in a business/technology field) who was able to charge himself out at $600 per hour to give advice to a large company. Interestingly I’ve heard of a number of companies in the last 6 months who are developing VOIP services that bloggers will be able to add to their sidebars to enable them to be called by readers for consulting. The systems would have per minute rate on them to automate this consulting process.

Employment Opportunities – Just this last week PR blogger Steve Rubel announced that he’d been hired by a bigger PR firm. While he didn’t say it explicitly in his post I suspect that one of the reasons for him landing the job was the profile he’d built over the last year and a half from blogging. Steve’s case is not the only one – bloggers are increasingly being targeted by companies because of their demonstrated abilities in their field of expertise.

Business Blogging – Similarly there are some businesses who employ people to blog for them either as their main role or part of their role. One example of a company who employed a couple of bloggers was Vespa who now have two blogs. BloggerJobs is one site worth following if you’re looking for these types of jobs. Most of the jobs there are from blog networks but occasionally they include businesses looking for bloggers also.

Book Deals – Some days as I read through the RSS feeds that I follow it seems that every blogger I read has a book either in progress or coming out. Once again it’s about being seen as an expert in your field – if you can achieve this you will find publishers are more receptive to having an idea pitched to them and at times will even seek you out. This is becoming more and more common with publishers as they are seeing not only some great writers but that many of them already have large amounts of content on their blogs ready to be pulled together into a book!

Offline Writing Gigs – Manolo from Shooeblogs recently landed a writing gig in the Washington Post Express after he was discovered via his blog. These types of opportunities can be in the form of newspapers, magazines, trade publications etc.

Online Writing Gigs – Similarly some bloggers also land jobs writing for other forms of websites as a result of being discovered from their blogs.

Selling e-resources – I wasn’t sure whether to classify this as direct or indirect (and depending upon how you do it you could probably go either way) but some bloggers are leveraging the expertise they have in an area by putting together their own ‘e-products’ such as e-books, tele-seminars, courses etc and selling them to their readers.

Business Partnerships – One of the benefits of blogging about a niche topic that interests you is that you will begin to connect with others who have similar interests and expertise. As you interact with them it’s amazing to see the opportunities for working together that arise.

Speaking Opportunities – Once again this is dependent upon the topic you’re writing about but some lucky bloggers end up with all kinds of opportunities to speak at conferences, workshops and seminars on their topic of choice. Sometimes they are freebies, other times the conference will cover costs and on other occasions there are speakers fees.

If you’re planning to use some of these indirect ways of making money because of your blog it’s important that you think seriously about building your own profile and credibility as a blogger. Think about the types of people that you respect and look to as experts an consider what they offer in their fields.

These people are generally original thinkers that not only report what others are doing, but who provide answers and vision for their industry. They are also often well networked and have the ability to draw others along with them.

What does this mean for your blog? Here’s where I’d start:

provide useful content that shows an understanding of your niche.

network within your niche. Work on being connected with other key players (big and small).

use your blog not only to report and rehash news but to also show initiative in proposing solutions. Be proactive in your blogging and lead the conversation rather than just react to it.

Source: Darren Rowse at ProBlogger

How to Make Money From Your Blog – Direct Methods

2013-06-03T14:08:00.000-07:00

Having thought through whether you should blog for money it is now worth taking a look at some of the different models for doing so.

I tend to break the different models that bloggers are using to make money from blogging into two areas – Direct and Indirect methods.

Direct Income Earning Methods - these methods are where a blogger earns an income directly FROM their blog.

Indirect Income Earning Methods – these methods are where a blogger earns an income BECAUSE of their blog.

Most blogs tend to fall into one or the other of these methods – although there is nothing to stop bloggers experimenting with elements of both ( I’ve seen a few bloggers get into trouble with this)

In this post I’ll look at 8 direct income earning methods and in the next post of this series I’ll explore indirect methods. Please note that on occasion in the following post there will be few affiliate links to services that I use and have had some success with. These will be marked with (aff) after them.

Direct Income Earning Methods for Bloggers

1. Advertising

There are many ways of selling advertising space on a blog (this could almost be a series of it’s own) but some of the different advertising options that I see bloggers experimenting with include:

Contextual Advertising – Programs like AdSense and YPN (beta) are very popular with bloggers and are probably the most common income stream being used by them today (MSN are developing one too). In short – these programs scan the content of your blog to assertion what it’s topic is and attempt to put contextually relevant ads (text and image) onto your blog. They are generally simple to use and involve pasting some code into your blog’s templates. Payment is on a ‘per click’ basis (referred to as CPC or ‘cost per click’ ads). Contextual ads suit blogs that have a particular niche topic, especially if it has some sort of commercial angle (ie it has products and services associated with it). They are not so good with ‘general’ type blogs (ie many topics) and/or political/spiritual blogs which argue just one side of a case (this confuses AdSense). I write much more extensively on how to use AdSense on your blog here.

Other CPC Advertising – There are a variety of other ad systems that pay on a per click basis which are not contextual in nature (which is important as systems like AdSense do not allow you to run contextual ads on the same page view as them). These systems include Chitika’s eMiniMalls(aff) which I reviewed here.

Impression Based Ads – Impression based ads pay a small amount for every person who views the advertisement. The amount that they pays varies from program to program (and ad to ad) and is generally a fraction of a cent. There are a variety of ad systems around like this includingFastclick (aff) which I reviewed here and Tribal Fusion. Impression based ads won’t earn you much if you don’t have a lot of traffic but can be great if you do.

Blog Ads – BlogAds have become something of an institution when it comes to advertising on blogs. They traditionally have had a focus upon monetizing political blogs but are expanding their focus lately. The beauty of them is that bloggers set their own rates and can accept or reject advertisers that apply to them to be featured on their blogs. These ads put the control of what ads show and how much they earn into the hands of the blogger. The downside is that if you price them too high you could never have any ads showing at all. They can also be difficult to be accepted into as a publisher as these days they only accept people into the system if they have a someone who is already in ‘sponsor’ or recommend the new publisher.

Text Ads – Another increasingly popular way to sell ads on your blog is to look into text links. The beauty of these are that they don’t take up much room and that depending upon the system you choose to run them you can have control over which advertisers you accept and reject. AdBrite(aff) is one such system that gives you control in a similar way to BlogAds in that you set your own prices and approve all ads. They also other other formats of ads. Text Link Ads (aff) is another text link seller that more and more bloggers are using. The beauty of both of these systems is that they have a pool of advertisers already so you don’t have to go looking for your own advertisers. Their systems are also both very automated and are just a matter of pasting some code onto your blog. I use them both and while they don’t earn anywhere near as much as AdSense or Chitika for me they add up over the year and have done well for me. Bidvertiser and Adzaar are other system that I know are popular with some (we’ve used them quite successfully on b5media although I have little personal experience with them).

RSS Ads – An increasingly popular way for people to read blogs is via RSS. As a result publishers and ad providers have been keen to find ways to place ads in feeds. These attempts have been met with a variety of success levels. I’m yet to hear of too many people making big dollars with RSS ads yet but the ad systems seem to be improving. AdSense offers RSS ads to some of it’s publishers (you have to have a certain number of impressions first) as does YPN. Feedburner is a tool I’ve used to help monetise my own feeds – they give publishers three options (1. AdSense if you’ve been approved by them, 2. Amazon affiliate program and 3. if you have a lot of subscribers (over 500) they have an Ad Network). Pheedo is another system that you might like to try (although I’ve not had much experience with it).

Other Ads Systems – In addition to the above systems (most of which I’ve used myself) are many other advertising options which I’ve not had experience with and so won’t personally recommend. I’m sure they are worth experimenting with however as I see many of them being used by bloggers every day. Here they are in no particular order:

AdGenta, CrispAds, Clicksor, Intelli Txt, Peak Click, Double Click, Industry Brains, AdHearUs,Kanoodle, AVN, Pheedo, Adknowledge, YesAdvertising, RevenuePilotTextAds, SearchFeed,Target Point, OneMonkey, and TextAds. Feel free to add your own and tell us how you’ve gone with them in comments below.

2. Sponsorship

Another form of advertising that a smaller number of bloggers are using is to find their own advertisers. All of the above systems have the advantage of finding you advertisers (or at least assisting in the automation of ads to your blog) but as your blog grows in profile and influence you might find other options for private deals come up.

The big blog networks have people dedicated to the task of finding advertisers (often working through ad agencies) but smaller bloggers might find this worthwhile also. I’ve been selling ads on my Digital Camera Blog for two years now and as it’s grown in traffic and profile and managed to attract larger companies (who are willing to pay more) to buys space. Currently the blog features ads from Adobe who have bought a combination of banner, newsletter and text ads.

The key if you’re going to take this approach is to target advertisers in your niche that have products that closely relate to what you’re writing about. There are a variety of ads that you can offer them including banner ads, buttons, text links, mentions in newsletters and even individual post sponsorships. I would highly recommend that you always make it clear to readers that your post is a sponsored one when you’re writing a sponsored post.

3. Affiliate Programs

Affiliate programs are where you take a commission for referring a reader who purchases a product or service to a company. Probably the most common of these for bloggers is Amazon which has tens of thousands of products that you can link to (I reviewed it here). Other affiliate programs that represent many different companies and products include Linkshare, Commission Junction andClickbank.

Affiliate programs take some work if you want to get the most out of them (perhaps more work than advertising) but can be lucrative if you match the right program with the right blog/topic. If you want to explore affiliate programs more you might like to read 10 tips for using affiliate programs on you blog.

4. Selling/Flipping Blogs

The idea of selling (or flipping) your blog is one that many bloggers have in the back of their minds for ‘one day’ but in reality it is not something that is overly common… yet (I think this is changing). Probably the largest sale is that of Weblogs Inc (a network of blogs) which sold to AOL for a reported $25 million. Of course this is the stuff that most of us can only dream of – but there are examples of smaller blogs being sold, either privately or via auctions on sites like eBay and SitePoint. One such auction was that of the Blog Herald which took place here.

Starting a blog with the main goal of selling it down the track is one that I’ve heard of a number of bloggers doing but few have been successful. Rather than starting with this intention I think if you start with the intention of building a quality site that has a large readership and it’s own good income stream you are more likely to find buyers down the track.

5. Donations and Tip Jars

A very small number of blogs have a history of making good money with these (Jason Kottke being one of them). To be successful with asking for money from readers you’ll want to have a large and loyal readership (and a rich one might help too). Most bloggers just don’t have the critical mass or the cult following to make it work.

6. Merchandise

Another method that some blogs use with reasonable effect is to sell T-Shirts, Mugs, Stickers etc with the blog’s name, logo and/or taglines on it. This is another idea that will probably only work if you either have a brilliantly designed merchandise range and/or you have a cult-like status as a blogger with some fanatical readers who are a little obsessive about your blog. Some blog topics lend themselves to this more than others.

7. Selling Subscriptions

The idea of charging readers for content is one that surfaces from time to time. While there are numerous websites around the web that do this successfully (community membership sites) I’m yet to see many (any) blogs do it well. The problem that most bloggers who have tried it have run into is that most topics that you could think to start a blog about already have free sites available. To make it succeed you would need to have some sort of premium/exclusive content and/or real expertise on a topic.

8. Blog Networks

Another emerging income source for bloggers are blog networks. There are two ways to make money here. Firstly you can start a network and contract bloggers to write for you or secondly you might like to join a blog network as a writer. There are many networks out there and all have their own strengths and weaknesses. I’ll attempt to write a post on what to think about when you’re looking at whether to join a network later in this series.

Source: Darren Rowse at ProBlogger

6 Monetization Methods of the Pro Blogger (business2community.com)

Ad sense vs blogs continued (blogsnwebsites.com)

"You deserve better than AdSense" - WordPress introduces WordAds (nextlevelofnews.com)

12 Blogging Income Streams [And the Story of My 10 Year 'Overnight' Success] (problogger.net)

There is Life After Google AdSense (chroniclerwriting.com)

Make Money With Your Blog and Google AdSense (buzz.blogger.com)