Build Your Blog Conference

Power of Pinterest

2013-05-06T20:54:00.003-07:00

In this class The Six Sisters' talked about the Power of Pinterest and how they receive 80% of their traffic and page views through Pinterest! They've mastered the art of pinning and repinning and shared their secrets of success on how to use Pinterest to boost your blog posts and increase traffic. Here is a recap of the class:

Pinterest Fun Facts

-80% of Pinterest users are female

-50% of users have children

-average income of Pinterest users is $100,000+

The Sisters' advised all bloggers to do the following:

-use the name of your blog as your profile

-keep two seperate accounts a personal and a business

-put the URL of your site in your personal and business profiles

-connect Pinterest account with Facebook and Twitter

The Sisters' talked about how to utilize your boards and to do this you want to make the names and titles of your boards be creative but also try to incorporate your blog name into the board name. For an example: "your blog name" recipes. The more boards you have the more exposure you'll get. Did you know that boards show up in search results instead of pins?

When you're writing your post it's so crucial to make sure you have picture you can pin that describes what your post is about. If you don't have a picture then create one! You can do this by creating a collage by using PicMonkey or ipccy. When you do this you want to make sure there is a pin it button available on your site, so your readers can be reminded to pin your content! When you write your posts you need to make sure you pin EVERY POST! Make sure you put your blogs URL into each of the pin descriptions, keep these short and precise. You'll want to use hashtags to catergorize your pins. For an example, if you pin a chicken casserole dish, here are some hashtags you could use: #recipe #chicken #dinner #maindish #poultry #casserole.

PICTURES ARE VERY IMPORTANT! You need to watermark each of your pictures. By doing this your claiming that this picture belongs to you. It's sad that our world has come to this but you will find that if you don't watermark your pictures people will steal them and use them :( A great suggestion the Sisters' had is if you have pictures from older posts that aren't great. Make it a priority to re shoot those pictures, upload them to your post, add a pin it button to the post, and pin the new picture to Pinterest. The Sisters' did this with all of their old blog posts and saw a lot of new traffic from this.

To learn about sites to use to track the influence of your pins, when to pin, and growing traffic purchase the audio and video recordings of this class and the other eleven classes for $29! Go here to purchase them! We would love for you to come to the Build Your Blog Conference 2014! Make sure you sign up before tickets are sold out! If you buy now you can take advantage of the early bird special!

How to write, publish, and market an ebook

2013-04-29T11:51:00.002-07:00

This was a very interesting class. At the beginning of this class I felt like creating an ebook would be way too complicated and never had a desire to do this. After the class I felt confidence that with a good idea, some hard work and learning anyone could create an ebook! Abby from Twist Me Pretty, Cindy Hogan from Watched series, Maria from Two Peas and Their Pod, and Heidi from Foodie Crush all spoke in this is way informative class about the ins and outs of creating an ebook! Here is my recap from the class.

Abby started off by talking about the tools you'll need to create an ebook. She recommended purchasing or getting access to Adobe InDesign or Microsoft Word to design the interior of your book and Adobe InDesign or Photoshop to design the cover. If you don't feel comfortable with using these programs, she recommends to save yourself the heartache and suggested to hire this part out!

She went over some important things to consider when creating your ebook:

Resolution: Abby pointed out if a photo has less than 300 DPI (dots per inch) and it gets printed, it will look grainy.

Distribute: Sign up for an account on ejunkie, plans start at $5 a month. Ejunkie provides you a picture of your ebook and an add cart button in html format so you can add that to your blog so your viewers can purchase your book!

Create Space: This website allows you to distribute your book through Amazon. When someone purchases your book through Amazon, Create Space will print the book on demand, therefore, making it a lot cheaper for you and the consumer. Abby recommended pricing your ebook from $5-$8 and a published book from $14.99 on up.

Cindy author from the acclaimed Watched Series talked about what you need to do before you create your ebook:

-Get a business license

-Obtain tax ID number

-Tax license

-Register with your state

-Get your local business license (get this from your city)

*Most of these items can be obtained online through your states Tax and Labor Commission, Department of Commerce, Workforce Services and Environmental Quality.

Heidi and Maria talked advised bloggers to write something you feel like you have passion and a voice for. If you don't know what that is, write about what you talk about a lot on your blog. They gave ideas as to how to market your new ebook by doing the following:

-blog tour

-twitter blitz

-create a Facebook page and event

-host giveaways on popular blogs

-create an Amazon page

To learn more about how to write, publish, and market your ebook you can purchase the audio recording of this class and the other eleven classes from the Build Your Blog Conference here!

Build Your Blog Conference 2014 is going to be bigger and better, make sure you sign up to attend and to receive the early bird price of $99 instead of $149

Online Photography & Editing Workshop by Photo By Emilie

2013-04-25T20:48:00.003-07:00

Have you ever wanted to learn how to take more stunning pictures? How to use those manual settings on your camera? Learn how to create perfect lighting for your pictures? Or how to edit your pictures and use photoshop? Our good friend Emilie from Photo By Emilie who also taught our fabulous Photography Class at the Build Your Blog Conference is offering four online photography classes for $35 each!

This would make the perfect gift for yourself! Classes start May 7th and are scheduled the rest of the month. If can't be physically there at your computer when the class starts, Emilie has got your covered! She's recording each of the classes so you can watch them anytime! Make sure to sign up! This is a great value to you and your blog! Go here to register!

How to make $$$ blogging from Larry Adamson aka The Six Sisters' Dad

2013-04-13T10:35:00.001-07:00

Larry, or we also known as our "Dad" has helped us a lot with our blog. He has become very knowledgeable about ways to monetize our blog. Because he's been so helpful to us he now works for his daughters full time, isn't that awesome?! Our dad taught the class at the conference about how to make money blogging. Here is a recap of the class.

Our dad talked about how there are four steps to making money blogging and they are:

There are a handful of things you need to do to be able to start making money from blogging. This includes: set up a bank and pay pal account, and create a media kit. You need a bank account to be able to connect to your pay pal account. The pay pal account is a secure way to do transactions and get paid.

A media kit is really important so when you want to do business with a company, you'll be able to show them how your blog would be the perfect fit for their product or service. A lot of times what determines whether or not a company will do business with you is dependent on what information is on your media kit. You'll want to include a small bio about yourself and your blog, statistics, demographics, the number of Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Google +, and Instagram followers; past and current projects, and a list of advertising options and pricing. Your advertising options can range from: giveaway or sponsored post, an ad, a Facebook or Twitter shout out, and a pin on Pinterest.

If you have a wonderful idea, product, or service and want to sell it to the masses the first thing you'll need to do is set up a store. If you don't want to set up a physical store, then the next best thing is a virtual store. You can do this from: Etsy, Google Wallet, Shopify, and Ebay. If you have that great idea, a good way to sell it is to create an ebook. Ebooks can range from .99 to $9.99 and would recommend you use e-junkie to facilitate the sale. E-Junkie provides shopping cart and buy buttons to let you sell downloads and tangible goods on your blog.

There's three different ways of advertising, we like to call them the ABC's of advertising:

A) Affiliate- this is where you sell other companies product on your page where you can get paid per sale or a percentage of the sale. All you do is add an image with the link and put it on your blog. There is a high potential in earrings for this option.

B) By the view: CPM (cost per 1,000 views)- is a great way to start making money but sometimes you tend to earn less money with this type of advertising, unless you receive a lot of page views on your blog. It's recommended you use a media buyer or company to fill in your ad spots.

C) Click it: CPC/PPC/CTR (cost per click)- is a better way to earn money per 1,000 ad views but there is more risk involved. Having the right product on your site and demographic is crucial into making this successful.

The "secret weapon" to earning money is:

1. Page views, page views, page views! The more page views you receive the more money you can expect to make.

2. Pages per visitor- quality of the visits is also important. If you get a lot of visitors that visit only one of your pages, that's not good. You want visitors to click on several pages of your blog.

3. Length of visit- the longer someone is "sucked" into your blog, the more likely they will click on more pages and visit again.

4. Quality of content- content is king in the blogging world. If you have a great looking blog and no quality content, your followers will see that and won't come back. If you have quality content people will come back to your blog and be devoted followers.

5. Getting found- make sure you use social media sites that fit best for your blog. Most of the time we spend is promoting or posts through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, Instagram , and other social media outlets. The more you're out there on the internet, the more likely you'll be found.

If you want to learn more about how to make money blogging, you can watch and listen to our Dad's class by purchasing all of the audio and video recordings to the conference for a low price of $29! Go here to purchase them!

We're starting to plan for next's years conference, so make sure you register! We would love for you to come!

Photography 101 by Photo by Emilie

2013-04-06T22:18:00.001-07:00

Emilie from Photo by Emilie taught a great class on Photography 101. I don't know about you, but I feel intimidated by photography. There's so much to know and so much to remember when taking great looking photos. Emilie broke it down and gave some great insight on what type of equipment you should have for the type of photography you do and how to best spend your money for what you need to take those great photos. It was like a light bulb went off in my head. Here are some of her tips for good photography for your blog.

There two different types of photography. Capturing moments and taking a portrait. If you are capturing moments, like your child's first step, or the look on your spouses face when his favorite sports team wins. A point and shoot or phone camera is perfect for these types of pictures. These pictures don't need to be perfect, the lighting doesn't have to be spectacular, and it can be a little grainy. With many picture apps out there it has made capturing moments more artistic, original, and personalized. Here are some of Emilie's favorite phone apps for pictures: Snapseed, Instagram Tips, Soft Box, 360 Panorama, moreBeaute2, Description, Whitagram, and Wood Camera.

If you're taking pictures of portrait items like your delicious lemon meringue pie or your Anthropologie inspired door wreath, you'll want to invest in a DLR camera. Especially when you want to get the focus of your picture to be nice and sharp and the background more blurred.

Lighting- Lighting is everything in pictures. If you're taking portrait pictures the best time to take your pictures is during the day. Try to use natural light from a window. Shadows are a good thing; they create contour in a picture.

Correct equipment- What is more important your lens or your camera body? It depends on what type of photography you do! Your camera body is more important if you're working in low light, shooting weddings, and in the evenings. If you're taking pictures of close up items and portraits; the lens is more important. If you're taking pictures of interiors you need a good body and lens.

Clean equipment- Make sure you clean your lens often! A dirty lens can effect the quality of your pictures. To clean your lens

Thanks Emilie for a great class.

I almost peed my pants in her class because she was making me laugh so hard.

Learn more about how to take amazing pictures, how to use your settings, and tips and tricks to getting better photos you can purchase the audio to Emilie's class and the rest of the twelve classes from Build Your Blog Conference here for $29!

Make sure to sign up for the Build Your Blog Conference 2014 for $99! 2014 is going to be bigger and better!

Fueling Your Blog’s Fire WithOUT Getting Burnt Out Recap from The Dating Divas

2013-03-31T19:28:00.006-07:00

The Dating Divas are known for their sizzling date ideas and ways to strengthen your marriage talked about a really important topic that all bloggers feel will eventually feel, how to manage life, family, and blogging without getting burned out! They gave some amazing tips on how to have a balanced life because blogging can become addicting! Here are my favorites:

The key to not getting burned out with blogging is to have a plan, routine, and a schedule! Tara told us how she schedules blog time in her day. Having a routine like this makes it easier to find the time to get the things done that she needs too. The day before, she always writes down a list of what she needs to get done that next day. She does this so she can mentally have a picture of what she needs to do and she finds this makes it so she uses her time more wisely (she's a Dating Diva, she needs to spend quality time with her husband!) This is amazing, The Dating Divas have their blog posts scheduled out a month in advance! That's what I call crazy organized! Wendy talked about how to set goals and deadlines and have those posted where you can see them daily! Also, have a blog calendar and plan out posts, social media, answering e-mails, and respond to comments.

One of the hardest things to admit is that you can't do blogging alone! To create a successful blog it takes many many many many many hours, hard work, and dedication. Having a drama free life when it comes to blogging is crucial. To obtain this the most important thing you can do is to create a strong support system! This can include your family, spouse, partner, friends, and other bloggers. You NEED their support to be able to become successful. If you're blogging in a group, try to eliminate problematic relationships, this will make your life so much easier.

Blogging as a group can be difficult, but The Dating Divas can happily say that the four years they've been blogging, they've been able to maintain a drama free environment by doing the following:

1. Make sure everyone on board have the same passion, drive, and goals as YOU!

2. Surround yourself with good energy (positive people!)

3. When looking to add more people to your group, look for people who are problem solvers, go-getters, and team players.

This is one of the most important aspects of not getting burned out. If you're blogging as a group you need to make sure to manage the system, not the people. There's three ways on how you can do this.

1. Have an action plan! To do this you need to map out your goals, just like a trip, you have to plan! Write down what you want to accomplish this year (destination), how are you going to get there (route), and what you need to accomplish that (pack).

2. Expectations! You need to know what you want before you add more people to your group. Once you do this you need to identify what is expected out of each person of the group. Here are some things to talk about: contracts, emergencies (what entails as an emergency?), due dates, checklists and PDFs explain what to do step-by-step.

3. Having roles for each person and how they're going to contribute to the blog. You need to identify a clear leader who will uphold the mission. Responsibilities need to be divided. And remember no one needs to be perfect. Each person will bring something to the table.

The Dating Divas gave a lot more information that can help you to manage it all without feeling like you want to crawl in a hole and cry, because that happens a lot! Blogging can be a hobby and a great way to earn some extra income, but without some guidelines it can take over your life. Always remember, family comes first.

To listen to the Divas class and to get greater insight on this topic, you can purchase all of the video and audio recordings of the Build Your Blog Conference for $29 here!

We're already starting to plan next years conference and its going to be bigger and better. Make sure you sign up here.

Ucreate: How to get your Blog Featured and Stand Out from The Rest

2013-03-24T20:31:00.000-07:00

The lovely ladies from Ucreate did a wonderful job talking about how to get your blog featured and stand out from the rest. This is a common question that is asked when bloggers want to take their blog to the next level. Kari and Becky suggested five things all bloggers should do to get their blog out there in blogosphere. I'll share three of my favorite pieces of advice from their class:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

You won't be successful if you try to be like everyone else. This is what makes each of us and our blogs unique. One way to set your blog apart from the others is to be yourself! With all of those blogs out there you can find yourself feeling insecure. With this intimidation comes the thought, what do I have to offer? STOP feeling that way! Easier said then done, right? Remember, you have a lot to offer! I loved this quote Kari said, "No matter how crowded a niche might be, one thing they don't have is you!"

Did you know most blogs get their traffic from Pinterest? With millions of men and women pinning their next diy craft or recipe, it's creating a mixing bowl of ideas. Because Pinterest is such a visual site, the saying "A picture is worth a thousand words" is so true! Becky talked about how you don't have to have the nicest or most expensive camera or gear to take beautiful pictures. You can even take breathtaking pictures with your phone! With a little research and practice anyone can take a Pinterest worthy picture.

Pictures are so powerful, they evoke our emotions. Think about it, if you visit a blog and they have great content, but if their pictures don't match the quality of the their content, it can ruin a beautiful written post. QUALITY is what blogging is all about. To learn more about how to use your camera and how to take better pictures, go to this link.

Want to get your name out there? A great way to do that is to get featured as a guest post on a blog. Kari suggested bloggers to submit an idea to blogs that are bigger than yours three times a week. This might sounds like a lot of work, but if chosen, it will help you to get noticed! There are many blogs out there looking for content and ideas, here's a list: Craft Gawker, Style Gawker, Tip Junkie, One Pretty Thing, and Craft Gossip.

Another way to get your idea noticed is participating in link parties. The Six Sisters' have a weekly link party that starts every Friday and ends on Sunday where hundred of bloggers submit their ideas and blog posts. At the end of the link party, the Sisters' feature their top five favorites. This is a great way to get noticed. To see a list of link parties and days they're featured, go to this link.

If you couldn't come to the Build Your Blog Conference and want to learn other ways on how to get your blog featured and to stand out, you can purchase the audio and video to Kari and Becky's class and the rest of the classes for $29! Go here to purchase them.

Make sure you sign up for 2014 Build Your Blog Conference, you won't want to miss it!

Keynote Speaker: Brooke Walker Recap

2013-03-17T19:58:00.002-07:00

The fabulous Brooke Walker from KSL's Studio 5 was the keynote speaker for the conference. She set a wonderful tone that encouraged all of us to not just be a blogger, but to be an influencer! Jani from Jani Serendipity said it best when describing Brooke's speech, "Fabulous. Inspiring. Influencing...Uplifting. Comforting. Educational. Friendly. Awesome. Cool. Captivating. Informative. Enlightening… and Winning!"

Brooke highlighted six ways how we can be an influencer. My top three were:

1. Find a focus. Brooke mentioned in her speech to ask yourself one question. Why do I blog? It could be a number of reasons, but to find your focus or "theme" for your blog is so important! To do this, you'll need to look inside yourself as to why you spend your time blogging. Once you're able to identify this then you'll find your mission. As a blogger our purpose should be to improve upon, to give back, and to share. Brooke said, "Find a focus that is bigger than you, commit to a cause, and add your passion to it."

2. Add your voice. There's millions of bloggers out there, one way to set yourself apart from others is to add your voice. If you're having a guest post on your blog, add your voice to it at the end. Don't be afraid to do this!

3. Play up the positive. Brooke mentioned about the article written by Emily Matchar from Salon.com who wrote the infamous article, Why I can't stop reading Mormon housewife blogs. In this article, the author describes herself as a young feminist atheist who can't bake a cupcake, but she asks herself one question, "why am I addicted to the shiny, happy lives of these women?" At the end of the article, Matchar confesses why she is so obsessed with these blogs, "...the basic messages expressed in these blogs — family is wonderful, life is meant to be enjoyed, celebrate the small things — are still lovely."

Brooke goes on to say how the discussion of how blogging can create an unrealistic picture of life. "Shame on them think this way!" Brooke said. Brooke encouraged all of us to not be afraid to play up the positive because we need more happy in our lives.

To listen to Brooke's keynote speech and to hear and watch the Build Your Blog Conference classes for $29 go to this link.

Make sure you sign up for the Build Your Blog Conference 2014! It's going to be bigger and better!

Build Your Blog Conference 2013

2013-03-03T22:05:00.000-08:00

After several months of hard work, we're glad to announce our first Build Your Blog Conference 2013 was a great success! My Sisters' and I want to say thank you to all of you who came and showed your support to us by coming to the conference. It was so lovely to meet all of you and to be surrounded by so many wonderful, successful, and creative women and men. We have to admit we were a little star struck to meet some of our most favorite bloggers.

If you couldn't attend the conference, you're in luck. We recorded all of the classes! For $29 you can watch and listen to the speakers and classes. To purchase them go to this link

We would love for you to join us for 2014! You can save $75 now until March 15th if you sign up to come to the Build Your Blog Conference 2014! Click here to sign up!

Camille did a great job hosting the Build Your Blog Conference. She's so fearless, that's why we love her so much.

Stephanie, Kristen, and Elyse from Six Sisters' Stuff

Brooke Walker from KSL's TV show Studio 5 was the keynote speaker. She did a wonderful job and was such a great speaker. She talked about being an "influencer"as a blogger and how its not a bad thing to add your voice in the dialogue. Brooke also mentioned its a good thing to show the positive in blogs. She said,m "In these days we're bombarded by so many negative things in life. Watching and listening to the news can be pretty depressing. It's not a bad thing to put your best out there and to always be talking about the positive things in life." To listen to Brooke's keynote speech, go here.

By the way we loved how she was sporting those leopard print pants!

Some of our favorite bloggers (clockwise): Aleisha from She Calls Me Mama Leisha, Cobi from Entirely Eventful, Brittany from One Charming Party, Tausha from Sassy Style Redesign, Lori from My Craft Channel, Emilie from Emilie Daly Designs, Aly from Entirely Eventful Day, and Megan from Brassy Apple

It's a My Sisters' Suitcase sandwich with Nat and Holly. In the middle is McKenzie from Girl Loves Glam (heart your chevron shirt!)

Ashley from Flats to Flip Flops, Adrienne from Free Time Frolics, Andie from Maybe I Will, and two lovely ladies we don't know (if you know the names and blogs of the last two ladies, please contact us at buildyourblogconference@gmail.com).

Ashton from Something Swanky was one of ours speakers and taught a class on "Blog Design 101: How to make your blog look amazing!" The class was sponsored by PicMonkey where she showed bloggers some great tips on how to use this great website to make their photos and collages more original.

Tara and Wendy from The Dating Divas preparing for their class in the hall.

Sista Beehive and Sista Laurel from Sistas in Zion. They're so funny, love these gals!

Each of the classes were full to the max! This was The Power of Pinterest class taught by the Six Sisters' themselves. We had a rough start due to a bad internet connection, but it smoothed out

Kristen, Camille, Elyse, and Stephanie talking about how they get most of their traffic from Pinterest.

Another full class during the "Blog Design 101: How to make your blog look amazing!"

Tara and Wendy from The Dating Divas teaching their class on "Fueling Your Blog's Fire WithOUT Getting Burnt Out: Tips & Tricks To Manage It All."

Some of the most popular food bloggers came together and answered questions about food and blogging from the audience. Camille was the moderator for the class with (from left Laura from Real Mom Kitchen, Erica from Fav Family Recipes, Maria from Two Peas & Their Pod, Nikki from Chef-In-Training, and Amanda from Kevin & Amanda.

Sisters Holly and Nat from My Sisters' Suitcase talk about What to Expect the First Year of Blogging. Loved how they reminded everyone to celebrate every milestone when it comes with your blog.

Emilie from Photo by Emilie taught a hilarious class about Photography 101 where she talked how sunlight is your best friend and how to use it to your advantage in your pictures.

Cindy M. Hogan, author of the best selling Watched series, Abby from Twist Me Pretty, and Amanda from Kevin & Amanda teach a class on how to write, publish, and market an ebook.

Attendees in line to check-in for the conference

During lunch time it was a busy meeting, mingling, and networking.

One of the best seats in the house was the business card swap table. Lot's of great looking business cards!

Remember, if you want to come to one of the most fun, inspiring, educational, and best blog networking conferences, you can save $75 off with our early bird special. This deal lasts until March 15th! Click here to register for 2014!

Get To Know Our Speaker: Abby from Twist Me Pretty

2013-02-13T10:48:00.000-08:00

Hello there! My name is Abby and I blog over at Twist Me Pretty. I have two small children and our days consist of dance parties in the living room, Mickey Mouse pancakes and an unhealthy amount of Batman legos and little people princesses! Boston and Savy are my whole world. My blog started as a hobby. It was my nap time escape where I could turn on my creativity and feel that wonderful satisfaction you get from designing or creating something.

My success as a blogger started with my thirty do's in thirty days segment. I was seeing fashion bloggers all over the place blog and be successful posting pictures of themselves and their outfits. I thought, man, I wish someone would do this for hairstyles! And the light bulb just went on.

A year and a half later my blog has grown from 50 followers to 4,300 followers. I have released and sold over 3,000 copies of my hairstyle ebook. That ebook is now being published and distributed by Amazon where my book sales are pushing 800 per month. This "hobby" has become my part time job and our only paycheck. I don't know everything there is no know about blogging or making and marketing ebooks, but I do hope to be able to share with you a few of the things I've learned along my journey! If there is a need, your books will sell and you will make money doing something that you love!

I am so excited and super nervous to meet you this Saturday!! If you'd like to learn more about me you can visit me at Twist Me Pretty or follow me on Instagram @twistmepretty

Get To Know Our Speaker: Ashton from Something Swanky Desserts & Designs

2013-02-10T21:00:00.000-08:00

Hi there! I'm Ashton from Something Swanky Desserts & Designs. And I am over-the-moon excited to be speaking about DIY Blog Design at the Build Your Blog Conference in two weeks! Can you believe it's coming up so soon?? Wow!

I want to tell you a little bit about me and my blogging "experience"so that you'll have a better understanding of the perspective I'll be taking when speaking to you at the conference, which is: you don't need need a fancy design degree or expensive software to create a blog design that is beautiful, functional, and completely custom!

Here's the deal: I have absolutely no formal training, education, or experience in web and/or graphic design. None. And, to be completely honest with you, I can't even find my way around Photoshop. It makes

me dizzy. I am completely, 100% self taught.

Still interested?

I've evolved quite a bit as a blogger and as a designer. My site, Something Swanky, was originally meant to be a website for my home-based cupcake catering business. But as I began to network and get to know other bloggers, I became completely engrossed in the blogging community and wanted to be more involved. So I broadened my blog to include all dessert recipes. It wasn't long before I stopped catering all together in order to focus 100% on blogging. As I searched for ways to drive up my traffic, I realized my blog was seriously lacking something really, crucially important: a good design.

I hired a designer. And she did a wonderful job creating a very cute look for my blog. But within a week of making that purchase, I found myself itching to move things around again, and to adjust this element or that. I knew I couldn't afford to hire a designer every time I wanted a change. As my husband and I live on a pretty modest

still-in-school income, I couldn't afford to buy some fancy illustrating program to create my own graphics either (even if I had known what I was doing)!

So I began to dig around Google, just doing simple searches for things like, "how to make a blog button?" and "why won't my header center?" and "what's the best way to organize my blog layout?" It didn't take long before I had a pretty decent grasp on how to use HTML in blogger. I could put the different blog elements where I wanted them, and could even manipulate some of them to be a little more custom.

My next big challenge was, how do I make this design LOOK GOOD and look like ME?

And that's when Picmonkey.com rocked my world.

PicMonkey is an online photo editing site. Many of their tools are free, but you can sign up for a monthly membership (they'll have a yearly subscription soon too) to access even more of their awesome stuff. Every design I create is done in PicMonkey, and I big, fat, puffy heart them!

Why? Because I don't feel like a moron on their site. Because I can use their tools without needing to learn some special graphics language. It's super user friendly and very intuitive. And once you know one tiny, little technique-- the blog design world is totally at your fingertips!

So what is this magical technique I speak of? I don't exactly have a name for it, but I've heard it called "white washing." White washing is awesome. It's an easy way to create a blank "canvas" for any design. All you need is one white washed image to keep on your desktop, and using the overlays and text features on <a

PicMonkey you can use it for all sorts of designs-- from headers to social media icons!

Here's how you do it:

Step 1: Go to www.picmonkey.com

Step 2: Upload ANY photo. It doesn't matter which photo, just pick one :)

Step 3: Click on "Overlays"; Geometric; select the rectangle shape, and change the color to white.

Step 4: Stretch the rectangle to cover the entire photo, and click on "merge."

(Note: the location of the "merge" button has moved to the top center of the screen since I took this screen shot)

Step 5: Save this photo to your desktop and name it something you'll recognize, like "blank" or "white." Naming it will also ensure that you don't accidentally replace your original photo with a white rectangle!

Now, any time you want to add a new element to your blog, you can open up this "photo" (be sure to re-size it to the specific dimensions needed for your element) and start designing!

Here are a few of the design tutorials on my blog that use this trick as a starting point:

Design your own Header and Nav Bar

Create Custom Social Media Icons

How to Design and Install Post Dividers

Get to Know Our Speaker: Kari from U-Create Crafts

2013-02-07T07:00:00.000-08:00

We are beyond excited to be speaking at the Build Your Blog conference and can't wait to meet YOU.

Becky, Danielle, and I blog over at U-Create Crafts, where you'll find thousands of free tutorials and patterns in home decor, crafts, parties, kids crafts, recipes, and more!

What will you learn in our class?

When I started U-Create there were a handful of crafty bloggers and fast forward to 2013....there are literally thousands. Blogging has become a career for so many and the competition to be seen or STAND OUT is becoming more difficult.

We’ll share some fabulous ways to put on your blog so you can get noticed in a crowded niche. Topics include…

Personality

Passion

Design

Content Strategy

Getting featured/exposure

U-Create Q&A

1. Why did you start a blog?

Purely selfish purposes. I started a blog in 2008 as a way to collect FREE {are you kidding me?} tutorials on the web without taking up storage space on my computer. Word slowly spread that I shared "cute" things and next thing I knew I was gaining what were called "followers".

2. How long have you been blogging?

5 years. Ucreate was born in 2008 when there were only a handful of crafty bloggers!

3. Who is your inspiration?

I cannot tell you enough how inspired I get from the amazing bloggers who submit their projects to me daily. I find myself constantly saying, "that is a genius idea" or "how do people think of that"? I am truly blown away by the talent in this blogging world.

4. Hobbies other than blogging?

I am a 100% book nerd. I always have a book with me {you never know when you'll have the chance to be bored or your car might break down right?} I love to read young adult fiction, religious, classics, etc. I also have a passion for traveling, marketing, and creating all different types of craft projects!

5. What is one thing you wish you had known when you started your blog?

Just because everybody else is blogging a certain way does not mean you need to do the same in order to be successful. In the beginning I became worried about what "the right way to blog" was...is there one? I was caught up in SEO tactics {that are constantly changing by the way}, social media platforms {ya, there are a gazillion out there}, bloggin hosts, etc. Sure their are great tips that can help, but when it comes down to it nothing compares to rockin' awesome content!

6. Who is your celebrity crush?

Hmmm....I don't really have one, but I will not deny that Blake Shelton is super handsome!!!

Make sure you register to come to the Build Your Blog Conference because its going to be filled with so much great blogging knowledge and advice. We can't wait to meet you there!

Get to Know Our Speaker: Heidi from Foodie Crush

2013-02-03T18:08:00.001-08:00

In early 2012 I was talking with my friend Maria of Two Peas and Their Pod about cookies. Her cookies in particular. Maria and I had been talking for a while about creating a project together outside of the blog, something that be of interest to her readers and possibly generate new revenue for the both of us. So we decided to create an ecookbook, and Cookie Cravings was born. Did we think we'd make money? We hoped so, but we had no idea. But we knew that just by creating a new product to talk about, promote and offer our readers would benefit our businesses whether we made $5 or $5,000.

With traditional print publishing changing daily, self-publishing is a hot topic.Self-publishing your own ebook can be a rewarding experience, both financially and creatively and the tools to do so have never been more readily available than they are today. In the land of self publishing you can cut out the middle man—editors, publishers, distributors—and create the content YOU want to create, the content your audience is eager to pay for. Your book is in your control.

Maria and I are thrilled to be speaking at the Build Your Blog Conference, and we're even more excited to share the strategies of how we created Cookie Cravings, and it's follow-up ecookbook Holiday Cookie Cravings.

We'll answer the questions you might be asking yourself right now:

Why should I create and ebook and what should it be about?

How do I schedule my time to create it along with the other projects I have on my day to day plate?

Which format should it be in?

What's the production process and how long does it take?

How big should it be?

Should I work with a designer or collaborate with another blogger?

How do I get it to the customer?

How much should I charge?

How do I promote it once it's done?

So, should YOU write an ebook? Maybe, maybe not. But from our in-person discussion you'll learn all of the ins and outs of what it takes to do so, have your own questions answered and decide for yourself.

FOODIE CRUSH Q&A

1. Why do you start a blog?

I had a blog before starting FoodieCrush, a document of my husband and I remodeling our home, but time got in the way and I quit updating it in 2008. As a magazine Creative Director and photographer, I became a fan of blogs in their early stages and quickly became enamored with several food blogs. I realized there was a niche to be filled in showcasing the talented food bloggers beyond the blog and thought it would be cool to start an online magazine about them, featuring their lifestyle, recipes and photography. I started my blog FoodieCrush because I quickly realized that in order for me to connect with food bloggers, I had to become one of them, build an audience to introduce myself to them and build an audience that wanted to learn more about them.

2. How long have you been blogging?

I'll be celebrating FoodieCrush's two year anniversary in April 2013 and the magazine's in June.

3. Who is your inspiration?

My inspiration stems from my family. First my mom because she is my number one fan, amazingly encouraging yet realistic and has instilled in me from the time I was a nugget that hard work will get you everywhere. When creating recipes I love the suggestions that my daughter provides. As an 8 year old her perspective is fresh and honest, and gets me away from focusing on what's trolling around the web and Pinterest, and instead create recipes that just. taste. good.

4. Hobbies other than blogging?

Well, even though I'm a food blogger and recipe developer, I still love to cook! I love skiing with my daughter and husband, snuggling with my dogs and traveling to create new memories to last a lifetime.

5. What is one thing you wish you had know when you started your blog?

It's pretty much the same thing I wish I knew now. CSS and HTML. I'm a designer, but I am not a coder. My life would be so much easier if I had time to immerse myself and learn it so I could customize my site the way I want to see it.

6. Who is your celebrity crush?

It used to be Brad Pitt, hands down. But I feel like he jumped the shark when he hooked up with Angelina. These days I'm more of a Tim Riggins from Friday Night Lights played by Taylor Kitsch fan. His character is totally hot. Actors who are self effacing with beautiful smiles get me too, so Bradley Cooper and Tim MacGraw are nipping at Tim's heels.

Heidi Larsen is the founder, editor, creative director and chief dish washer of FoodieCrush, the online magazine and blog featuring food bloggers, their recipes and photography. With over 20 years of publishing experience creating and photographing content ranging from health and fitness, home and interiors, celebrity profiles and most recently as Creative Director for Salt Lake Magazine, Utah Bride & Groom and Utah Style & Design, Heidi has now set her sights on celebrating food bloggers and the virtual buffet they deliver across the world wide web. In addition to creating content for her online magazine FoodieCrush, Heidi is a food photographer and stylist, recipe developer, digital ebook content creator, designer and adjunct university professor. She is also the co-creator of the Cookie Cravings eCookbook series. Heidi has received publication awards from the Society of Publication Designers, Folio, HOW and the Maggies. Her work has been featured on The Kitchn, Saveur, Gourmet Live, Bon Appetit, PBS Food, Huffington Post Food, Mint Design Blog, Say Media, Foodista, Matchbook Mag and Babble. Heidi lives in Salt Lake City with her husband, daughter and their three rescue mutts, all of whom make occasional appearances on FoodieCrush.

web: foodiecrush.com

twitter: https://twitter.com/foodiecrush

facebook: http://facebook.com/foodiecrush

pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/foodiecrush

instagram: http://www.instagram/foodiecrush

vine: @foodiecrush

Get to Know Our Speakers: Tara & Wendy from The Dating Divas

2013-01-30T11:01:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone!! It's Tara & Wendy from the website, The Dating Divas.

On The Dating Divas website, we are all about creative ideas that will help strengthen our relationships. We started out as a group of friends who were determined NOT to become "boring old couples" who sat around and watched TV all day. We wanted to continue the honeymoon... so we decided to take turns coming up with SUPER creative, inexpensive, and fun date ideas that we could all try! Word soon spread, and more and more people started visiting our site. Saying it "snowballed from there" is an understatement! Anything to do with having a "happily ever after" is right up our alley and we began to share even MORE ideas on how to do JUST that to our rapidly growing audience! We currently blog about amazing & creative date ideas, fun gift ideas for our spouses, quick & easy romance ideas, CRAFTY tutorials, and MUCH, much more!! We even decided to share tips on how to look good for your man AND ideas on how to keep things HOT in a certain room… but you are gonna have to visit our website for THAT! {WINK!}

We are extremely thrilled to be speakers at this fabulous "Build Your Blog" Conference.

The Six Sisters' Stuff gals are some of our dearest friends in Blog Land - if you have met them in person, you can't HELP but fall in love with those bubbly ladies! You'll soon find out {if you haven't already} that making amazing friends in Blog Land is a must! We've sure lucked out in that department!

Let's chat about our presentation, shall we!?!

What if we were to tell you that it IS possible to have your cake and eat it, too?!? Ah... we see that we caught your attention, huh! Most bloggers initially start their blogs & websites because they are extremely passionate about something. Not too long after, they start to think, "How on EARTH do bloggers manage it all?" Family time, cleaning, quality SPOUSE time, church activities, work, helping children with homework, laundry, cleaning, meals, chauffeuring for children’s activities, did we mention CLEANING, … oh, and you want to fit BLOGGING in there somewhere? Eeks! The “age-old” {ok, ok... so not THAT old...} question of HOW do I manage it all? How does one balance everything in order to make sure FAMILY comes first but still run a successful website that actually contributes to the family income? We have a whole TEAM of women that help keep our site running, and you better believe we’ve come up with a system to manage everything. We’re still going strong three years later... without a DROP of drama! Crazy, right? You’d think if you had that many women together in one room, there would eventually be tears or hurt feelings, but we haven’t experienced any of that due to the system we have set up and the way we run things. We have SO many amazing tools, tricks, free online sources, and partnerships that we utilize to keep things running smoothly that both the team AND the solo blogger can use!

We’ve put together a JAM-PACKED and FUN presentation that will leave you feeling empowered and have you walking out the door ARMED with the knowledge of what it takes to balance it all. You'll be able to put together & immediately implement an "Action Plan" tailored to fit your schedule with the tools we give you. Like we said before, "You CAN have your cake & eat it too" and we’ll show you how!

We’ve attended collaboration and productivity classes at different Blogger Conventions to see if there was anything out there we were missing. We definitely learned new things, but we always walked away feeling a little dissatisfied. We liked a few of the things the speaker(s) had to say, but nothing truly rang a bell with us. We started on our “trial & error” stage which brings us to where we are today. Testing different strategies, throwing out the ones that didn’t work, and moving forward with those that DID. Our current system is SUPER smooth, eliminates drama, and is tailored to fit all of the women’s different schedules & personal lives in a way that works for them. In order to make sure our presentation covers the needs both team bloggers AND solo bloggers have, we reached out to some of our top-notch SOLO blogger friends who are making a living blogging. We asked THEM what system they have in place. Their responses were wonderful & surprisingly, a lot were similar to our methods. With their permission, we’re excited to share them in our presentation! Too many bloggers start blogging about their passion but then get burnt out too easily when they get overwhelmed with how much there is to do. We don't want YOU to become a statistic! We've got the tools to help you become successful! We’d like those who attend our class to walk away with these three KEY points:

#1) How to Set Up A Management System that WILL Be Successful
#2) How to Become Organized & Tools to Help You STAY That Way
#3) How to FUEL Your Blog’s Fire WithOUT Getting Burnt Out

We’ll also share tips, tricks, and “what we wish we would’ve known” advice from not only US - but top bloggers in Blog Land. Our hope is to inspire, motivate, empower, and educate those bloggers attending our presentation so that they are able to become successful bloggers without sacrificing precious family time!

We can't WAIT to meet all of you!

We'll see you soon at our "Fueling Your Blog’s Fire WithOUT Getting Burnt Out! {Tips, Tricks, & Ideas to Manage It All!}" Presentation!

* * * * * * * *

We asked Tara & Wendy some questions so you could get to know them better. Here's what they said:
1) Why do you start a blog? TARA - I am a hopeless romantic! I met my Mr. Right, we fell head-over-heels in love, and had a beautiful wedding! I quickly realized I didn’t want our honeymoon phase to end. I wanted to keep that passion alive and continue being that fun & adventurous couple we were while dating. I needed an endless supply of creative ideas to do just that… so I contacted my amazing friends & we started the website, The Dating Divas. Pretty much anything and everything you’d need to keep the spice alive in a marriage! We’ve recently added even MORE amazing “divas” to our Rockstar Team and are having the time of our lives courting our spouses & sharing our ideas with all of you! WENDY - I didn't start it, I just wanted to be a part of something incredible!!

2) How long have you been blogging? TARA - Three exciting, eventful, fun, trial-and-error, life-changing years! WENDY - Ahem*** 4 years with my personal. Hahaha, not so much that one anymore!

3) Who is your inspiration? TARA - I am blessed to have so many inspirational people in my life that actually choosing one is a hard task for me! Building a website & working so hard to reach as many marriages as possible, there are a lot of ups and downs. Learning HTML coding, figuring out Social Networking, spending hours on posts, taking beautiful photos – it’s a LOT of work & things don’t always go as planned. My husband, Jamie, has been my support and my rock through it all. He dries my tears, listens to my stressful rants, comes up with solutions, and is the reason I started this website in the first place. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be able to have accomplished what we have in the past 3 years. WENDY - All the cute little old people who hold hands and kiss all cutesy STILL after 50 years of marriage. Plus hearing about all the sad relationships too, makes me want to make mine that much better!

4) Hobbies other than blogging? TARA - I LOVE learning new things! {Not sure if that’s a hobby! LOL} How about what do ELSE do I enjoy besides blogging? I love photography, reading, creating new things, hanging with my girlfriends, laughing, dating my sweetheart, chocolate {I’m a total addict!!}, fashion, shopping, making others happy, cuddling with our Yorkie, and dreaming of ALL the fun adventures ahead of me!! WENDY - Being a mommy and wife. Love my family! They are my rock! I also love sports and being healthy.

5) What is one thing you wish you had known when you started your blog?TARA - Oh my HEAVENS! I don’t think you can pick just one! We have learned SO much over the years. I do wish that we would have monetized our website MUCH sooner! {Er.. or maybe I should say I wish we would have known HOW to make money a lot sooner!} It’s wonderful to be able to share your passion with the world, but what many people don’t realize is that there are expenses that go along with owning & running a website. We struggled the first year and a half until we actually started making money! We are starting to finally reap the rewards from all of our hard work and we are SO excited to see what comes next! WENDY - That it is hard, but so worth it. Changing people’s lives are a HUGE payment... just knowing we are helping someone in need.

6) Who is your celebrity crush? TARA -I truly don’t have one! {Scout’s Honor!} To me, they are just regular people who are hounded by the Paparazzi! My husband is the only one who can make my heart skip a beat. WENDY - Probably Matthew Mcconaughey. But my celebrity hubba-hubby is HOTT too!!! Last name being Jackman, he tells everyone he is Hugh Jackman's twin!

Make sure you to register to come to the Build Your Blog Conference, it's going to be so much fun.  We're looking forward to getting out of the house and mingling with all of you lovely people out there!

Also, we're hosting a giveaway for a ticket to this conference!  Make sure you enter because we would love to see you there!

Launch Party for My Recipe Magic

2013-01-27T20:20:00.000-08:00

We had so much fun at the official launch party for our new website My Recipe Magic last week. The best part was meeting you mingling with everyone who came and of course, you cannot forget the delicious crepe bar! Thank you to all of you who came, it was so successful! There wasn't an empty seat in the place. If you couldn't attend because you live far away, don't worry you were there in spirit. Keep reading and you will feel like you were there.

To the left, Camille (the oldest of the Six Sisters') welcomes everyone to the launch party. She did such a great job.

Everybody loved the crepes! They were the best crepes I've ever had. Especially with all the butter the chef used to make it. Yum! The line to the crepe bar was very long, but totally worth the wait.

Attendees were able to get a personal tutorial on how to sign up and upload recipes onto My Recipe Magic.

The party was at The Gathering Place at Gardner Village in West Jordan, Utah. If you live in Utah or the next time you're in town, you need to visit this place. It's such a fun place to shop, dine, and party! The village is made up of historical homes that were transplanted to Gardner Village from across the state of Utah. In each of the historic homes is a shop or boutique. Thanks Gardner Village for being so accommodating!

Blendtec hooked us up with one of their Designer Series Wildside blender to giveaway during the launch party. The person who won that blender, you are one very lucky person! Have you seen their awesome Blendtec videos where they blend an iphone and a Samsung Gallaxy SIII? If a blender can do that, then you know it will be able to make your soups, dips, peanut butter, and other delicious concoctions. You should check out their recipes on their website, they look so good!

We also want to thank our dear friends from Northern Utah Photo Booth, for providing the adorable photo booth and props at the event! They do a lot of weddings, parties, corporate events, family parties/reunions, and school dances! They can also personalize the background of your photo strips to match the theme of your event. The photo booth had options to chose from black and white or color pictures. And it was so nice to get two copies of each strip! They were so great to work with and recommend them for your next party, wedding, or get together!

Here are some of our favorites photo booth pictures from the party.

Again, thanks everyone for spending your night with us. To learn more about My Recipe Magic and how you can earn some extra "dough" with your recipes, go to this post!

Get to Know Our Speaker: Laura from Real Mom Kitchen

2013-01-20T00:00:00.000-08:00

I knew absolutely knew nothing about blogging when I began my blog. I learned a lot on my own but also learned a lot from other bloggers. I can’t wait to be a part of the food blogging panel and share with you some of the things that I have learned along the way. If I had to narrow down what I would want to share with you, these would be my top 5 pieces of advice.

1. Continue learning new things – take a photography class, check out books about food styling, try a new cooking method. It’s always great to be constantly learning to help you come up with content and improve your site.

2. Get ads on your sites – no matter how big or small you are, get ads up on your blog. You can even just begin with Google ads. Then as you get more traffic, get with an ad network. There are many great ad networks out there for food sites. Many of them offer other opportunities to earn money as well.

3. Get an SLR camera – you can begin with a point and shoot. Many point and shoot cameras can take great pictures and are a great starting point. However, getting an SLR will help take your blog to the next level. There is definitely a learning curve and some learn faster than others, but it is an investment that is well worth it.

4. Ask – it never hurts to ask another blogger about something. Most of us are willing to help. You can also find other opportunities by just asking. The worst thing anyone can say to you is no.

5. Take a break – you can get burned out, even though it is something you are passionate about. So take a break when you need to in order to recharge and get back into what you love.

We asked a couple questions about blogging and her. Read by getting to know her!

1. Why do you start a blog?

I started mine as an outlet during a stressful time. My husband lost his job and I needed something to take my mind off what we were going through. It was what helped keep me going.

2. How long have you been blogging? Since April 2008

3. Who is your inspiration?

I get inspiration from a lot of places. My main inspiration, the person who inspired me to begin my blog, was Mel from Mel’s Kitchen. I also get inspiration from other bloggers like Pioneer Woman along with celebrities like Paula Deen, Trisha Yearwood, and Bobby Flay.

4. Hobbies other than blogging?

I love to read, travel, and dance.

5. What is one thing you wish you had know when you started your blog?

I wish I had known more about photography. Then I could have began with better looking photographs.

6. Who is your celebrity crush?

Matt Boomer would be may latest celebrity crush. I love to watch him in White Collar.

Laura is hosting a giveaway on her website for a ticket to the Build Your Blog Conference! The giveaway ends January 24th. Make sure you enter because we would love for you to come!

My Recipe Magic Launch Party!

2013-01-15T08:11:00.003-08:00

UTAH READERS: The Sisters' are so excited about the success that they have seen with their new website My Recipe Magic they want to celebrate! Join them at The Gathering Place at Gardner Village in South Jordan this Thursday from 7-9 pm for a fun night of giveaways (including a BlendTec blender!), a delicious crepe bar, a photo booth, and learn how to use their new site to make some money. Seating is limited and attend you need to RSVP! Bring your friends, sisters, moms and be ready to party!

RSVP to Courtney at BuildYourBlogConference@gmail.com.

Get to Know Our Speakers: Maria from Two Peas and Their Pod

2013-01-13T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hi, it's Maria from Two Peas and Their Pod. My husband, Josh, and I have been blogging for almost 5 years. We share a love of cooking, baking, and entertaining. We enjoy creating recipes that are simple, fresh, and family friendly. I have an obsession with cookies-we have almost 200 cookie recipes on our blog. We also have two cookie eBooks-Cookie Cravings and Holiday Cookie Cravings. I always save room for dessert when cookies are involved. We also blog about travel, our little pea, and our daily lives. Come visit us at Two Peas and Their Pod, our kitchen is always open!

I am super excited for BYOB Conference! I will be speaking on the Food Blogging Panel and on How to Write, Publish, and Market an eBook.

Our blog started by accident, so I have learned a lot about food blogging. I had no idea I had to create recipes AND be a writer, photographer, food stylist, SEO guru, CEO, etc. Blogging is a lot of work, but it is so rewarding. I quit my "day job" to become a full-time food blogger almost 3 years ago and have loved every second. I love the food blogging community, our readers, and working in my pj's:)

At the conference, I will talk about finding your niche, making your site user friendly, SEO, food photography and styling, recipe development, working with brands, increasing blog traffic, writing an eBook, etc. Bring your questions, because I am ready to answer them! And if you want to talk about cookies, that is A-OK with me:)

Can't wait to meet you at BYOB Conference!

1. Why did you start a blog?

We started our food blog by accident. My husband and I catered our own wedding. After the wedding, our friends and family wanted some of the recipes. My husband had a blog where he posted about snowboarding, hiking, mountain biking, etc. so I decided to post the recipes on his blog. Family and friends loved the recipes and asked us to post more, since we did a lot of cooking and baking together. Soon, strangers were visiting the blog, so we decided to make it an "official" food blog.

2. How long have you been blogging?

4 1/2 years

3. Who is your inspiration?

My dad. He taught me how to bake and cook when I was young and has always been a great role model.

4. Hobbies other than blogging?

I enjoy baking and cooking (obviously), traveling, reading, and exercising.

5. What is one thing you wish you had know when you started your blog?

I didn't really plan on blogging so everything was new to me. I've learned so much. I wish I would have started on WordPress.

6. Who is your celebrity crush?

Taylor Kitsch, also known as Tim Riggins, from Friday Night Lights. I am obsessed.

Make sure to register for the

Build Your Blog Conference

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Salt Lake City, Utah

Build Your Blog Giveaway on Today's Creative Blog

2013-01-11T14:45:00.001-08:00

Our friend Kim from Today's Creative Blog is hosting a giveaway for a ticket to our conference! Make sure you enter because it's going to be so much fun.

Stay in touch with us through here, our FB page, and on Twitter because we have more ticket giveaways scheduled in the next few weeks!

Get to Know Our Speakers: Nat and Holly from My Sister's Suitcase

2013-01-08T07:56:00.001-08:00

Hey guys! We're Nat and Holly, from My Sister's Suitcase. We are super excited to be a part of the Build Your Blog Conference and can't wait to talk to you about what we have learned in our first year of blogging. We're not experts by any means, but we want to share what we've learned along the way in hopes that it will help other new bloggers out there.

As we have looked back on the past year, we've realized a few things... 1. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into :) 2. It has been an AMAZING experience 3. It is a lot of WORK. Being a creative blogger is HARD. But it's worth it. And despite all of the things we'd like to improve, we LOVE our blog! We feel like proud mamas....

Speaking of mamas, we're guessing every mom reading this post has heard of {or owns a copy} of this book:

It pretty much answers every question you'll have as a new parent. Don't you wish they had a guide like this for brand new bloggers?? Today we are going to give you a little sneak peek of our class and share a few things we wish we had known when we started out on this adventure.

1. The first year is HARD! One of our favorite bloggers once told us that we would have to work really hard the first 1-2 years without much in return... but that if we just stick with it, it would be worth it. We have truly put our hearts and souls into our blog, and tried not to expect anything in return. We create because we love it, and we share what we create it because it makes us happy. That still doesn't mean it is easy! Everyone has different goals for their own blog, but in order to achieve any goal, you have to WORK for it.

2. Just like new moms, as new bloggers we were SLEEP DEPRIVED!! Haha, you know you can relate! {As full-time mamas during the day, we try to do most of our photo editing, posting, and social media at night.} At first we struggled to find a balance between our blog, our families, and taking care of ourselves, but we've learned a few things along the way that have really helped. {Come to our class to find out!}

3. Don't compare your "baby" to anyone else's. It's hard not to look around at the other blogs we read and start comparing ourselves {and let's face it, it is really easy to feel inadequate!} But we can't get caught up in that! Celebrate what makes your blog unique. Do what works for YOU. Be grateful for each new experience as it comes, and try to be content with where you are TODAY. Trust the journey, and enjoy each step along the way.

4. Find your support group. One of the most challenging things about being a new blogger is trying to go through it alone. So don't do it! Reach out to others in the blogging community and be supportive. Leave genuine comments, thank your party hostesses, promote other bloggers in social media, build meaningful relationships. We promise you will find some of your very best friends! And as you create these friendships, opportunities will come that will benefit your blog too.

5. Get outside your comfort zone! {And we're not talking about getting out of your PJs and slippers, but actually getting dressed.} You have to be willing to put yourself out there and get noticed! We will share some of the things we have done that have resulted in some awesome opportunities for us.

We hope you guys will join us as we share what has helped our blog to grow over the past year. We're keepin' it real! We'll tell you the good, the bad and the ugly of what we've gone through, in hopes that you can make your blog a little better, and enjoy it a little more :)

{Oh, and there may just be a freakin' hilarious video involved that you won't want to miss!} See you next month!!

We asked Nat and Holly some question so we could get to know them:

1. Why did you start your blog?

Well, I pretty much talked Nat into it, haha! We followed several blogs that we loved, and kept talking to each other about all the projects we were working on and kept thinking... hey, we could do that! I had recently moved to Idaho and missed seeing My Sis all the time! This was a perfect way for us to have something we could do together, long distance. {And we love having an excuse to travel and meet up at blog events for some kid-free sister time!!}

2. How long have you been blogging?

Just over a year... our first blog post was in September of 2011, but we really didn't get things going until January of 2012.

3. Who is your inspiration?

Nat, my sis! I wish I had the design talent she has. Someday I'll hire her to decorate my space. (When I can afford her...

4. Hobbies other than blogging?

IS there anything else? Nat: I like to cook if someone else buys all the groceries and does all the cleanup :) I love reading children's books and want to write a preschool curriculum someday. Holly: I love to design and bring an unexpected element to the spaces in our home. I'm pretty thrifty {though I'm sure my husband would disagree!} I get a thrill from finding something really cheap or old, and making it into something beautiful. One of my favorite things to do is sing with Nat.

5. What is one thing you wish you had know when you started your blog?

That you don't HAVE to do it the way everyone else does. Posting once a week is not the end of the world and family comes first.

6. Who is your celebrity crush?

Nat: None other than cutie-pa-tootie Zac Efron! Have you seen The Lucky One? Ahh!

Holly: I have to say Jon Hamm. I'm a sucker for an advertising executive in a suit :)

Pick Your Plum Giveaway

2013-01-06T19:17:00.000-08:00

Thanks to our good friends over at Pick Your Plum, we're hosting a giveaway on our Facebook page! The giveaway is for a box full of Pick Your Plum goodies and retails for $75! The giveaway starts tonight at midnight and will end Monday January 7th at midnight. To enter go to our Facebook page and click on the "Giveaway" tab. If you're on a mobile, to enter to go this link. Good luck!

Get to Know Our Speakers Series: Nikki from Chef-In-Training

2012-12-31T00:00:00.000-08:00

My name is Nikki and I blog over at Chef in Training. I am a stay at home mom of 2 cute kids; a sassy cute little 3-year-old girl and a darling and charming little 18-month-old boy. They say and do some of the funniest things and I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to be at home with them. They are my little buddies. I am married best friend and the love of my life. I have a passion for cooking, baking and photography.

By my blog's name, you can probably guess I blog about all things food and food related. From breakfast to dinner, from snacks to appetizers, sauces and beverages... you can find just about anything you are looking for. At Build Your Blog Conference I will be talking more about food blogging and how I turned my hobby of cooking and baking into a business. I will be part of a Q&A panel and happy to answer any questions you have about food blogging and how to be successful at it.

1. Why did you start a blog?

I started my blog about 3 years ago as a way to share recipes with my friends and family. I was a new stay-at-home mom looking for a fun hobby and found a love for being and creating in my kitchen. My blog was an easy way for any of my friends and family to view the recipes. I had originally emailed the recipes out upon request, but it got time consuming. Soon after starting my blog, it snowballed into something much greater than I had first imagined and I started to sees traffic from all sorts of places and people I didn't know personally. It has now turned into a business that I am able to do in the comfort of my own home and has been such a blessing for my family.

2. How long have you been blogging?

almost 3 years

3. Who is your inspiration?

When it comes to creating in my kitchen, my mom is who inspires me. She is the best cook/baker I know. In jr. high and high school, friends would come over to my house just for my mom's cooking. She was famous :) She can go out to eat, and if she likes something, she is a pro at recreating it all on her own at home. She really knows her stuff.

4. Hobbies other than blogging?

Of course being with my family. They are my favorite people. I also enjoy sports, especially soccer. I LOVE to travel and hope to be able to do more of it one day as my kids get older. I also enjoy photography. I still have a lot to learn but the journey has been so much fun.

5. What is one thing you wish you had know when you started your blog?

I wish I would have known how to take a good picture. My early pictures on my blog (because I was only intending to share them with my family and friends) were absolutely terrible. Honestly, I laugh at them sometimes and cringe at them other times. Taking good pictures is an important part of blogging. They are one of the ways that help set you apart from other blogs out there.

6. Who is your celebrity crush?

I have two. Hugh Jackman... He is like the man of men. He is just so handsome.

The other would be Ryan Renolds. He is definitely more pretty boy but still so attractive.

I am SO excited to meet all of you at Build Your Blog Conference! Until then, you can find me at Chef in Training and come follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter to keep up updated on my latest posts.

Make sure to register for the

Build Your Blog Conference

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Salt Lake City, Utah

Make sure you register TODAY to save $49 when you register.

(Price increases to $149 after December 31, 2012)

Get to Know our Speakers Series: Lindsay from Artsy Fartsy Mama

2012-12-24T00:00:00.000-08:00

This week we're highlighting Lindsay from Artsy Fartsy Mama. She will be one of our speakers at the Build Your Blog Conference and will be talking about, "Blog Design 101: How to make your blog look amazing!"

I'm Lindsay and I am a lover of all things creative! Designing is one of my passions, as well as being creative in my daily life. I blog over at Artsy Fartsy Mama, where I share all of my crafts, recipes, printables, and more. I'm also a graphic designer at Happy Potamus Designs, and work from home designing blogs, business cards, invitations/announcements, and more!

I'm so excited to be speaking at Build Your Blog Conference in just a few short months! I'm going to be sharing some tips and tricks on how to make your blog look amazing. Today I'm going to share a few basic tips to think about that can really make a difference. Your blog is your brand. You want to be memorable - and for all the right reasons.

There is the old saying, "Don't judge a book by it's cover." While that may be good advice, we still judge books by their covers all the time. The same goes for your blog. You might not realize it, but your blog's first impression can have the effect on others to decide whether to stay or move on. It's important that your blog design looks inviting, but it also needs to be functional and user-friendly. If your readers can easily read your posts and find what they're looking for, it's more likely they are going to come back.

Whether you hire a designer or do it yourself, there are things you need to think about when putting your blog design together:

1. Choose Fonts Carefully

A good rule of design is to not use more than three fonts. I know there are so many good ones to pick from... but try to narrow it down. One main, maybe more flashy font for your header or title, one for titles, and one for text. The titles can even be a bolder version of the text font. Also keep in mind what your blog is about. You probably wouldn't want to use a construction-type font if you were blogging about flower arrangements.

Also, try to not make everything a display font. Mix up display fonts (cursives, fun/flashy, handwriting, etc) with more simple fonts (Century Gothic, Arial, etc) so that the eye isn't fighting to find what it needs to read first. Too many things going on make your blog distracting and hard to read. Keep things simple.

2. Choose Colors Carefully

Another good design rule is to try to keep your color scheme down to 3-4 colors at the most. Just like fonts, too many colors can be distracting. If you aren't sure what colors go together, one of my favorite sites for color inspiration is Design-Seeds. Also think about what colors would go with your brand. You wouldn't expect to see a pink, girly background on a blog for power tools (unless they are girly power tools, I guess!).

3. Make It Your Own

Like I said before, your blog is your brand. You want to be memorable, and have a logo that goes with your blog niche. You also want something that represents YOU. It's YOUR blog. Don't let the patterns and colors that are popular for the moment make the decisions for you on your design style. Nothing wrong with using them if you really love them, but don't feel like you have to just to make your blog fit in. Your content is really the star, but it's nice to bring it all together in a consistent and clean design.

I will recommend to bloggers I work with on their design to make a Pinterest board dedicated to pinning images from blogs that they are inspired by design-wise. Take a look at your favorite blogs and note what you like about their designs (social icons, great header, fonts, colors, etc), and soon you will have inspiration to work from to make a design that's all your own and something that you love.

4. "Above the Fold"

Did you know that you have about 2 seconds to convince someone to stay on your blog? That's an incredibly short amount of time to try to impress someone to stick around. If you haven't heard about the phrase, "Above the Fold", that means when you first open your blog, everything you see before scrolling down is above the "fold'.

It's important to keep your most important information above that line. For example, make sure your page titles (including an "about me" page) are visible, your social icons, and a way to contact you. You might want to consider adding a page with links to your favorite or popular posts, or add in a recent/popular posts gadget to show what you've been working on.

5. Use Photos

A photo can say 1,000 words. Make sure it says how awesome you are! Keep your post photo sizes consistent in size and try to edit your photos the best you can (don't forget to add a "watermark"). There are a lot of photo taking and editing tips out there, so keep practicing!

I really like being able to put a face with the blog name. Make a "welcome" or a shortened "about me" section in your sidebar with a photo. It makes your blog seem a little more personal and readers can get to know you better.

Hopefully these tips have helped a little in getting your blog looking even more amazing!

See you at Build Your Blog Conference!

We asked Lindsay some questions so you could get to know her better:

1. Why did you start a blog?

I started blogging when I was a new mom. We were living in a smaller apartment and didn't have much money. So, I started making decor for our house and crafting to save money. I was keeping up with my graphic design blog and business, Happy Potamus Designs; to show what I was working on, so why not do that with my crafting, too? Because of that, Artsy-Fartsy Mama was born!

2. How long have you been blogging?

I started Artsy-Fartsy Mama in March 2011, so almost two years already!

3. Who is your inspiration?

One of the first craft blogs I ever started following was Jen from Craft-O-Maniac. She is so talented and comes up with so many fun ideas. I just love her! She inspires me to be more creative and use everyday things to make something beautiful.

4. Hobbies other than blogging?

I absolutely love designing. It makes me so happy to make something wonderful for someone else, especially when I get the design looking better than they ever expected. Besides designing, I love covering things (everything, actually) in glitter, painting, and thinking of new ideas for my monthly craft classes. I also love being with my family and going on fun dates with my awesome husband.

5. What is one thing you wish you had known when you started your blog?

How much work it really can be. I do love it, don't get me wrong. Blogging can just take up SO much time. It's a lifestyle for me. I'm always thinking of what my next project will be, then comes the work of executing the project (while taking pictures the whole time), and then prepping posts to publish. I wouldn't change this for the world. I love how many opportunities blogging has brought me, and not to mention all the amazing people I wouldn't have met otherwise.

6. Who is your celebrity crush?

After much thought, I've settled on Bruce Willis. I think it's hilarious (and pretty awesome) that after visiting the Madame Tussaud's wax museum in California, my husband looks a lot like him!!

Make sure to register for the

Build Your Blog Conference

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Salt Lake City, Utah

Now until the end of the month, you can save $49 when you register. The gift of knowledge, networking, and having a ton of fun is the best Christmas present!

(Price increases to $149 after December 31, 2012)

Get to Know Our Speakers Series: Nisha from The Dating Divas and Healthy Mom's Kitchen

2012-12-19T15:54:00.002-08:00

Did you know we have 9 more weeks until the Build Your Blog Conference? We're so excited because we have AWESOME speakers who will be speaking at the conference. Every week leading up to the conference we will be highlighting one of our speakers, we like to call it the "Get to Know Our Speakers Series." We want you to get to know our speakers and get a sneak peek into what she'll be talking about at the conference. This week we're featuring Nisha from Healthy Mom's Kitchen and The Dating Divas.

Hello everyone, this is Nisha from Healthy Mom's Kitchen and The Dating Divas. I'm looking forward to meet all of you who will be coming to the conference. I promise you it will be a day you won't want to miss out on! I'll be speaking about the "The Ins-and-Outs of Blog Marketing and Business." During our time together, you'll learn how to create a loyal following that will support you in creating multiple streams of income (your blog being one of them). This class is great for those men and women who enjoy their blog, but see it as a piece to the bigger picture of how they'll make a difference in this world. You may be the person that doesn't get excited about the idea of racing after tons of traffic, but would rather create a smaller community of readers that you get to know well. Get ready to think outside the box!

We asked Nisha some questions about herself:

1. Why did you start blogging?

I started my blog, Healthy Mom's Kitchen to support mothers on a weight release journey, but struggling to do so in a family friendly way. I was in the business of coaching women through this journey and our groups would meet weekly, in person. I could see that these moms were overwhelmed and needed a virtual resource for family-friendly meals that would help them burn fat naturally. It was at that time that I decided to jump into blogging to create that support piece for my clients.

2. How long have you been blogging?

I was a casual blogger on my personal family blog since our daughter was born 6 years ago and since then have blogged for a number of companies.

3. Who is your inspiration?

Oh....that would be a huge list. I'm a bit of a "self-help junkie" and read lots of books, hire business coaches, and follow many inspiring people. Some of my all-time favorites are Immaculee Ilibagiza, Jack Canfield, and Tiffany Peterson.

4. Hobbies other than blogging?

Zumba, running with friends, game nights, and hanging out with my family.

5. What is one thing you wish you had know when you started your blog?

That it's okay to get paid for blogging and in fact, it's encouraged! I can't tell you how frustrating it was for me to go to blog conferences in those early days of trying to learn the ropes and hearing over and over "don't blog for money!" I get it - some people were selling out, so to speak, but I think it created a confused culture for a while because within a few years, you heard just the opposite - "don't blog for free!". I wish in the beginning, standards would have been really clear about how to treat your blog as an integral piece to a bigger business - one that was profitable!

6. Who is your celebrity crush?

I'd say Paul Walker, he's pretty hot!

Make sure to register for the

Build Your Blog Conference

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Salt Lake City, Utah

Now until the end of the month, you can save $49 when you register. The gift of knowledge, networking, and having a ton of fun is the best Christmas present!

(Price increases to $149 after December 31, 2012)

Day of Remembrance

2012-12-16T00:00:00.000-08:00

If you want to help the victims of Newtown, go to this link that lists several ways you can help.