Adsense was the very first way I monetized this blog, and to this day it is still my number 1 source of income from it.  I have partnered with some sponsored content and made some affiliate sales, but by and large Google Adsense ads bring me the most money consistently.

Despite the fact that I had quit blogging here for around a year in 2015/16, my adsense revenue had remained steady thanks to Pinterest and search engines continuing to bring visitors to the site.

But it kind of topped out and averaged just under $20 a week.  I had accepted this as the amount I would continue to get unless I could write more and garner even more traffic.

Then in late September of this year, my traffic took a significant hit when I removed one of my most popular posts from the site.  (Long story short, a blog didn’t like the way I was referring to their content so out of respect for them I took it down)

I became worried that my loss of traffic would significantly impact my single most lucrative and reliable source of revenue on this blog: Adsense.

So I read about ad optimization with renewed vigor, determined to garner every extra cent I could despite my traffic decline.

In my reading I came across one idea that, once implemented here, instantly boosted my adsense revenue by well over 50%. In fact, if you compare it solely to the week before I tried this method, it increased my revenue by 300%!

This graph below is my all time weekly adsense income.  As you can see, the highest I ever earned was about $24/week.  But 2 weeks ago, I made one simple change and the results are circled in red below.

Quite a leap right? Especially considering my traffic has nearly halved in the last month or so…

So, I get that I’m totally dragging this out…

The one simple change I made to increase my adsense revenue dramatically despite a huge downturn in traffic was to:

Add in-post ads.

Specifically: one at the beginning of every post.  One in the middle and one at the end.

Previously I had been relying on side-bar ads as well as the occasional header ad, depending on what theme I was using at the time.  When I first implemented these ads.  Google still had their ‘no more than 3 ads’ rule in place. And I hadn’t revisited them much since.

Now, Google has ended this restriction to the number of ads you can have on your site.  And I could add these in post ads without getting rid of my other adsense ads.

The reason these new in post ads created such a significant increase for my revenue is not simply because of more ad quantity. Studies have shown that in-post ads perform significantly better than sidebar ads.

And, the single most lucrative position for your Adsense ad is directly above your post content.

So there you have it, exactly how I increased my Adsense revenue with one simple change.  To get my ads into my posts I used the plugin: Wp Insert.  There are several great WordPress plugins out there that also do the same thing. Check them out!

Well, did you already know this simple trick? Or if not, are you going to go put some in-post ads in now?

The post How I Increased my Adsense Revenue by 50% appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

Just as clarification, this tutorial is not necessarily for someone looking to put up a quick site with information for their own wedding.  This is for someone who either has a wedding business to promote or someone who is looking to start a wedding blog as a means to make money online.

Wedding blogs have evolved over the past 10 years and it’s more important now than ever that you start your blog with a solid foundation if you want to appeal to today’s brides. And never forget, the real key to wedding blog success is taking action. You can read about how to all day long, but your blog will only experience success when you do it.

This guide will cover everything you need to know to successfully start a wedding blog yourself, we’ll start with the more technical set-up side of things and end with some actionable wedding-related blog advice.

Start a Wedding Blog

Step 0 – Have a Direction
Step 1 – Choose a Platform
Step 2 – Pick out and Register a Domain Name
Step 3 – Pick a Blog Host and Set Up WordPress
Step 4 – Wordpress Dashboard Basics
Step 5 – Choose a Theme
Step 6 – Customize Your Wedding Blog
Step 7 – Build out Your Site
Step 8 – Create an Email Funnel
Step 9 – Create Key Social Media Accounts
Step 10 – Content Creation
Step 11 – Promoting your Content
Step 12 – Monetize Your Site

This page contains affiliate links meaning we earn a commission if you use those links. We only recommend brands we use and trust.

Step 0 – Have a Direction

Just by reading this guide you are going to be leaps and bounds ahead of how I started, directionless, stabbing blindly at this whole blogging thing. One of the first things you should understand before you start a wedding blog is the direction or niche that will define your site.

If you already have a wedding business and sell products or services, chances are you can already define the direction/niche/audience that you will be focusing on.  But, if you don’t have this prior business/brand in place, you need to brainstorm what will define your wedding blog.

For example, my site DIY blooms has a very specific target niche of DIY wedding flowers. Other ideas for directions are: elopement weddings, local weddings, resources for bridesmaids, budget weddings, wedding crafts… there are endless possibilities!

But, what if you don’t want to limit yourself to one of those specific topics? Do you have to be a specific niche wedding blog? While this would make it easier to get recognized as an expert, it is not necessary.

You can have a more general wedding blog, but make sure that you have a consistent brand or vibe.  Readers should able to read your posts, see your pictures, and know oh that is such and such blog! Develop a message and let it be communicated in every aspect of your site.

Step 1 – Choose a Platform

When choosing what platform to host your wedding blog on, it’s important to differentiate from free and paid platforms. WordPress.com and Blogger are two common free blog platforms while WordPress.org and Squarespace are two common paid blog platforms.  Let’s look at the difference between these below:

Free Blog Platforms

• No start-up costs
• Fairly simple to set up and maintain without any website design knowledge
• Your domain will include the platform in it (for example www.mysite.wordpress.com)
• There are limited customization options for your blog design
• You’ll have limited control over your blog and its capabilities
• There is limited bandwidth, video time, and memory space
• They offer limited advertising options

Paid Blog Platforms

• You’ll pay a monthly or annual fee (usually less than $10/month)
• They are more involved/complicated with set-up and maintenance
• You have full control over your site’s content, layout, SEO, advertising, design, etc.
• Custom themes are available for instant branding
• You will have total access to your site’s backend files

While it may be tempting to say, I’ll just start my wedding blog on the free platform for now, the free options definitely have some major drawbacks. If you want any level of control over your blog, its design, and its content, I would suggest you start out right with a platform like WordPress.org. It is really the industry standard and has endless customization and add-on options for whatever the future of your wedding site may be.

Step 2: Pick out and Register a Domain Name

You may or may not already have a name for your site picked out.  If you don’t, spend some time considering what you want your wedding blog to be called.  You want this to be something memorable that conveys meaning about your site’s content.

It’s important to consider if the “.com” url is available. I like Bust a Name to help you come up with word combinations for your site name that aren’t taken. At this site you can type in keywords related to what you will be blogging about in the wedding industry and it will come up with available combinations using those words. Having trouble finding word combos you like?  This list of wedding associated words is a great place to start.

Consider these Domain Name Best Practices

• Use “.com” whenever possible
• Stick with letters only (numbers and hyphens will confuse people)
• Keep your domain memorable and short

Once you’ve settled on a domain name for your wedding blog, it’s time to register it.  Typically this costs $9-$15 per year. It’s a good idea to buy your domain name from a different provider than your host, this is an industry best practice and prevents all your eggs from sitting in one basket so to speak.  NameCheap.com is one of the most affordable registrars and they also offer free services like URL forwarding and email. They will work with any of the domain hosts we will talk about below.

Before we get into hosting your site, go ahead and register your domain!

Step 3 – Pick a Blog Host and Set Up WordPress

Now that you’ve secured your domain name, it’s time to purchase hosting for your new wedding blog.  This is where all of your blog files will reside and be made available to view on servers owned by your hosting company.

Getting good hosting for your blog is very important, essentially it’s where your entire site will ‘live.’ And if your hosting is poor, your site may go down from time to time which you definitely don’t want.  You want to purchase hosting from a company that has reliable servers and excellent customer service.

I recommend Host Gator; this is the host I use on both my sites and I’ve only had great experiences with their server reliability and customer support.  If I ever have questions or an issue I’ve gotten help very promptly.

How to Set Up with Hostgator

Select a plan with HostGator. 

I started out with the hatchling plan (which is super affordable) and upgraded when I created my second site. HostGator web hosting plans are extremely affordable. They are as low as $3.96 per month. And actually right now, you get hosting for just one cent for your first month! Use Coupon: 1CENT.

When you use the HostGator Order Wizard, you will enter the domain that purchased in the last step then confirm your plan and payment type. Next, make your username and password, then enter your billing information.I typically buy 3 year long plans because you save the most money.  If you plan on blogging for at least that long then I would recommend you get as long of a plan as you are comfortable buying upfront, because it is a significant savings.

Connect your Domain to your Host. 

Now you’ll need to connect your domain to your host. If you purchased through NameCheap.com and are hosting through Host Gator, these are the steps you’ll take:  In your NameCheap dashboard select your domain name and then click “Domain Name Server Setup” under general.

Next, get your Hostgator name server details either from your welcome email, or by logging in to your cPanel account: on the left hand side you will see the Nameserver associated with your Hostgator account.Copy and paste this into your NameCheap dashboard and you are good to go! This video below also gives detailed steps on how to connect your domain and host:

It’s important to note that it can take up to 24 hours for your host to sync up with your domain name, so don’t freak out if it isn’t working right away!

Set up Wordpress in Host Gator. 

After purchasing hosting from Host Gator you should receive an email with account information. Follow the instructions to log in to your account and click the link to your Control Panel (or cPanel).Inside your cPanel, scroll to Software/Services and select Quick Install. This allows you install WordPress onto your site (the platform that allows you to create your site content).  And don’t worry, it’s free to install!

Select WordPress and click continue.  Select your domain and enter your email, site title, and admin user information. Then select Install Now. Once it finishes it will show you your link to the admin site along with your username and password, make sure to save these for later use.

Log In to your Admin Site. 

Use the information provided in the last step to log into your WordPress dashboard. And, you’re in! Now we’re finished with a lot of the more tech-y set-up, and we can dive into your admin site and actually creating your wedding blog!

Step 4 – WordPress Dashboard Basics

The WordPress dashboard is where you’ll be doing all the content creation for your site. At the first the options can seem overwhelming, but you’ll become very familiar with it as you begin writing and publishing blog posts.

Let’s just go over a few basics about getting started with your WordPress dashboard. These will set you up for WordPress success:

• Navigate to Settings, and then Permalinks and select your structure now before you post anything. (I prefer Post Name)
• Go to your Posts page. This is where you’ll write and publish your blog posts
• Check out the Pages page; here you’ll create pages for your site. (Like an About page, Suggested Vendors, or a Contact Me page) While posts are dated and show up in a blog feed, pages are undated and don’t show up in the blog feed. They are often linked in a main menu.
• If you want to get even more familiar with the dashboard, check out WordPress.tv’s walkthrough video
• Finally, go to your plugins page.  There are a few essential plugins that you’ll want to activate now (we’ll discuss a few others later including ones specifically for wedding bloggers)

WordPress Plugins

Akismet. This plugin reduces spam comments.

Yoast SEO. This plugin helps you optimize your site and posts to be ranked well in search engines; it’s the standard for WordPress SEO plugins.

W3 Total Cache. This plugin “caches” your site to help it load faster (nobody wants to visit a slow loading site! Its settings can be complicated so make sure and ask your host how they recommend you set it up.

Jetpack. This plugin is created by WordPress and services a multitude of purposes for your site. I especially find it useful for the in-dashboard site traffic statistics.

Step 5 – Choose a Theme

Finally we’re getting to the fun part! Getting a pretty design for your wedding blog.  Design and aesthetic can really make it or break it when you start a wedding blog because the wedding industry is so visual. So at this point, you’ve paid for a domain name, you’ve purchased a hosting plan, and the next thing you should invest in for your wedding blog is a WordPress blog theme.

Now, there are tons of free options out there that you should feel free to explore! But, as we just discussed, your blog design is so instrumental in your wedding blog’s success, I highly recommend investing a few dollars into a theme that uniquely represents your site’s brand. That way you can install it and instantly have a beautiful site ready for your wedding related content.

My all time favorite theme provider is Bluchic because each of their themes is gorgeously designed with a feminine aesthetic.  Most wedding blogs appeal mainly to women, and as such they often sport feminine designs that attract brides. It can be hard to add that ‘femininity’ to a gender neutral design which is why I recommend that wedding bloggers pick a theme that comes with feminine appeal.

Definitely purchase your theme from a reputable site to make sure you are getting a quality theme that is supported with updates and options for customization.  A few other place you can look for your perfect wedding related themes are:  Angie Makes, Restored 316, and Pretty Darn Cute Designs.  (Those last two both require you to buy the Genesis Framework to run their themes)

When deciding on a theme to purchase, pay close attention to the layout and overall structure of the theme.  Things like colors, logos, and pictures can all be changed, but you want to make sure that you find a layout that fits your blog’s needs.

Questions to Ask Before you Buy a Theme

1. Do I need it to have e-commerce integration?
2. Does it allow me to have the layout I prefer? (gallery style posts, right or left sidebar, full size images)
3. Is it a good aesthetic fit for my blog’s content?
4. Does it encourage visitors to go to my most important pages? (blog, or services, or start here page)
5. Is the theme fully responsive? (will it look good on any screen size)
6. What will I want to change about it (colors, logo, fonts, etc.), and are there simple customization options?
7. Is it Search Engine Optimized?
8. Is support readily available?

Hopefully at this point you’ve done some browsing and considering and you’ve picked out your perfect wedding blog theme. Now it’s time to install it into your WordPress dashboard and activate it on your site.

Step 6 – Customize Your Wedding Blog

The first place you’ll want to start is your WordPress Customizer (in the left hand menu select Customizer under Appearance).  This allows you to view and edit your site as you change it. Depending on the theme you bought your Customizer will have different options available for your blog’s customization.

At this point you have a name for your blog and a theme. Now, you’re going to want to pick out some branding elements for your site. These things need to reflect your overall brand aesthetic and message.  Let’s talk about a few of these branding items:

Logos

While you can use the built in site title made of text on your WordPress site, I would recommend getting or making a logo to set your site apart.  This should be something that identifies with your target reader. It’s good to note, that in the past few years I’ve seen wedding blogs largely redoing their logos and opting for clean lines and simplicity.  I think this is the design aesthetic direction that the internet is going, and as such will appeal to more brides.

Let’s look at some great wedding logos and how they appeal to the audience they are writing to:

Green Wedding Shoes has an eye catching, easy to read logo, with whimsical hand lettering and a heart. They include their tagline on either side of the main logo to provide clarity to the reader on what the site is all about. (Note: if your blog name doesn’t clearly explain to visitors what your site is about, it’s generally a good idea to add a tagline.)

Grey Likes Weddings‘ logo is one of the few that has retained more graphic design elements. This logo introduces the writer or personality of the blog (Grey) and incorporates the blogs passion for detail and colorful wedding palettes.

DIY Blooms (my second site) sports a clean and simple logo that incorporates the title of the blog (which explains what the site is about: DIY wedding flowers) and a little font fun that complements the brand message and style.

I like Black Sheep Bride’s logo because it incorporates several important elements: it has a memorable icon/image (the black sheep), it uses contrasting colors and fonts, and it clearly explains the message of the blog in a tagline.

Hopefully looking at some of these wedding blog logo examples you have a better idea of what is important for your logo.  You can either purchase a pre-made logo and get your name/tagline inserted, get a custom designed logo, or make your own.

If you go the DIY route and design your own logo, I highly recommend you check out these tips from BetterBrandingCourse.com on making your own blog logo.

Want a professional looking logo without paying tons of money for a custom design? Pre-made logos can be a great option. Angie Makes offers a variety of feminine wedding-ready logos you can check out.

Once you’ve settled on a logo, upload it to your site’s header using the customizer.

Brand Colors

When customizing your site design, you may want to change the theme’s colors to match your new logo and brand.  Try to stick with 2-3 main colors that really say “your brand”. It’s ok to incorporate others colors, but you want your site to be associated with several colors and easily recognizable.

Once you’ve picked out your brand colors that complement your logo, update your blog to incorporate them in the Customizer.

Step 7 – Build out Your Site

Now it’s time to add some content to your site. Before you start publishing blog posts, you need to have some basic pages built out so that visitors of your site can better understand you and your site’s purpose.

An About Me Page

Studies have shown time and again that the most visited page of a blog’s site is their About Me page. Brides want to see behind the veil (pun intended!), and get to know you, the author. Take your time in creating this and make it engaging, informative and fun.  And remember it should be 20% about you and 80% about the blog’s message.

Not sure what to include? Check out Marianne’s 3 tips for an explosive about me page. Make sure and link this page in your main menu.

A Contact Page

It’s important that readers know how to get in touch with you and feel that you are accessible. You can use the free Typeform tool to create a simple form to embed onto your site. This is another page you’ll want to link in your main menu.

A Privacy/Comment/Disclosure Policy

It’s good to list the terms and conditions of your site to protect yourself and make sure your complying with disclosure laws.  If you ever plan on making money (like affiliate commissions) on your wedding blog, you need to have a page with a disclosure policy.  To see an example, check out Rustic Folk Wedding’s Disclosure and Policies. This doesn’t need to be linked in your main menu.

A Services/Products Page

If you already have a wedding business with products or services to sell, it’s important to set up a page dedicated to those things.  They should be presented in a clear, aesthetically pleasing manner and should be obvious to find in your main menu. The Stylish Dresser does a great job of illustrating this: you can see their Services page clearly in the menu, it has a nice design, and a call to action at the end.

Step 8 – Create an Email Funnel

Your most valuable asset in blogging is your email list.  Start your wedding blog right by creating a clear system to collect the email addresses of your visitors. You may wonder if an email list is really that important, can’t you just rely on social media?

The answer is no, first of all not all of your readers will see your social media posts.  Facebook filters most page posts from people’s feeds, Pinterest has new feed algorithms that judge whether or not your pins are relevant.  Your email list is something you can control and is the best tool to convert a one time visitor into a regular.

To start off, Mailchimp is a great option.  It is a free email service up to 2,000 subscribers, after that you’ll have to pay a monthly fee.  You can install Mailchimp for WordPress to integrate signup forms onto your blog.

In the past blogs would put up ‘Join our Newsletter’ to get email addresses on their list.  Today this is just not an effective way to capture visitors.  A great email funnel strategy is to offer a free opt-in upon subscribing, something with tons of value that a new visitor couldn’t refuse!

If you were a wedding planner, you could create an e-book: “Your complete guide to choosing Your Wedding Color Palette”.  On DIY Blooms, I offer a free Wedding Flower Planning Worksheet to build my email list. It is the first item seen on the home page and is always advertised in my sidebar.

Step 9 – Create Key Social Media Accounts

Go ahead and create social media accounts for your new blog.  I recommend starting on only 2 – 3 different platforms because social media can be a huge distraction for new bloggers. While social media can be important and help grow your blog, it is nowhere near as important as producing consistent quality content.

But, even though you shouldn’t focus too much energy on your social media accounts right now, it is a good idea to get your name registered so it’s always available for you to focus on later.

Step 10 – Content Creation

Now you have a blog, it is branded, set up to collect emails, and has key social media accounts set up. It’s time to actually start blogging. This is where the rubber hits the road and is the most crucial to your wedding blog’s success: value packed content creation.

In order to see success, you need to commit to posting quality content and often.  Figure out how many highly valuable posts you can write every week/month. Create a publishing schedule and stick to it.

It’s been said that Content is King, and this is so true of blog posts. When brides come to your site, you want to blow them away with excellent tips, resources, and information relevant to your blog’s niche. Try to err on the side of longer posts and to over-explain and over-inform.  Don’t get too caught up in getting everything perfectly polished, this will come with practice and the more you blog the more you will improve.

Tips on Creating Quality Content

Be helpful. It’s ok to share your story sometimes, but before you publish ask yourself: how is this helpful to my reader? Is this blog post useful?

Tell stories. If you had an experience that could resonate with someone or illustrates a point, share it and get your readers emotionally involved with the post.

Solve problems. Write posts that solves problems that brides have.  Being a problem-solver is one of the best ways to provide quality in your content.

Provide answers. Is there something that brides ask you frequently or that you were confused about as a bride? Write posts that provide answers to those questions.

Create eye-catching images. With the wedding industry being such a visual one, it is key that you include relevant, high quality images in your posts.

Use headlines to capture your audience. A headline will make or break your post and is often the determining factor if someone will read your post or not. Plan to invest some brainstorming into each post headline you write.

Longer is usually better. No one wants to click over to a post that they think will solve their problem and provide them answers, only to find out it is 300 words long and basically says nothing.  Don’t be afraid to put some real beef into your writing and build out your content. Often, more words translates to more value. (But don’t get caught writing fluff just for length)

Don’t get caught stumped for ideas on posts.  Spend an evening sitting down and writing out 100 blog post ideas.  Save them somewhere accessible and reference back to that list when creating your content publishing schedule. Need help getting your wheels turning? Check out these 33 foolproof wedding blog post ideas.

Step 11 – Promoting your Content

You’ve created a gorgeous wedding blog and have churned out some high-value blog posts. Now how do you get some eyes on it? In the beginning you should spend a majority of your efforts on content creation; only up to a quarter of your time should be focused on spreading the word. Here are a few effective ways to promote your content:

Build relationships with other wedding bloggers.

Find 5-10 bloggers who are slightly more established than you and who have a similar or complementary audience to yours. Then commit to building a relationship with them. You can do this respectfully by regularly reading their posts and commenting with genuine value-added replies and sharing their content on your social media accounts.

By doing these things the wedding blogger will start to notice and hopefully appreciate the support.  Over time they may be willing to return the favor, promote some of your posts on social media, or let you guest post on their blog.

Join a group.

You need to go where your audience is.  For wedding blogs this means joining brides-to-be Facebook groups, or creating an account on the Wedding Bee forums. Start being helpful, answering questions, and providing help.  Then start sharing your content in a useful way. This strategy works best if you can communicate authenticity and value.  Going around posting spammy links to your site isn’t going to get you very far.

Use Pinterest.

Many bloggers receive a majority of their traffic from Pinterest.  With a majority of brides using Pinterest these days to plan their weddings, it is a goldmine of opportunity for blog promotion. Make sure you include a pin-worthy graphic on every blog post.

Now you may not have a big Pinterest following in the beginning, but don’t let this discourage you.  Pinterest is also a giant search database, so include SEO keywords in your pin descriptions to make them searchable. Also, join up with wedding group boards to get your pins in front of more eyes.  Check out these top wedding group boards to join. (Each board describes how to join in the description)

Step 12 – Monetize Your Site

If you had a product or service to begin with then you are done with this step.  You are using your wedding blog to drive traffic and customers to your products and services.  But, if you start a wedding blog and don’t have either of these, there are a few ways you can get a return on your investment.

Ad Networks. 

Google Adsense is one of the most common and simple ways to get ads up on your site.  When it comes to earning ad revenue, usually high traffic is necessary to see any amount of revenue.

Affiliate Programs. 

Partner with your favorite brands and promote their products.  When a reader clicks your referral link and buys you get a commission off the sale. This route has a large potential for success if you can build trust with your readers. Especially as a wedding blog, brides are visiting your site with tens of thousands of dollars to spend on their big day.  They are interested in buying, you have to direct them to what.

Sponsored Posts.

Similar to the last option, a company pays you to write about their product.  Instead of being paid per sale though you are just paid once for the article you write and publish.  Think wedding planning apps that need to educate brides on their usefulness, or wedding dress lines that want buzz about their latest collection.

Selling Ad Spots. 

As your blog grows you may want to sell spots on your ads to advertisers or other sites.  Typically a good pricing strategy is X dollars per month, per ad, where X is your unique daily visitors divided by ten.

Selling Digital Products. 

This category is getting lots of buzz lately and for good reason.  It definitely requires the most work of all of the options, but has the most potential for earning. There are tons of digital products you can develop and sell: a bride’s complete planner book in pdf, wedding budget worksheets, bouquet recipe cards, DIY wedding planning course, and the list goes on… Be creative!

Summary

Well that was very lengthy! It is my hope that this outlines everything you need to start a wedding blog and promote your business or start earning money online. While it may seem pretty straightforward at first, blogging takes a lot of work, time, and creative commitment. You have to jump in and get your feet wet, and you’ll realize that it may be tough but it is totally within reach.

Have you started your own wedding blog?  Join the Wedding Blog Support Facebook Group to start building your network now. And happy blogging!

The post How to Start a Wedding Blog appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

BLOGGING RESOURCES

For graphic design…

Canva is by far my favorite graphic design software available.  First off, it’s FREE! And it comes with so many amazing features built in.  There are tons of free stock photos and graphics built in, you can even save your brand colors in there, make copies of a previous graphic you’ve made, and the list goes on!  Canva also comes with tons of templates for your blog like Pinterest optimized sizes with suggest layouts or Facebook cover photo headers.

Unsplash has tons of free (do whatever you want) high-resolution photos from different photographers.  They are all completely free of attribution requirements and ready to be added to your blog!

Pexels similarly has all photos free for any personal and commercial purpose. If I don’t find what I’m looking for on Unsplash I hop on over to Pexels and between the two I pretty much have all the stock photos I need.

BigStock is a great resource when you need some paid stock photos. I was working on a resource guide for DIY Blooms and I needed pictures of specific flowers I was explaining.  I got a great first month deal on this site and could download up to 5 images a day.  I cancelled the subscription once I finished the product, but I was very impressed with the variety of photos and graphics they had available and found them to have the most reasonable prices.

Creative Market is a great resource for bloggers because it is packed full of graphic design goodies! From fonts, to graphics, Photoshop presets, and WordPress themes, it has it all.  I visit there every single Monday morning to check out their weekly freebies.  I am currently hoarding anything that I think I may use in my Google Drive for the future.

For hosting…

Hostgator is my host and I have been with them from day 1.  They had the best pricing available and excellent customer service.  What do we really all want in a host? To never know they are there! Seriously, the last thing you want to be worrying about is if your host is having issue or is down.  Hostgator is always prompt with any questions I have and otherwise I just re-up my hosting fee once every 3 years and rarely ever think about them.

WordPress is the platform I blog on.  Read the difference between free and self-hosted WordPress blogs here.  The nice thing about it is that there is so much support and help out there for running a WordPress blog and lots of free themes available.  This is actually a theme I coded myself!

Vimeo is the option for video hosting if you want privacy options.  When I was researching options to host my videos for a paid course, I decided with Vimeo because of the price as well as it’s ease of use.  I definitely agree with many of my blogging peers that this is the quality option to go with for video hosting.

For blog growth…

Tailwind is an absolute must for blogger who are serious about growing their traffic through Pinterest.  It’s a really reasonable monthly rate and allows you to schedule unlimited pins for weeks in advance.  With Pinterest’s new algorithm calculating which pinners are ‘relevant’ to promote, this is more important than ever.  I started a new account for my other blog and had basically NO engagement. After using Tailwind to schedule, analyze, and repin my content, I’ve seen my Pinterest following grow by over 500%.  It’s also pretty user friendly and there are plenty of great tutorials to get you start.

*For a limited time they are offering $30 off a year subscription!!*

For selling products…

Gumroad is a bloggers dream come true.  Seriously, I tried this for the first time recently in order to sell my first ever digital products, and the simplicity and ease of use absolutely blew me away.  I had all 10 product for sale and looking great in an hour.  In the past I’ve heard a lot about bloggers liking Gumroad, but I was skeptical about how great it was until I tried it for myself.  I wish I hadn’t invested in an expensive course platform and had decided to sell on here instead.

Personal Resources

For personal finances…

PersonalCapital.com is a quick and easy way to organize and view your spending and net worth, I would highly recommend it.  It’s totally free to use and is a great way to get a handle on your financial situation.  I just started using it and love it already!

Mint is the ultimate budgeting resource.  It’s totally intuitive and free! I use it all the time to keep track of all my accounts in one place.  And, if I’m out and about I can just easily pull it up on my phone and check my budget for something.  For more reasons why I love Mint check out this post.

For saving money…

Cricket is my phone provider and I am 150% satisfied with the incredible service they provide.  I’ve been with Verizon, Boost, and Virgin in the past and after seeing all these different providers I choose Cricket because every single thing they do is honest and up front.  Like when you go shopping for plans there are no hidden fees, they never blind side you and stick you with something you weren’t anticipating.  I just really appreciate a business model that is transparent like that, that charges super competitive rates, and provides great service.  Some of my friends are worried that the coverage won’t be the same, but I compare my coverage frequently to my husband who has Verizon through his work and Cricket is always just as fast as his where we are. Unless they change their pricing or honestly in the future, I’m definitely a loyal Cricket fan for life.

Ebates is a great and easy way to make free money.  It’s kinda like if you’re not using it, you’re losing money.  Basically how it works is you click through to the site you want to shop at from Ebates and when you go to check out enter the Ebates code in the coupon code box. It splits the affiliate commission it earns for ‘referring your sale’ with you and you can get up to 7% back on your online order!  Think about that, you were going to order that Amazon item regardless and now you just got 5% cash back!

Netflix is the only entertainment we currently pay for.  Have you ever added up the cost of all the entertainment subscriptions you have? Music streaming + cable + hulu = a lot of money going out the door.  We get the free channels that Jake can watch sports on and we watch everything else on Netflix.

Craigslist is my go to for everything quality used.  Jake and I often joke that we might as well call our house ‘Craig’s House’ because practically everything in it is from Craigslist!  It’s an excellent resource to find quality items for less than half of retail price.  I don’t know about you, but I want to have a furnished house without foreclosing so we get a lot of our stuff from Craigslist.

For organization…

Google Drive is what I use to store all of my digital files.  After trying to move files from an old computer to a new one I realized that my life would be so much simpler if they were just always available to any device on the cloud.  My phone came with a free storage upgrade so even with all of my Creative Market free goods resource hoarding, I am no where near the limit.

*Some of these products contain affiliate links*

The post Resources for Living Bigger and Blogging Better appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

Today I want to share with you my favorite blogs and the unique reasons why I love each of them so much.  As a blogger myself, this exercise is fun and insightful to go through because it helps me realize what others might find valuable in my blog and how I can add even more value as I grow and learn.

In no particular order, my favoritest blogs…

LITTLE GREEN NOTEBOOK

Jenny at Little Green Notebook is a designer and blogger with impeccable taste.  Her bold and ultra chic decorating choices inspire me to expand my design horizons embracing all things luxe and recognizing beauty in antique pieces.

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Here you can see a small sampling of Jenny’s beautiful work.  She does a ton of DIY’s and they always come out looking so high-end and gorgeous.  My fear when DIYing is always that it might look DIYed  But hers turn out perfect, so I look to her projects for inspiration.

Also, she sticks primarily home decor posts in her blog which I appreciate.  I do enjoy getting to the know the blogger’s behind the blog, but sometimes home diy/decor bloggers can start focusing on other topics more than my taste (especially with the recipe posts!).  Several years ago she and her family lived in a rental and even renovated that.  They stuck to a budget and it turned out amazing through Jenny’s resourcefulness.

I think the reasons I keep coming back to Little Green Notebook are because I know she has high style, her DIY’s are professional grade, and I know I will see home decor and diy posts there.

THE HUNTED INTERIOR

Kristin at The Hunted Interior has my favorite house in the history of EVER!  I mean every. single. detail. is. drop. dead. gorgeous.  I think in all the posts I read there has only been one choice I didn’t love.  That’s it.  Can I have her house?? Please???

All Pics from Summer 2014 Home Tour

I adore that she lives in a ‘real person’ sized house and she works on ‘real person’ sized budget.  It’s hard to follow bloggers or designers who oodles of money to spend on their home and 20+ foot ceiling to boot!  Her blog makes me feel like magazine-worthy decorating is actually attainable for a ‘real person’ in a ‘real sized house’ like me  I could talk hours about all the pieces she has incorporated and the rooms she has curated.

I come back to The Hunted Interior time and again because I know I will find style that will continue to blow me away!

THE NEWLYWOODWARDS

Kim at The Newly Woodwards speaks to me in a whole different way than the last two bloggers.  While I do enjoy her decorating, I primarily enjoy her blog for the lifestyle choices she and her family are making.  I admire her in so many ways!  First, they own several houses that they flipped in their spare time and now use them as income properties (talk about resourceful and awesome!).  Second, they recently sold their house to do a couple of amazing things that are now totally on my bucket list!  They bought land (a future dream of ours), built a barn on it out of an old barn, built an apartment in their barn to live in while they build their house on the land.  Whaa???  That is basically my exact dream life!

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I love the practical side of Kim’s posts: their IKEA finds, garage organization tips and tricks, and sympathy for living in a semi-construction zone, to name a few.

I keep coming back to The Newly Woodwards because Kim is so relatable and personal in her posts!  I feel a sense of kindredness in our shared love for barn living and I aspire to being going in a similar direction with my family someday down the road

The post My FAVE blogs to read! appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

I’m a tax accountant by day… so can we just have a little blogger heart to heart here and discuss your taxes?

According to the Internal Revenue Code, all income is taxable unless it is specifically exempted.  This means that technically, if you pick up a random twenty in the grocery store parking lot you need to report that as income on your tax return.  And of course any money you receive from your blog is certainly includible as well.

But, there are two different ways you can classify your blogging income that will affect the rest of your taxes.  You can report your earnings as coming from either a hobby or a business.  Do you know which your blog is for tax purposes?

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

If your blog is classified as a business, you can deduct the expenses you incurred (web hosting, camera equipment, possibly even a part of your home’s utilities) against your income to lower your tax bill.  And isn’t that what everyone wants?  A lower tax bill.

If your blog is classified as a hobby according to the IRS, you also can deduct ordinary and necessary hobby expenses, BUT are limited and can only be taken up to the amount you made in hobby income.  In other words, you can take more deductions as a business than as a hobby.

SO IS YOUR BLOG A HOBBY OR BUSINESS?

These are the considerations of the IRS in determining whether or not you operate a business or a hobby.

• Does the time and effort put into your blog indicate an intention to make a profit?
• Do you depend on income from the activity?
• If there are losses, are they due to circumstances beyond your control or did they occur in the ‘start-up phase’ of your blog?
• Have you changed methods of operation to improve profitability?
• Do you (or people advising you) have the knowledge needed to carry on the activity as a successful business?
• Have you made a profit in similar activities in the past?
• Does the activity make a profit in some years?
• Can the taxpayer expect to make a profit in the future from the appreciation of assets used in the activity?
• If you’ve made a profit during at least 3 of the last 5 years (including the current year), the IRS assumes your blog is a business.  

Ok, so you’ve read through the list, some of the points describe you, but some don’t.  Now what?  How will you determine what to classify your blogging activity as?

There is one ultimate question that it all boils down to in the eyes of the IRS…

Are you trying to make a profit?

If the answer to that question is yes (and a true yes that can be supported) then your blog can be classified as a business.  It doesn’t matter if you’ve had losses for its entire existence.  As long as you are running your blog in such a way that your goal is to be profitable, you can classify your blog as a business.

That’s good news, isn’t it?  I’m very excited to be reporting Mrs. Fancee blog earnings as business income this year and to be deducting my expenses fully.  I’m looking forward to the year when I do have a profit to report, but for now I’m just glad to have a few extra deductions on my 1040.

Have you been filing your blog income as hobby or business income?  The tax accountant in me would love to know!  Also, is this interesting and helpful?  Because I would consider doing a few more tax posts with tips for bloggers.  Let me know what you think

The post Tax Tips | Is my blog a Business or Hobby? appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

You can expect (hopefully) a tax tips post in the near future… After all that is where my focus has been lately, so it only makes sense to write a bit about it as it applies to blogging!  On with the good stuff…

Check out this super fun blog title generator!  You will never run out blog post ideas with this around.

I am head over heals for this DIY marble tray by The House of Wood.  After the sad Half Bath Disaster of 2015, I’ve been pining for some way to incorporate marble in our house!

Abby from Just a Girl and Her Blog posted her January 2015 income report, and holy guacamole!  This will inspire you.

Need some ideas for this Valentine’s Day?  Get our of your dating rut with these great tips from Kristen at Families That Stick.

I’m pining for these today…. Wouldn’t this make the perfect Valentine’s Day appetizer??

The post Loving Lately appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

This year has started off great for us, and these last two weeks have been busy ones!  We finally finished a room, just in time for our Superbowl party (that people actually came to despite the horrendous blizzard).  And we have a wedding today for Jake’s close college friend.

It’s crazy how fast time flies!  But I’ve been enjoying the change in seasons of life and learning along the way.  This new series has been such a fun way to share what’s on my mind with you all and to give a shout out to my fellow bloggers!

Here’s what I’ve been loving lately….

This DIY custom jewelry tray needs to go into my dream closet!   Laura knocked it out of the park on this one.

Sometimes I get overwhelmed and bogged down by all the SEO nonsense we’re supposed to be paying attention to as bloggers, this guide is just so simple and clear on what you need to do and helped me put it all in perspective.

Yes, yes, and yes!  Emily Henderson on the number one home design mistake.

Fabulous Blogging shares 20 ways a blogger can fail and still recover.

These lights are on sale at Cabela’s for only $39, what a steal!!  Who would have thought Cabela’s could have such chic lighting….

This peanut butter cheeseball was a delicious crowd-pleaser for our party last weekend.  Definitely saving this recipe!

The post Loving Lately appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

Tania from Run to Radiance graciously agreed to start off the series and I couldn’t think of anyone more perfect!  She has been blogging for several years now and through dedication, consistency, hard work, and a great deal of artistic talent, has seen her blog grow into an esteemed voice in the DIY/Lifestyle niche.

I’ve been following Tania on bloglovin’ for the past year or so now and was originally sucked in by her and her husbands awe-worthy home renovation.  Recently she has been making a concerted effort to treat her blog as a business and has even partnered with Home Depot on their first DIY blogger challenge.

Enough of me, let’s here from the lovely lady herself…

What is your blog story?

I’ve always loved to write and have kept a journal since I can remember. I think my earliest entries are around age seven. As you can imagine, they are not very exciting—but the drama picks up nicely around age 13 or so.

When Scott and I got married, we both had a passion for home renovation, real estate and interior design. We moved into our current house 2 ½ years ago knowing it’d be a total gut job so it seemed natural to start to share about our projects online for friends, family and random strangers to see.

What’s on your daily/weekly blog to-do list?

As someone who works full time (I’m a copywriter IRL) with a two-hour a day commute (blah!) it’s a struggle to fit in everything during the week. So I have learned to do my projects and photograph them during the weekends when the lighting is good and then I can write the actual posts during the week.

I also keep up with social media and emails for my blog. I’m starting to get a fair amount of emails from companies wanting to create posts together which is great, but maintaining the relationship and keeping the client happy is important and time consuming.

Was there a ‘turn-pointing’ or key moment in your blog’s growth?

I blogged faithfully for two years before I saw a turning point. I had a super random post that happened to go viral on Pinterest. When people came to my blog from that pin a lot of them took a look around at other content, liked what they saw and stayed. My page views more than doubled in a single week and have risen steadily ever since.

I think the important thing to note is that without all the years of posts and working hard for good content even when it felt like no one was reading, my viral pin would have peaked traffic for a day and died down. It’s important to produce great content consistently so that when your “viral” moment comes people have something to stick around for.

Work hard now and expect to see the fruits of your work 6 months or so down the line. Remember the duel audiences you are writing for—the current reader and the future one.

When did you decide to monetize your blog?

I went to the Haven conference in Atlanta last summer. After going to a lot of business classes and getting to talk to some amazing bloggers I respect and admire, I made the decision that I was ready.

I personally didn’t want to introduce monetization until I felt like I had built up enough content to be worth it. That took me two years. I still have more work to do in that area and I’m still learning a lot, but I think I’ve worked hard to lay a good groundwork for success in the future.

What is your least favorite part of blogging?

Web design and HTML stuff. I hired out all of that. My dad taught me it’s better to focus on your strengths than try to fix your weaknesses. I believe my strengths are in writing and photography and creating projects, so I focus on that as much as I can.

How do you use social media to build your blog?

I think you have to focus on what you enjoy. I love having a conversation with people, so Facebook is fun although the new algorithms do make it tricky to connect with people. I am a HUGE instagram fan (you can find me here) because I love photography. Instagram is definitely my favorite. I also am an avid Pinterest user. Twitter and G+ are not as natural for me, so I don’t spend as much time there.

Social media used to be a big time suck for me, but now I’ve realized my time is better spent building blog content and responding to readers comments. If someone leaves me a comment, I want to make sure to visit their blog and comment there as well. I hope I can always keep that up, it’s important to me!

What design trends are you loving lately?

White walls! I know they have been in for awhile, but I am just loving them. It’s a bright, crisp color that makes me happy. I also am loving watercolor and the “less is more” trend right now—I am actively working on decluttering and getting rid of stuff I don’t need or love.

What design trends are you totally over?

Chevron. I’ve been over it for awhile. I actually had a giant chevron wall in our entry way for almost a year and got so sick of it. I also am not a huge granite countertop or stainless steel appliances fan, although we do have stainless steel in part of our kitchen for resale purposes one day. )

What are your tips for newer bloggers looking to build their blog?

Hang in there! The first year I had to force myself to blog. I had no comments, very few readers and was making $0. But I kept reminding myself I was doing it because I loved it and because I was building a base for a successful future.

When you feel like you’re ready, don’t be afraid to reach out to companies and ask for a partnership. The worst they will do is tell you no, and even the most famous bloggers out there hear that word still. Keep going!

The post Building a Blog | An Interview with Tania appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

Nuff said.  Here are some fun reads for your Saturday morning cup o’ joe!  Have a lovely weekend

Social Media can be a struggle for me, but I found this post from Blog Clarity helpful in improving my online social media presence.

You all know that I. Love. Flowers.  Well, Valentine’s Day is coming up, and you need to read these game-changing tips for arranging your blooms!

Oh my, I am in love with this dining room makeover by Hi Sugarplum.  It’s the perfect pairing of traditional and modern glam in the most interesting way!

Ever feel overwhelmed by the plethora of cleaning schedules and tips on the internet?  I really like this one because it clean, simple, and non-stress inducing

IKEA Canada revealed the new SEKTION Kitchen line and it looks as fabulous as ever!  You can bet I’ll be at IKEA February 2nd for the grand reveal in the U.S.

Jana shares a great method to prioritizing your blog tasks and achieving them in an efficient way.  Check it out!

The post Loving Lately appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

So, I’m hoping this means that I’ve kicked the post-holiday blues and am rarin’ to go for the new year  I think these wonderfully warm (like nearing 40 degrees, that’s a miracle in January for Chicago) temps are helping plenty too.

If you missed it this week, I share why I started these Loving Lately posts.  Check it out and let me know what you think

I love this BEAUTIFUL master bedroom makeover by Jen at With Heart.  And it was all done on a budget, my favorite kind of inspiration!

Bloggers, let’s have more fun!  Loved this post over at the Blog Market on why we ought to just have more fun with our blogs.

The Big Game is fast approaching, you may want to use these gorgeous Superbowl commercial bingo prints from Style Me Pretty to entertain the less sports-savvy folks at your party.

How totally rad is this Restoration Hardware coffee table knock off?  If I only had the mathematical skills to make this….

Elle and Co. shares their blog post process and exactly how to go from an idea to a published work of art.

Needing a quick fix for Valentine’s Day?  You will love these adorable honey-bee themed printables from Clementine Creative.

See you next week, friends!

The post Loving Lately appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.