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Getting Caught Up In The Hype

July 26, 2009 By

The past few weeks I’ve been getting repeated kicks in the rear reminding me “Where is your focus?“. I’ve lost it. Yes, I got caught up and totally 100% lost my focus and now I’ve got to get it back. So what did I get caught up in? Mommy Blogging Reviews.

I originally started my focus out to talk about healthy living, parenting, and turning our home into a green place to live on Dinker & Giggles. I then wanted to talk about my life and journey as a mom and business owner on my personal blog. I started out strong and focused with goals in mind. I was using tools from the affiliate programs I belonged to. I spoke about products and services that were dear to my heart and that I used and loved because I choose to on my own free will.

Then I started seeing all the wonderful places to join and network and even try free products in exchange for my words of recommendation. I’m not going to lie – it’s fun! It’s great receiving mail that isn’t a bill. However, when you get so caught up and start accepting things that have nothing to do with your focus then you have to realize you’ve gotten caught up! The first time I really was awoken to how caught up I had gotten was when I received a pacifier in the mail with a note thanking me for reviewing this.

Wait a minute! I’m very anti-pacifier – how did I get so caught up that I accepted a review for a pacifier?

I’m not saying that doing product reviews and being a mommy blogger is bad in no means. What I personally am trying to recognize is my original goals and how they need to grow with the new information I am learning. I want to be a profitable mommy blogger. I want to have content that is respected and not read just because there is a giveaway attached to it.

I don’t want to be caught up in the hype! If I’m reviewing a product it should be because I love it (and it meets the requirements of my focus and goals). I also need to accept that I’m worth more than a free product. My time and creative juices go into that review and I should get paid for it too.

So today’s Better Blog journey is all about stepping back and really looking at yourself, your blog, and your focus.

  • Are you happy where you are going?
  • Are you ready to say No?
  • Are you ready to get your focus on and step out of the hype?

Let’s get back to basics and get focused together!

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: , ,

The Stats

May 30, 2009 By
staturday

staturday

Okay, after a couple of weeks of really ramping up my blog–it’s actually working. I am seeing more users, more comments and more followers.

So yaay!

I check my stats pretty frequently, so I thought you would benefit from my little routine.

[Read more...]

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Freaked Out by Affiliate Marketing

May 27, 2009 By

Freak Out
It’s time for another Jamie truth… so hold on to your hats people–

Affiliate Marketing scares the bejeebus out of me!

I don’t get it. Seriously, I think it’s weird, people click through my website and sign up for stuff and I make cash? Is that it?

Well, I read this blog post over on the spark blog, and I’ve decided I think I can manage one. But, not because it’s just something random I’m sticking on the side of my blog. It’s because I talk a lot about gaming. I play games, my friends make games, I like video games a lot, and the little game fly affiliate on the side of my blog kind of makes me feel like I know what I’m talking about!

So, I accomplished something today.

I joined an affiliate program without selling out.

That makes me happy. :)

Have you thought of joining an affiliate program? Have you tried to find one that really fits your niche? I would love to hear more about some of the different programs you guys have found!

Now, I just need to find an impression based advertising company that I like…

Creative Commons License photo credit: jasonr611

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It’s time for the Friday Flip Flop!

May 8, 2009 By
flipflip

flipflipSince I’ve challenged the readers to make their blogs more profitable, I think it’s only fair we see what they’re doing, right?

I’ve decided to dedicate Fridays to you guys by flipping this blog around!

I will scour the week’s comments to see who’s been working hard on the challenge, asking really great questions, or just said something that made me think. Then, I will share that fun stuff with everyone on Fridays and see if I can’t attempt to help the readers. If I can’t help the readers, well then I will of course turn it over to you so that we can get them the answers they’re searching for.

This should be a fun little experiment, and I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

Let’s start with the stats from yesterday.

I asked you to tell me about your blog traffic, and a few of you did: [Read more...]

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My Favorite Thoughts from Day One of Blissdom

February 7, 2009 By

Proudly blogging from Blissdom09 as your Ambassador for Mom’s Talk Network. It is exciting, somewhat overwhelming and amazing to be here.  The women here are outstanding, both on the panels and just the other mom bloggers who are here.  There is nothing like meeting a blogger you have read for a long time for the first time.  The connection is unlike any other, which goes to show just how powerful blogging is to us.

One of the statements that stands out to me is one made by The Redneck Mommy in the Maven session on Content and Building your Readership is this, “We are all just women behind computers.” Her point being is that “anyone” can do this.  It should not be intimidating.  We all have a voice that can be heard.  They talked a great deal in this first session about “finding your voice” and “staying true to your voice”.

Other ideas that were pointed to for helping to gain readership were:

  • The importance of networking. Tsh of SimpleMom.com made the point that we should all not be afraid to network.  Network up, network across and network down.
  • The importance of being consistent. As Amy Clark of MomAdvice.com pointed out.  You set the pace for your blog, but whatever pace you set be sure that you can keep it up because your readers will come to expect it

These are just some of the highlights from my first session at Blissdom.  I’ll cover more from the Social Media session we also had today and tomorrow’s sessions tomorrow night.  Stay tuned!

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Profitable Mommy Blogging #2

October 22, 2008 By
Standard Podcast Play Now | Play in Popup

Welcome to Episode Number Two made just for you – the mom blogger who would like to find ways to earn an income from your love of blogging.

There are a lot of ways to profit from the skills you’ve been building up as a blogger.  Today’s guest is a very good example of this.

Guest: Tammy Munson of Army Household 6 joins me to talk about how her role as a military mom blogger has opened doors for opportunities to provide services as a new media Virtual Assistant and earned her invitations to blog professionally for military organizations.

When Tammy started her family blog it was for herself.  She called it therapeutic.  Little did she know where it could take her.

Topic: Exciting resource for Mommy Bloggers.  Read this post about a weekend spent with some cool Mom Bloggers, then sign up for notices about Lynn Terry’s Webinar Series.

Coming up next week: Entrecard discussion!

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Can This Mommy Blogger Stretch?

October 20, 2008 By

If you are here learning about the new tools and tricks to help you monetize your blog then you’ve heard of the term ‘Mommy Blogger’ and probably consider yourself in this category. Have you heard of ‘Niche Blogger’? In a recent post by Lynn Terry at Click Newz she recapped her time at BlissDom ‘O8. Sure it was a recap of events, but I got so much more out of it.

The Mommy Bloggers that Lynn spoke with all mentioned they’d be happy getting $500 a month to compensate their time and resources blogging. Wow! $500 just for talking about things you are willing to talk about anyway- doing something that you are passionate about. Seems like a lot right? [Read more...]

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Introducing Alaina Frederick

October 18, 2008 By

Hello! My name is Alaina Frederick and I am another new blogger here at Profitable Mommy Blogging. I am a mother to three boys and have had an interesting journey to mommy blogging.

Almost five years ago I decided to quit my corporate banking job to be home with my first born. The first months were spent adjusting to motherhood and not having a set schedule of any kind. As trying as new parenthood can be I wanted more- I needed to keep my brain active on a different level. I tried my hand at direct sales, three different companies to be exact. After valuable time and financial resources I came to the conclusion that it was just not for me. Then we moved from our small rural town to a suburb of Pittsburgh, PA. – vastly different in lifestyle and cost-of-living. I began researching ways for us to save money so that I could continue being home with my kids- what I found was a whole work at home world and cloth diapers (yes, you read right!). [Read more...]

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To Be or Not To Be…Yourself

October 9, 2008 By
open-book

If you’re thinking about becoming a Mom blogger or if you’ve been blogging for a while, you’ve probably struggled with the decision of how open you will be. Should you use a pseudonym? Is posting pictures of your kids a no-no? What about family, co-workers, neighbors…should you blog about them or not?

There are pros and cons to both full disclosure and total privacy. There is no right or wrong option and what works for one blogger may not work for the other. Its a personal decision that only you, the blogger, can make.

Let’s use one of the most well-known Mom bloggers as an example. You’ve heard of Dooce, right? Dooce, a/k/a Heather Armstrong, gained major publicity in the world of blogging when she was fired from her job because of her blog, specifically some unflattering posts about her co-workers. Ouch.

Perhaps being so candid and open on her blog and revealing its existence to people in her offline life wasn’t such a good idea. But then again, being terminated over blogging was the catalyst that launched Heather/Dooce into the Mom Blogging Hall of Fame. [Read more...]

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