Hustling Housewife Series: #1 How to start a blog for profit So you want a home business or side hustle but don’t know where to start? Here’s the first step. Evaluate what you like and as well as what you are good at. You should start by asking yourself the following questions.... What do I enjoy doing? What would I do free? What do I do for fun in my spare time? What jobs have I had that I really enjoyed doing? When thinking about starting a side business or full time home business you need to think about these things because if you enjoy your work, it won’t feel like work. I love blogging and writing to me it’s fun. I find myself daydreaming about my next post or ebook. My passion is helping other moms create businesses and lay down a path to self suffecienty. So back to business… How to start a blog from scratch #1 Wordpress or blogspot? You need a platform. If you are a newbie blogger and have no technical or little technical experience I would recommend blogspot which is through Google. Blogspot is very easy to set up, if you already have a Google account you just have to go to settings to set up from there. Blogspot walks you through the process. You will be hosted through blogger so there is no fee…there is also no domain and the downside to this is less visibility, but even so it is a good choice to get started and get a feel for blogging and see if you like it before stepping up. Or you can jump right in head first and go with Wordpress, now for me personally, I started with blogspot and I think that is the best way to get a feel for blogging, others might disagree. Wordpress is a little more complex but you can customize themes and make your blog look a lot more polished and professional. There are free themes that look pretty nice and you can even add social media link on some. The coding and monetizing is more complex, I had to have someone help me with mine, not gonna lie. #2 You will need a niche. I started out with a coupon blog five years ago that has evolved to a money saving and home business, well business. It is still weird saying, business. Sorry about that. It’s weird when you take your blog, from blog to business. Again, think about what you enjoy. You don’t want to pick a subject that will be boring, for you or your readers. Here are some ideas Kids/family Fashion Technology Art Crafting/DIY Home Décor Organizing #3 Make Youtube your BFF. I seriously don’t know what I would have done without youtube. Youtube is an invaluable resource for setting up a blog for the first time. If you need help setting up your blog go here. I would also be happy to answer any questions you have. You can email me @ 530shasta@gmail.com #4 Start creating amazing content. Create catchy titles and try to think like the reader and don’t forget to use tags and keywords. Try to keep your content appealing to the eye to by adding amazing pics and make the pic PIN worthy as well, more on this later. #5 Consider buying a domain. I use godaddy for domains. You an do this later it doesn’t matter, but if you have an amazing website name that you are worried someone might take, snatch it up now. Sometimes godaddy has domains for .99 be sure to check out websites like retailmenot for coupon codes before checkout to save big. Once you have your domain you can re-route your blog to your new domain. Here’s an example. I just set up a wordpress site a while ago…bringingmomshome.wordpress.com (so this means it was free and hosted through wordpress) now I bought a domain the one I wanted was bringingmomshome.com was sold so I went with bringingmomshome.org so when you now type in bringingmomshome.wordpress.com it automatically is re-routed to the new website. You can check out my theme I’m using there too. This is a free theme and I have all my social media links #6 Show me the money! Ok, so at this point you are probably thinking so, how do I make money from my blog? This is where it gets a little tricky. Ok, so here’s the thing. I wouldn’t monetize your blog when you first start. The first thing you need to focus on is great content and driving traffic. Without traffic you won’t have visitors clicking on ads or buying products and without great content they won’t even come. You need to be able to reel them in! After you have been posting consistently for a few months at least a few times or more a week then think about putting up ads. If you have google blogspot. It’s relavily easy to set up one affiliate ad network and that is google adsense. Google picks the right ads for you. All you do is go to your google blog settings to set this up. Then look into other affiliate programs that would work for your website. I use Amazon Affiliates, adsense, zulily, ebay, avon (I sell it), etsy (I have a shop), and a few others. #7 Create other sources of income! Consider your blog a launching pad for other ventures. Most bloggers make most of their money from other resources and products like, books, ebooks, courses, newsletters, emails, products they created or sell and speaking or teaching gigs as well as things like web design and business consulting. #8 Don’t turn your back on social media! After your blog is all set up, take the time to make your social media accounts that are cohesive with your blog, as in the same name, I’m so guilty of this one, I got lazy with this and paid the price. It confuses visitors if you use a different social media account than your blog. Take the time to set this up and you won’t be disappointed. Also make it a personal experience, people love to read background stories about the blogger, don’t leave this out. Make your about me page engaging and your picture professional. #9 Focus on building your email list! You can use a free mail service like Mailchimp that helps you organize emails and bring in subscribers. This is super important and something that I learned the hard way, I learned a ton about blogging through trial and error from five years of blogging. If I only knew then what I know now. Oh well, passing on the info to help other moms so they won’t make the same mistakes I did. Hope these tips help get you started, more home business ideas and side hustles to come!

Attention stay at home mom's!!!

Are you a stay at home parent looking to start earning money at home? I need help growing my business and I will help you get started. Contact me @ 530@shasta@gmail.com for more info on how to get started.

Creating Multiple Steams of Income ( my journey)

After writing Mommies Frugal Finds for so long (a money saving blog). I came to the conclusion that it was important not only to address saving money, but, making money! Sometimes you have to look at your life and decide which of these two needs your main focus should be. Should I focus on saving money? Or do I just need more income? Really the answer probably is both but for me right now my main focus is creating more long term income. Yes, i still bargain shop and use coupons as well as many other money saving techniques (see mommiesfrugalf inds.blogspot.com for more on that). Let's ask you a couple questions that can help you decide what your MAIN focus should be right now. Do you always feel like there is never enough time in the day? you probably already work a lot so saving and budgeting is probably the answer Do you feel as though you are living paycheck to paycheck? this could be either Do you feel like you over spend? the answer is probably a better budgeting plan Do you have more time than money? The answer is probably working more and/ finding more ways to generate income Ok so lets get down to it. If you work a lot of hours and theres no time left in your day. You need ro cut your spending first focus on your excess spending. Does your bank break your spending into catergories to track spending? If not find another banknor use a website like mint.com Track your spending for a solid month then see where you can scale back. Your fixed expenses like your mortgage and car payment (if you have one, i don't, more on that later). There usually are only a few that are set in stone. Then you have some that are a little more flexible, or negotiable, like credit cards, student loans, medical bills, etc. meaning you could pick up the phone and get a lower payment, more time to pay, etc. depending on your negotiating skills. Then there are things like food, clothing, and household items that you can cut back on. Maybe eat out less, meal plan, use coupons, for clothing shop at consignment stores, garage sales and thrift stores. There are so many ways to save. The first step is setting up a realistic budget that will work for your lifestyle. Next, lets talk about making more money. How do I do that you may be asking. Think about what your hobbies are. If you won the lottery tomorrow. How would you spend your days? Would you be traveling? Would you be reading. Writing that best selling novel you've always dreamed of writing? maybe you love being in front of the camera. Could you be the next youtube star? The key is find your passion and turn that into profit. I love to write. So I blog your myself and others. I love to help others and I find joy in writing these posts. I write for Amazon self publishing. I have written for ehow until it was sold to Demand Media. If you write there is a plethora of opportunites to make money at home, and build long term income. I eill do another sepearte post on this and maybe a vlog. I love to sew, so design, sew and sell clothing and accessories on etsy. I am thinking about taking this in a new direction with my own website but I also considered setting up an ebay store. Ebay, this is something that you can do as well to bring in extra monthly income i only make $100-$200 but money is money, it all adds yo. I probably spend about five hours a week on it. If you think about it thats a pretty nice hourly wage. If I deducated more time to it i could really build a decent side income. I have made enough fr ebay for a vacation so it is possible. Babysitting. I personally don't do this but if you are a stay at home mom. It's worth considering. Direct sales. This is something that I'm really looking into Ones I'm considering.... Nerium Avon Scentsy Younique Beach body There is not one way to make extra money. Do your research. It depends on your skills. The time you have. As well as how it will work with your lifestyle. I will be doing more posts on this subject soon.