Over the past three years I’ve tried to become much more environmentally conscious. My family has been looking for easy ways to incorporate green living into our lives so that we don’t feel deprived and therefore are motivated to do even more. Baby steps.

One of my favorite green living bloggers is Jennifer Chait, whose Growing a Green Family blog has tips advice and green product reviews for the whole family.

I first learned about Jennifer a few years ago while lurking around AbsoluteWrite.com Water Cooler. I paid attention to her because she shared such good advice about blogging and writing for a living. I also found her interesting because she was such an involved mother raising and unschooling her son Cedar (such a cool name).

Jennifer is a professional blogger who has managed to carve out a nice a living doing what she loves. She also generously shares blogging advice as a regular contributor at FreelanceWriting.com. Get to know Jennifer at Raising a Green Family and Freelance Writing.

photo credit: stickystarfish

One of the best ways to make money with your blog is through affiliate marketing. Offering your readers products and that you really believe will help them. The best thing about affiliate marketing is that you don’t have to sell to others. The merchant is the one actually doing the selling. What you’ll do is warm them up with pre-selling.

Pre-selling is much easier because it simply relies on you being honest and straightforward with your readers. It can be also a great way of building trust with your audience.

As a formula, it’s a “soft sales” approach that’s 80 percent sharing valuable information and 20 percent “soft sell.” An example of a soft sell is avoiding over-inflated, hype just to make a sale. Instead you mention the product, tell your readers why you thought they’d be interested in it and leave a link so that they can make a decision.  Here are a few more pre-selling tips:

Highlight the Benefits and Advantages

Everyone is looking for something that makes their lives easier. When you effectively highlight the benefits of a product/service, you answer your reader’s most important question: “What’s in it for me?” Paint a clear picture of how the affiliate product you’re suggesting could make their lives easier or better.

Write a Product Review

A product review is a great way to share your personal experience with your readers. Be honest as you explain what you liked (or didn’t like) about the product or service. A review allows you to share lots of useful information that might help your audience make the decision of whether or not the product you’re highlighting is best for them.

Pass Along “Expert” Testimony

The best example I have about sharing “expert” testimonies for a product/service is Oprah’s Favorite Things. Whether I’m reading about them in O Magazine or watching her pass out goodies on her show, I’m inclined to believe that if Oprah puts her stamp of approval on something then I’d probably like it too.

If you have access to an expert in your industry or niche that has had successful results using a product or service you’re an affiliate for, let your readers know. This gives the offer more credibility.

photo credit: seeJuliAni

Mother’s Day is right around the corner which means it’s good time to get an early start thinking about the perfect gift for moms, sisters and girlfriends. As a writer, blogger and mom, I wouldn’t be mad one little bit if hubby surprised me this year with a gift that was purchased to help with my business. Here are few ideas that come to mind:

An Amazon Gift Card

I’d be ecstatic if I received an Amazon gift card for Mother’s Day. I’d probably use it to buy web-based blogging, business guides, or something to read that’s purely for pleasure. The best thing about this gift for busy moms like me is they don’t have to leave the comfort of home to reap the rewards, and it can be used to purchase just about anything Amazon offers.

Professional Blog Design Services

If you’re not very tech savvy (like me), you probably pay other’s to design your blog which can be expensive. Offering to pay for a special WordPress blog theme or custom blog design services can be a very thoughtful gift.

Buy an Info Product/e-Course/Membership

If you’ve heard the mom in your life talking about a certain e-book, report, e-course or membership site she’s love to invest in to help her along in her business, this could be the perfect gift. This is another one I’d really appreciate.

Niche Gifts

If the blogger in your life enjoys blogging about a certain niche such as crafts, baking or beauty/makeup, consider getting her a very special gift you know she’ll appreciate. For instance she love to knit, buy her some sumptuous Mongolian cashmere or Alpaca yarn, and luxury knitting needles made from ebony, rosewood or palm. Gourmet custom gift baskets from iGourmet or a Wusthof  Classic Cheese Knives set might just do the trick for the aspiring gourmet in your life.

This morning I came across an old guest blog post by Scott Stratten (better known by some on Twitter as @unmarketing) that appeared last year on JessicaKnows.com. In a video post, Scott who is a self-professed WAHD (work at home dad), discusses why marketing yourself exclusively as a WAHM could end up costing you business.

He does make an exception explaining that if your target audience is other WAHMs, then it makes perfect sense to market yourself this way because it can help you establish a powerful bond. Marketing yourself as a WAHM to other audiences and businesses, however, could be a big mistake because these markets may not take moms working from home as seriously.

I agree with Scott on a marketing standpoint. Marketing is all about presenting your business in a way that most appeals to the audience you’re targeting. You’re a successful WAHM. You know your stuff and take what you do very seriously. But does your message convey this to your target audience? Is there a negative stigma attached to being a WAHM? What do you think?

photo credit: knitsteel

Five mornings a week I spend time  speaking to my accountability partner by phone. An accountability partner is someone who helps keep you focused on your goals. You can have someone keep you accountable for exercising every day, looking for a job or any area of your life where you could use encouragement to remain on track.

We’ve been working together for about three months now and I have to say it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made for my business. It’s really been keeping me focused and forced me to make more action-oriented goals.

She lives on the West coast, and I live in the Southeast so there were some initial time zone challenges to overcome. Each day we tell one another our business goals for the day and discuss whether or not we met the previous day’s goals. We also help each other work through any work-related challenges. It’s given me the kick in the pants I’ve needed to get moving on certain projects and maintain momentum.

I stumbled upon quite a few blog posts sharing business advice this week. I especially enjoyed the “Fill In The Blanks” post because I’m in the middle of refocusing my business services. Hope you find these helpful, and enjoy your weekend.

• Top Time Wasting Activities for Bloggers and How to Stop
• Diversify or Niche? Or Are These Two Different Things?
• Your Business and Your Blog – Interview (mp3 audio)
• Can You Fill In the Blanks?

photo credit: ssoosay

One of the hardest parts of starting a brand new blog is attracting loyal readers. There are new blogs being created everyday, so you can’t just sit back and wait for people to find you. You need good content and a way to let others know about your blog.

If you want to get the attention of  someone other than your mom or close friends, here are a few tips to start moving some traffic in your direction:

1. Start creating content. Before you start letting others know about your brand new blog, you should have five to 10 good quality posts in place. Readers want to be able to take their time reading through interesting information. An empty blog leaves a bad first impression.
2. Comment on blogs or forums. Find blogs and forums in your niche and become regular contributors.
3. Submit your best blog posts to Digg.com or StumbleUpon.com

photo credit: Sirkullay

Of all the wonderfully talented bloggers over at AllFreelanceWriting.com, Rebecca Garland is probably the one I most identify with as a fellow WAHM. Rebecca has a full-time job teaching high school English. She’s also a freelance copywriter, and she has two toddlers. I’d say her plate is piled pretty high, wouldn’t you?

This might sound bad to some, but one reason I can relate to her posts so much is because she’s so unabashedly honest about what it’s really like to be a WAHM. She doesn’t just talk about the good; she reveals the bad and the ugly too.

When I first decided I’d like to work from home, I spent quite a bit of time researching other WAHMs to find out how they were doing it. I found myself reading a lot of sunny, happy stories of women who had achieved the perfect balance of parenting, business, relationship and life outside of working.

Naturally, when my business took off and I found myself struggling not to blur all those lines, I thought something must be wrong with me. I wondered, “Why am I having such a hard time juggling clients? Why is my house such an embarrassing mess? Why won’t my two year old let me work more than 15 minutes?”

What a relief it was to realize I wasn’t the only one struggling. Rebecca has unapologetically shared her own WAHM struggles at All Freelance Writing. We often think that when we reveal the not- so-rosy side of working from home with kids that we’ll be judged harshly or somehow viewed as a failure. But what I’ve noticed as a follower of Rebecca’s posts is that other WAHMs have come together as a community to discuss those difficult topics and encourage, support and uplift one another. She makes it okay to be honest about the good and bad days.

photo credit: syronicca

If you’re blogging to make money, you want to increase traffic to your blog. A strategic promotional campaign can increase your visibility. When it comes to standing out from the crowd, knowing what not to do can be critical.

Not Knowing Your Target Audience

If you don’t know who you’re writing blog posts to, you’re in trouble. Does your audience respond well to industry jargon, or do they prefer laid back, informal language? Do your affiliate products, or the product/service you sell meet your reader’s needs?

Deviating from the Primary Reason Your Blog Exists

If you’re blogging to make money, don’t be a fraid now and then to pitch to your readers. Although you want to make sure you’re providing your readers with good content they can use, remember the key reason your blog exists is to develop some sort of sales communication. You can do this with a simple call to action at the end of a post: “If you want to learn more about “x”, feel free to email me at abc@123.com.

Not Tracking Results

It’s important to pay attention to which articles have the highest readership or receive the most comments. Understanding why can help you figure out which promotional efforts work best. Simple analytic tools can quickly help you see what works best.

Not Taking Advantage of Social Media

Self promotion via Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Digg, Technorati and other sites is easy and very effective. Utilizing these sites can increase your visibility and readership exponentially.

Slacking on Blog Management

Maintaining regular blog posts is hard work. Delivering interesting topics and articles for your readers can become hard to keep up with if you’re not careful. There is quite a bit of evidence of this with hundreds of abandoned blogs scattered all over the Internet.

At the very least you should update your blog once a week. Ideally you should post seven days a week. You don’t want to gamble on losing the interest of your readers.

Not Commenting on Other Blogs

Commenting on other blogs in your niche allows you to build relationships with other bloggers within your community and exposes their readers to your blog. When you leave interesting comments, people naturally become curious about you and will click on a link that takes them to your blog. Don’t miss out on the benefits of this simple promotional strategy.

photo credit: theihno

Finding a well-known, respected person within your niche to interview on your blog can be a very powerful business move. The biggest benefit is that it can lend a degree of credibility and expertise to your blog. Landing the interview is only half the battle. These five tips can help you deliver an interview your readers will appreciate.

1. Phone or email? An email interview is usually easier for everyone involved. You send the subject a list of questions your readers are interested in learning more about and set a reasonable deadline. You can also set up a mutually agreeable time for a phone interview and record the conversation for your readers to listen to.
2. Keep the tone friendly and conversational; like you’re talking to a friend. Relax, you don’t want the interview to read/sound like a series of fired off questions and answers. Make sure the questions flow the way a good conversation naturally would.
3. Ask open ended questions. You don’t want to risk having the interviewee answer any of your questions with a simple “yes” or “no.” One way to prevent this is by asking questions that begin with “why” or “how” They require more thought and explanation.
4. Probe for more information when necessary. If you’re interviewing someone in person or over the phone, don’t just stick to your list of questions. Sometimes an answer can lead to more interesting stuff.
5. Do your research. Before you contact your interview subject, learn as much about them and what they do as you can. This will help you avoid asking redundant questions they get asked all the time and ask questions that get more interesting information your readers are looking for.

photo credit: Andrew Feinberg

One thing I’m learning as a blogging intern  is that there’s always more to learn. I’ve blogged for clients and my own blogs, but this internship has shifted my perspective and taught me even more. Just as I’d hoped it would.

Being able to work from home is one of the best decisions I ever made. It’s been the perfect solution for my family, allowing me to be constantly available to my children and earn an income. I’ll always be a student searching for ways to improve what I do, learn new skills and pass what I learn on to others. I took a look back at the posts I’ve written so far and found these to be the one that received the most response:

• 10 Things You Absolutely Need to Know About Personal Branding
• Social Media Tips for Bloggers
• Creating a Work at Home Schedule
• Revisiting the SEO for Your Blog Series

photo credit: nicksarebi

It’s been an intense week for me making this peaceful weekend that much sweeter. Monday is Spring Break for my kids which means I’ll need to change my working hours so that I can spend the day’s hanging out with them. It’s times like these that I really appreciate the flexibility of working from home.

There were lots of gems all around the blogosphere this week. Once again I’ve gathered a few of my favorites to share with you. I hope you enjoy them.

• Not Getting Enough Traffic? Key Questions that Can Help
• Creating a Networking Tree Will Help You Connect More Effectively
• I’m a Freelancer. Where’s My Maternity Leave?
• 3 Tools to Help You Share Microcontent Online
• 10 Tricks to Getting Inspired to Write

photo credit: ElizabethHudy

If you make money selling your unique crafts and art online, chances are you’ve heard of Chrissy Herron,  founder of the fabulous blog IndieBizChicks.com. Chrissy’s blog is all about inspiring women to make entrepreneurship a reality. Her slogan: “For Women Who’d Rather Work for Themselves, Than Work for the Man.”

I was drawn to Chrissy’s blog about two years ago. I love crafts and am a self-professed lapsed knitter/crocheter. Although I don’t think I’m talented enough to sell the things I’ve created for money, I really enjoyed reading her blog and learning about how others were making a living doing what they loved.

I had the good fortune of working with Chrissy for a short period of time back in 2008. She was living in Alaska at the time. I found her to be incredibly smart, focused and action oriented. She’s taught herself everything she knows about Internet marketing and publicity and puts it out there to help others reach their own dreams. She also promotes others in their business efforts, which is really cool. In fact, it’s how I’ve learned about blogs just like this one.

Last summer Chrissy was dealing with some serious health issues, but thankfully she’s bounced back and has been busy as ever teaching women how to incorporate business strategies with their passion to achieve success; a true testament to just how driven and passionate she is about her business. Stop by IndieBizChicks.com to say “hi” when you have a chance.

photo credit: chatirygirl

If you own a business that offers a product or service, business blogging can be a great way to build your online reputation, in addition to your website. A blog can give you a really unique perspective about who your target market is and how they think, which is why building relationships and encouraging dialog through comments is so vital.

Ultimately you want to profit, but if this is is all that comes across in your content, you’ll completely turn off your readers. Remember, web readers like getting information they can actually use, so don’t hold back.

Get to Know Your Readers

Get to know specific information about your target market. They’ll appreciate the effort you put into getting to know them.

Start by asking yourself: Who is my ideal customer? What kind of work does she do? What’s the age range? Is she married or single? Does she have kids? Which blogs and print publications does she enjoy reading?

Getting to the heart of this information can require some real research, but you’ll get a much better response to your blog if you take the time to get this information right the first time. Quantcast can help you with your research.

Use the “Soft Sell” Approach

You can’t go into blogging looking to make a sale each and every time you post. First and foremost talk about what’s important to your reader. For example, if you sell nursing supplied for moms of multiples, you could write relevant posts they’d appreciate like “5 Ways to Increase Your Milk Supply,” or “How to Nip Jealous Feeding in the Bud.”

You could write a post highlighting an actual story of a customer and their experience using your product (a great testimonial technique), and use posts to alert readers about new products and special discounts. This way you’re informing instead of hitting them over the head with relentless attempts to sell something.

Encourage Conversation

This is how you’ll really get to know your customers and build relationships based on trust. Encouraging comments in response to your posts will reveal a lot about how customers really feel about your product/service. You’ll learn things like whether they’ve had any problems, why they find what you sell beneficial and you can even get great ideas for future products.

photo credit: eBeam

If you’re located near Santa Clara, California, or have considered attending a conference this year, you might consider attending the Social Media Strategies Conference 2010 scheduled to take place on May 18-19, 2010 at the Hyatt Santa Clara. There will be workshops covering a variety of valuable strategies to helping you build a more profitable business.

There will be workshops instructing attendees on how to market with Facebook and Twitter to increase traffic revenue and brand awareness.

This morning’s community breaking news just announced that the Social Media Strategies Conference will also be adding a special panel discussion, “Blogging for Business.” A panel of some of the most respected industry experts will be discussing topics like:

• How to Make Announcements
• Crisis Management
• Legal Implications
• Branding Strategies
• Reputation Management
• Optimization Techniques
• Platforms
• Tools and Services

Participating panelists will include:

• Reshma Kumar, Manager of Web Design Verisign
• Richard Brewer-Hay, Chief Blogger eBay
• Tony Welch, Lead Social Media Strategist and Community Manager, Hewlett Packard.

For details visit the Social Media Strategies Registration site.

photo credit: markhillary

It’s so easy to recognize many popular brands without really thinking about it. Toyota, Google and Oreo are examples of brands pretty much everyone knows. But branding isn’t something that only big corporations do. It’s something that can have a profound effect on your blog’s success too.

Personal branding is all about getting noticed and standing out from the crowd. When you set out to create your personal brand, you want to create an image and feeling about you that really grabs your audience’s attention and inspires loyalty.

Creating a personal brand as a blogger can be challenging because there are so many blogs out there also trying to get noticed. The big question to ask yourself is: if you’re one of many, how do you stand out from the crowd?

Establish Your Identity and Stick with It

Think carefully about your blog header, logo and the photo that you will use on your blog. This is your business identity. Use the same images/photo when commenting on blogs and in social media sites so that people start to recognize you. Be consistent.

Become the Resident Expert

Personal branding can establish you as an expert in your chosen niche. Readers will begin looking to you for the latest information.

Comment Regularly on Other Blogs within Your Niche

It’s just good etiquette really. You can’t expect for people to just show up and start commenting on your blog if you put no effort into doing the same for others. Blogging can be a profitable business, but it’s also a fun, social activity. Take time to get to know other bloggers and build genuine relationships within your community.

Leave insightful comments that actually contribute to the discussion. Someone reading your comments might be interested in learning more about you, click on your link and wind up becoming a loyal follower of your blog.

Increase Your Presence on Social Media Sites

Social media can increase your presence in a positive way if used correctly. Sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn are great places to build your personal brand. Eighty percent of your time should be spent socializing and helping others by answering questions and resending material promoting someone else. The other 20 percent can be spent promoting your blog and any products or services you provide.

StumbleUpon and Digg are popular bookmarking sites can also bring you more exposure. Build a positive presence at these sites by pointing out great articles within your niche and encouraging others to help you find similar articles.

Ask to Interview Someone Who’s Well-Known within your Niche

Interviewing a well-known blogger within your community is a great way to get people to sit up and take notice. Make sure to get the information your audience wants from the interview.

Regularly Link to Other Interesting Blog Posts

This is not only a good way to increase your online presence, it’s just good manners. You should always be willing to share information with your readers about relevant posts other bloggers have written that may be interesting or beneficial.

Guest Post

Getting your blog post read on a blog that thousands of  people read daily is a pretty big deal. Make sure to include a short bio at the end of your post with a link to your blog so that interested readers can pop in and see what you’re about.

Include a Link to Your Blog on all Email and Forum Signatures

Here’s a classic example of never missing a personal branding opportunity. You should always include a link to your blog in all email correspondence and in the signature section of your forum identity. That way whenever you communicate, people will instantly recognize you.

Be Available to Others

Make yourself accessible and available through email, social media and forums to help others and answer questions. It’s a good way to build your personal brand as someone who genuinely wants to help others, and you get to know more about your audience’s needs.

Be Aware of Your Surroundings

There are may be controversial forums and blogs where it’s best you not be associated as you build your personal brand. You should also avoid engaging in certain behaviors and conversations on social media sites. Your personal brand is tied to your reputation, so guard it carefully.

photo credit: Bjørn Giesenbauer