Working with Bloggers Did you know that twenty to fifty percent of all purchases made are from word of mouth? Buying products today, people want to know from a reliable source how it really performs. Consumers are tired of the editing and trickery of TV Commercials. The best word of mouth is going to come from a blogger or vlogger.  We have cultivated and sowed a social media following that doesn't happen in a day. Several online friendships that can easily transcend into real life ones. The ripple effect we have can last for weeks with just one tweet. Social Media, Tweets, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube they are just a few vehicles on how we as bloggers and vloggers can get our opinions and feelings out to the world. We have taken networking to the next level! How to work with bloggers  Typically bloggers can receive several emails a day asking for a link in a post, or a new blogger wants to submit an article and neither one of them want to pay for it. 80% of emails we get, ar......

Hi guys! I wanted to share you some reflection I have been doing before 2018 hits. So below is a recap of my top 15 blog posts and the most viewed. I want to thank everyone who has been a reader since I started back in late 2011. It seems like each year blogging brings a new friend and new challenge too and I am thankful for you. 2017 saw a tremendous change to our backyard. It went from dust bowl to oasis. We put a lot of hard work and money into making a place to relax and hang out with friends. I am definitely looking forward to more BBQ's in 2018! DIY Backyard Patio New Flower Bed I had the wonderful opportunity to work with a very special blogger, Lowe's and Smart Pond.  I cannot wait to plug my fountain back in! Fountain Backyard Reveal! The front flowerbeds saw a few changes too. Trash To Treasure Watering the Garden the Easy Way! As well as some DIY projects I wanted to tackle inside. DIY Sofa Table How to organize the Linen Closet Creative Placemat Ideas Farmhouse Porc......

Hi! This isn't my usual blog post, but I have posted tips and a few tutorials on my blog that people seem to like. So when I got an email asking for tips on how I grew mine, I gave it serious thought and decided to share some tips on  How to grow a link party I have been doing my link party since May 2014. I was looking for ways to grow my readership and also network with other bloggers. And it worked! I have met some wonderful bloggers and found some truly loyal friends as well. But it is a lot of work. That's Tip #1, You're going to have to work for it. If it were as easy as inputting the link code and hitting publish, everyone's link party would take off. And it isn't that easy to get your first hundred linkups. Unless of course you waited until you had 10K followers and then did your first one.  Tip #2 Share share share!  Just hitting publish and sharing it once on twitter, google WP, blogger isn't going to get you anywhere fast. Are your followers online at......

Sponsored Blog Posts OK I need to vent or rant a bit. I am coming across a lot of other bloggers posting in social groups and even creating blog posts telling them what to charge for a sponsored post. The phrase that really sends me over the edge is sentences like: It's based on pageviews, not what your time is worth. Or it's based on your niche, or what your blog is about. Uhhh, seriously? When did it become the norm, to let others tell you what you deserve for a job?  So I come across a blogger who says they are "big time", they get high page views, blah blah etc... "famous" or popular and he/she tells me that they charge based on their page views and the company who is asking for the sponsored post.  Really? So if I pull into my grocery store driving a brand new Escalade worth 85K, do they get to raise their prices just for me because I can afford it? and my neighbor drives up in a 2007 Saturn Vue, do they get charged less? If that happened, people would ......

Mailchimp Tutorial Here is a tutorial on importing subscribers into your mailchimp account and how to design your newsletter. For the sake of this tutorial we are going to start from the point of t hat you have: Already downloaded your current subscriber list from Feedburner (or your current newsletter provider).  O r this is your first newsletter and do not have any subscribers yet. Created a login into Mailchimp With a new MC (mailchimp) account this is what you'll see the first time you login. Your MC dashboard.  If you do not have a subscriber list yet, all you are going to do is to the right hand side of the "monkey" picture where it says "LIST". Click List, create one and call it something that tells YOU it is your readers that have subscribed to your newsletter. (aka reader subscriber list or your blog name + subscriber list) and click save and then click on CAMPAIGNS at the top and then skip down to Step 5 Step 1 - Importing your subscriber list into ma......