By Holly Reisem Hanna

It’s been four years since I began my entrepreneurial blogging journey and what an adventure it’s been. Like many entrepreneurs and bloggers, my journey started out of personal frustration.

When my daughter was born, I knew that I wanted to stay at home with her, but I also wanted to make some money. As I searched online for work at home jobs, I had a terrible time deciphering the scams from the legitimate opportunities. It was after months of frustration, that I decided to create my own website for women who wanted to work from home.

I had done a quite of bit research on blogging and monetization, that I figured it was a pretty simple and straightforward path. But with time and experience, I found that there was so much more than just creating content and making money through ad sales. (more…)

By Donna L. Johnson

No matter what your niche, I’m sure something astounding and/or controversial comes up from time to time. New government regulations that impact how you do business, the CEO of an industry you’re affiliated with is under investigation, or perhaps the product you stand behind as a direct sales representative debuts on the red carpet.

All of these topics are worthy of whipping out your laptop in hopes of being the first to share your opinions, right? Not so fast. You may want to think twice before rushing to type up that juicy piece.

I participated in a Twitter chat recently and this was part of the discussion. When is it okay to make a mad dash to publish a post that’s generating tons of buzz? When should you exercise judgment and hit the brakes? (more…)

By Donna L. Johnson

Launching a personal style blog really opened up my eyes to the world of Instagram. Photography has never been an interest of mine, but it was something about looking at pictures – taken by regular folks like you and me – that proved to be intriguing. And because Instagram is strictly for sharing photos, you don’t have to sift through text heavy updates. You can go right to the stuff that catches your eye.

When done right, these photos can actually tell a story of the person’s life on the other side of the app.

From a blogger’s perspective, here are a few tips and tricks for making the most of your viewers’ Instagram experience:

1. Embed your Instagram photos on your blog using Statigram or Snapwidget.

The slideshow adds visual interest and lets brands and organizations who may be interested in working with you, know right off the bat that you’re an active user. (more…)

By Jonny Lis

Every single day, you might ask yourself “What else can I do to improve my blog?”

Great content, simple and creative website design, pictures with Alt text, niche-based keywords—unbelievably, sometimes these aren’t enough to boost your blog to the top of search engine rankings.

So, what will?

I’m sure you will have heard of social media. It is currently the biggest trend among Internet users, and it’s not just for teens and kids, but for everyone. If you want a thriving fan base for your blog, you should start learning about it, if you haven’t already. (more…)

By Kyra Kuik

I know I’m not the only one guilty of being a serial-blog abandoner. I’d ask for a show of hands, but I wouldn’t want to embarrass anyone who is currently reading. I can’t even begin to count the number of times I’ve had a great idea for a blog, gotten it started, written some content, and then. And then my attention has been pulled in a different direction and I’ve deserted the poor bare-bones blog. I think it’s a pretty common phenomenon for those of us finding our place in this still-new online world.

It takes time to find our voices and to figure out how we want to communicate with others. That’s okay. (more…)