Affiliate marketing is a great way to monetize your blog.

Some bloggers are so successful at promoting affiliate programs/products that they make a six figure income just from that!

But as you will find out quickly, there is an overwhelming amount of affiliate programs out there and finding the good ones is like searching for a needle in a haystack. Plus, there are so many different categories to choose from that it can get really confusing.

The biggest thing to remember when choosing your networks is to stick to what you are writing about. Since this post is about food blogging, I’m sharing with you the programs and networks that have brought me the most success. I have used every single one of them and found that they have good conversion rates.

If you would like a bigger list, I have added more programs you can join at the bottom of this post.

Bookmark this page so you can come back to it as often as you need to!

When Should I Start Advertising and Selling Stuff On My Blog?

How about right now?

You don’t have to be a seasoned blogger to start selling!

While some bloggers will tell you to wait a few months before adding banners and links, I say do it as soon as you can. There’s no reason why you can’t start making a few bucks today!

If you don’t have a blog yet but are seriously thinking about starting a career in blogging, check out my post How To Start A WordPress Blog On Bluehost to learn the basics of working in WordPress. I show you step by step how to create a Bluehost account, what plan is the best and most economical, how to fire up WordPress, choose a theme and how to use the WordPress dashboard.

How many affiliate programs should you join?

That’s up to you but I personally believe that the more you join, the more successful you will be!

Having different streams of income for a food blogger, or any other type of blogger for that matter, is important. The reason being that businesses close all the time. If you are only pushing one product and that product suddenly goes bankrupt, then you will be in big financial trouble my friend.

Promoting many different affiliates means that if one source of income dries up, there are other ones still generating cash flow. It’s a way to protect yourself and make sure that there will always be a little money on the table.

How should you promote Affiliate Programs?

As organically as possible and as honest as possible.

I know it sounds simple but there is a fine line between sounding like an advertisement and being genuinely excited about a product.

Many of us will also want to post banners and links everywhere – we see dollar signs and get excited about the possibilities of earning a living as a blogger.

I totally get it because I’ve been through it! Making $30 per month is no fun, especially when you are busting your butt delivering free content for people to consume. It can get frustrating.

But remember that too much advertising can easily turn visitors away.

Now, I’m sure you are looking at my blog and thinking “but don’t you have a ton of ads on yours?”, and the answer is yes. But I also have half a million visitors coming to my blog every single month. This means that I can afford to lose a few if they get annoyed by my ads and my bounce rate won’t change that much.

If you are new at food blogging, keep your ads in the sidebar for now and at the bottom of your posts (not throughout). You can use links within your posts to push products. Putting banners in your newsletters is totally fine too. Once you get past 100,000 page views per month, you will have more options for advertising. But that’s another post I will be covering in the future.

My other recommendation is to test banners and links by keeping track of where your sales are coming from. If you see a sudden spike in income, find out which post, link or product is having success and repeat that formula throughout your other posts.

1. BLUPRINT – High Conversion Rate with Generous Commission

Bluprint, formerly known as Craftsy, is a well established online platform with over 13 million subscribers.

What makes it so popular is the sheer volume of classes they offer. Over 1,300+ in-depth classes in more than 20 categories including quilting, knitting, cooking, dance, yoga, music, art, and photography. Their motto is Pursue your passions, hone your skills, and learn from 600+ experts amongst a community of like-minded makers, seekers, and doers!

What’s in it for you:

There are so many different ways to promote their classes and so many different commission tiers that I would need to create a separate post for it!

In a nutshell you get:

• 75% commission of first-time class* or DVD purchases by new customers (30-day cookie)
• 15% commission of class* or DVD purchase by existing customers (5-day cookie)
• 15% commission of physical product** purchases by new customers (30-day cookie)
• 4% commission of physical product** purchases by existing customers (5-day cookie)
• $5 for every Bluprint trial signup (15-day cookie)
• $15 for every Bluprint monthly membership signup (15-day cookie)
• $25 for every Bluprint annual membership signup (15-day cookie)
• $15 for referring a friend who is accepted into the affiliate program

Phew!

Plus, their support team is there to help you win so make sure to develop a good relationship with your sales partner. She will guide you every step of the way with special affiliate newsletters and promotional ideas.

You can also contact someone directly at Bluprint who will work with you on coming up with the best strategies to sell products on your blog. Since they know their products inside out, they can provide you with some really helpful tips!

I have been using Bluprint as one of my affiliates for about 5 years and promoting them has been effortless. I make at least one sale every day!

2. SHE MEDIA – MOST Diverse Portfolio of Monetization Opportunities

SHE Media (formerly SheKnows Media) is a digital media company created by and for women with approximately 60 million unique visitors per month. You can decide to just monetize your website or blog, or participate in sponsored campaigns on your site or on social media.

I was with Blogher, one of their flagship sites for several years and it was great! They often contacted me with sponsored post offers and I was able to get some traffic by sharing some of my posts on their site. My reason to leave was simply because I wanted to join AdThrive, the company I currently am with for advertising, and couldn’t remain with both.

Everyone is super helpful and easy to get in touch with.

3. Sovrn

Sovrn is an ad network that pays based on CPM (cost per thousand). Basically, you get paid a certain amount of money for every thousand impressions an ad is viewed. Visitors on your blog don’t have to click a banner in order for you to make money, which is great for food bloggers!

I’m saying this because most people visiting food blogs are looking for recipes, not stuff to buy. So the chances of them clicking on one of your banners is very low. If you are with an ad network that pays based on CPC (cost per click), you will be making peanuts because they will only pay whenever someone clicks an ad.

I know this because I was with Adsense for a long time and made zero money. Meanwhile, photography blogs and insurance blogs were making a fortune because their visitors were looking to purchase something and clicked on their ads.

I’ve had great success from using Sovrn, they were my top earner until I joined AdThrive (which requires a minimum of 100,000 monthly page views to join). I highly recommend these guys!

4. Healthy Wage

Healthy wage is a program where participants get paid to lose weight.

Well, it’s a little more complicated than that but basically participants put in the amount of weight they want to lose, how long it will take them to lose it, and the calculator will show them how much money they could win. Participants who reach their goal within the allotted time frame, get paid the projected winnings.

As you can see, it’s a pretty interesting concept that may be appealing to some of your readers who are looking to shed a few pounds. This is an easy post to write for your blog, just talk about the company and how unique their program is! Remember to try them first, you can let them know you are doing research for a post and not looking to win money. Most companies will give you temporary access to check out and try their program.

Commission rate is $50 per Healthy Wager signup, $30 per Team Challenge signup, and 10% second-tier commission.

5. Yellowhammer Media

This is another ad network affiliate that has done well for me.

The set up was easy and the CPM rates were good (although not as high as Sovrn). My only problem with Yellowhammer is their interface – it’s not user friendly and there is very little analytics available so you can’t see what is working vs what isn’t.

The payout is also a bit of a pain as you have to send them an invoice if you want to get paid. But maybe things have changed since I was with them, it was a few years ago after all.

6. Gourmet Ads

I was with Gourmet Ads for almost a year and things were good – not stellar – but comfy. It’s the same system as Sovrn and Yellowhammer, the only difference is they only display food and cooking related ads.

7. Amazon Associates

One of the most famous – if not the most famous – affiliate program out there!

Amazon Associates was the second program I joined and I still use them for every post I create. It’s easy to use and I’ve had a lot of success with it.

The way it works is you make commission (between 4%-8%) for every sale you make on your blog.

So say I link the words fish sauce to a fish sauce sold on Amazon. Well, every time someone clicks on the link and orders one, I make commission.

What’s also great is if the user clicks on your link but doesn’t purchase the fish sauce, you will still make a commission from whatever they purchase during that visit.

Amazon is great because it’s a household name. People trust the brand so they aren’t afraid to purchase things from there. I guarantee you will be making money with them!

8. Shareasale

Shareasale is an affiliate network with over 2,000 merchants.

The registration process is automatic and once you’re inside you get to choose which merchants you would like to promote. You have to send a request and wait for their approval before you can start promoting them. I haven’t been declined once so far, it’s really not that hard to get accepted. Payments are consolidated into one paycheck and the minimum is $50.

Most of the brands I work with are with Shareasale. I like how their dashboard is set up (straight forward) and that I have so many different tools available to use to promote my products.

9. Saucey

Alcohol delivery in minutes. Saucey offers access to the whole liquor store at your door within 30 minutes! The commission per sale is 4% and their average sale is $52.

10. Swoop

Swoop is an affiliate company specifically made for food blogs – and they are amazing! All you need to do is place a code in the header of your blog and Swoop will insert an ad within the content of your site, typically in an article or a recipe, when it finds a contextual match. You can also choose to only display Swoop ads (like I do on my blog) in your recipe cards as opposed to throughout your posts. I think every food blogger should use Swoop – it’s non invasive and you are guaranteed to make a few bucks every month.

11. VigLink

VigLink specializes in in-text advertising. This means it converts words from your posts into affiliate links and if a user makes a purchase, you earn a referral commission from it. I briefly used VigLink so I cannot say much other than it was pretty easy making a few cents here and there.

They have a good reputation and many bloggers seem to be happy and successful with them. My reason for not using them is simply that I already have many other links and ads on my blog.

Additional Food Affiliate Programs For Food Bloggers

Restaurant Affiliate Programs

Restaurant.com – Restaurant.com offers the best deal on more than 62,000 restaurants and providers across the US. They also offer gift certifitcates ranging from $5 to $100, and allow customers to save at thousands of restaurants across the country with just a few clicks.

Healthy Eating Affiliate Programs

California Tea House – California Tea House is a gourmet loose leaf tea company that carries the highest grade loose leaf tea and custom, flavored tea blends.

Matcha Source – Matcha Source sells premium matcha green tea powder from Japan and related accessories.

11 Best Affiliate Programs For Food Blogs
Pickled Plum.

Learn how to easily set up a WordPress blog on Bluehost with this step by step tutorial so you can start making money today!

I have been blogging for 9 years and it has completely changed my life, for the better!

Through my blog I was able to branch out as a food and product photographer, recipe developer and food stylist. Blogging allows me to work from home and choose my own hours. I can also take long vacations and work from anywhere in the world.

You can’t beat that.

And I make good money too even though my blog isn’t getting a million visitors a month. You don’t need a ton of traffic to make money, you just have to learn the most effective way to make it.

• In 2017 I made $71,474.58
• In 2018 I made $87,884.88
• In 2019 I made $127,637.90
• In 2020 I made $212,161.88
• In 2021 I made $218,769.04
• In 2022 I made $221,232.28

Anyone can make money with a blog, and you can start as soon as you publish your first post! Click here to get started and to get the special Bluehost discount only available to my readers through this link.

There are plenty of affiliate programs you can join as soon as your blog is live. This is the easiest way to make money, and some bloggers are so successful at it they make over six figures, monthly, just from that! To help you get started you can read my post, 11 Best Affiliate Programs to see which programs have converted well for me.

Creating a blog using WordPress can be intimidating if you are new to blogging. But in this post I’m going to show you how surprisingly simple it is!

In this step by step tutorial, I’m going to show you:

• How to use WordPress on Bluehost
• How to start a WordPress blog
• How to publish a WordPress blog
• How to change your username in WordPress (to make your site more secure)
• How to install and change a WordPress theme
• How to customize a WordPress theme

I’m also giving you a list of really useful tools to install and use to make your blog successful.

Create an Account with Bluehost

The first step to creating a successful blog is to find a good hosting company.

Bluehost is one of the most established and well-known hosting brands on the internet. They host over 2 million WordPress sites and are excellent for beginners and starting websites because their platform is easy to use.

Click here to signup for as little as $2.95/month (this deal is only available through my blog).

To cut down on steps, Bluehost uses a process that automatically installs WordPress at sign-up. This means you can start writing your first post minutes after joining!

You also get:

• Free domain name (the name of your website – you usually have to pay for this separately).
• Free email address.
• Bandwidth is unmetered – this means you don’t have to worry about your blog crashing if it suddenly gets a ton of traffic. Whether you get 5 people or 10,000 people visiting, you will be charged the same amount. That’s huge!
• Extensive library of training videos (Installing a WordPress theme, setting up mail, how to embed a video, etc…) Their videos make it easy for everyone to successfully build a website.
• Full refund if you cancel your account within 30 days. Or prorated refund for the remainder of your hosting term if you cancel Bluehost after 30 days.
• 24-hour technical support via chat, ticket or by phone.

What about Starting a blog for free?

If you want to be serious about blogging, DO NOT start a blog for free.

It’s very difficult to make money on a free blogging platform because you have limited control over it. The templates are also limited and very basic which will make you look like a novice. Visitors to your blog will see you as someone who blogs as a hobby instead of taking you seriously.

Companies also don’t like to work with blogs that are hosted on free platforms (sponsored posts, direct advertising, etc).

It’s best to start blogging on a solid platform to avoid having to deal with unnecessary problems in the future. If you have a solid base to build your blog upon, you are golden!

Selecting a Plan and Registering Your Domain Name

1. Create an Account

Go to Bluehost and create an account. Click on Get Started Now and you will be taken to the Select Your Plan page.

2. Selecting The Best Plan

This is where you decide how much you would like to spend on your hosting. Choose the $2.95 month plan for the best pricing. 

3. Choosing Your Domain Name

The domain name is the name of your website (mine is pickledplum.com). There are no additional charges to this since Bluehost gives it to you for free!

If you are having trouble coming up with a domain name, think of word combinations that represent what you will be blogging about.

Blogging about photography? Then try snap, photos, foto, pix, frame, shutter, etc…

If you are having trouble finding something that’s available, the other option is to make up a word that stands out and is easy to remember.

I chose Pickled Plum because I wanted a name that represented my Japanese roots (I’m half Japanese). I’ve had a love affair with umeboshi (Japanese for pickled plum) since I was a little girl so naming my blog after these pickled delicacies seemed appropriate.

The key is to not overthink here because you will drive yourself crazy!

Remember that your goal is to create content so you can start making money blogging. Just pick something you like, it doesn’t have to be perfect, and go with it. If you decide later that you really don’t like it, you can always change it.

I also recommend going with a .com over .net or .co since it’s more common and looks more authoritative. My blog used to be pickledplum.net because when I was looking to purchase it,  .com was taken. I stayed with .net for a while but as my blog grew, I was ready to move it to a .com.

I contacted the person who owned the .com extension and was able to purchase it for a reasonable price. Best decision ever!

Imagine if I had waited for pickledplum.com to become available – I may have never started a blog!

Select the 12-month plan for the best pricing (for savings up to 73%). I know I’ve mentioned this a couple of times already but you must click on my link to get this deal.

If you decide to cancel your account after 12 months, Bluehost will refund you for the 24 months you haven’t used. So no matter how you look at it, the cheaper monthly fee will always be better since you can cancel anytime, and get your money for the unused months back!

Canceling is also super easy. Customer service is very helpful and nice too! There’s no jumping through hoops to get to your refund, it’s all done in a very straight forward manner.

You can uncheck all the other options for now since you technically don’t need them.

If anything I would recommend choosing the Site Backup Pro (it’s always good to have a backup) and the SiteLock Security to prevent hackers and spammers from accessing your blog.

Bluehost has its own security service installed and it’s a very strong one so you don’t need SiteLock, but it’s always good to double up on security for added safety.

For now though, leave them all unchecked as these are services you can add later.

After choosing your plan, enter your payment information and click submit.

Create a password and, Congratulations! You can now access your Bluehost account which will automatically take you to the WordPress installation process.

Installing WordPress In Bluehost

Before we dive into this chapter, let me quickly explain the difference between Bluehost, WordPress, plugins and themes. Since some of you are new at this, understanding what a hosting company is versus a blogging platform versus plugins and themes can be super confusing. I know it since I’ve been there!

So as a just in case, I’ll explain the difference.

Bluehost is where your blog is going to live. Think of Bluehost as an apartment complex where you are renting a space. That’s where your blog is going to live and stay for as long as you want to keep it there.

WordPress is a blogging platform. It’s basically a blank space that you fill with your writing and images, just like the walls of your apartment.

A WordPress theme is the style of your blog, your own personal architect/interior designer! This is where you pick the colors and the layout of your blog.

Plugins are like furniture and ornaments in that they make your room more useful and prettier. If you want a subscription box to your blog page, that would be a plugin you would have to add.

Now let’s install WordPress!

1. Log in and in the Welcome page, click on Log in to WordPress.
2. Next you will be asked about the kind of site you would like to set up – business or personal. That’s totally up to you or you can skip this step and click on I don’t need help.
3. The next page is Pick A Theme That Inspires You. Don’t sit on this for too long as you will be able to change your theme later.

I find that it’s better to pick a random one (the ones offered are FREE), write a couple of posts and change it afterward. The reason for this is because it’s hard to know what your blog will exactly look like without any content in it.

Most bloggers (if not all!) will go through several themes before settling on one they like. It took me almost four years and five complete redesigns before I felt truly satisfied with the esthetics of my blog. Even now I constantly find ways to make it better and more user friendly!

How To Use WordPress On Bluehost And Publish A Post

Now that you are set up with WordPress, it’s time to log in and launch your blog!

If you didn’t pick your own username and password, I strongly suggest you do so.

Now usually the default username given is admin but I suggest changing it into something else since hackers know about this, which makes your site more vulnerable. Pick a username that you can remember, it doesn’t have to be as complicated as the password, and then save it (more on this below).

Now that you are inside WordPress, click on Posts and Add New to create your very first post.

As you can see, there are a lot of functions you can use within a post, but there are a few important ones you should know about.

1. Add Media button. This is where you can add images and videos to your posts. Click on the button and you will be taken to another window where you can upload your content.
2. Add a link. Highlight the words you would like to link and click on the chain to add the url.
3. Publish Immediately. This is great because you can schedule your posts to go live on a specific date. I use this with every single one of my posts since I usually have about a month’s worth of content pre-shot and written. Click Edit and choose a publishing date.
4. Preview. This shows you what your WordPress blog post is going to look like.
5. Save Draft. The most important button as far as I’m concerned. Get used to saving your drafts as often as you can in case you accidentally close your window, get booted out of WordPress or something crashes and ends your connection. The last thing you want is to lose hours of hard work and see it vanish before your eyes, like it never existed!
6. Text shows you the HTML of your page. For example, if you wanted to add a banner to your page, you would click on text and add the html code there so that it comes up as an image on the visual side.
7. Edit button is to change the url of your post. I ONLY recommend changing the url BEFORE the post is published. Changing it after can cause 404 errors and you could lose traffic from sites that were linking to that specific page. Changing the url is good for titles that are too long. For example, if you title your post Best Comfort Shoes For Women And Men Over The Age Of 65, by default the url is going to look something like www.yourblogname.com/best-comfort-shoes-women-men-over-age-65. That’s too long! Google doesn’t like long urls, so you could rename it www.yourblogname.com/best-comfort-shoes-for-seniors.
8. Paragraph has a drop down menu where you can find H1 to H6 tags which are important to include in a post for seo purposes.

And there you have it. You are minutes away from publishing your first piece of content!

Click the green Publish button when your post is ready to go live.

If you accidentally publish your post while in the midst of creating it (happens to me sometimes), no worries! Just go to Satus and set it to Draft, or click Edit where it says Published, and schedule to publish at a later date.

If you would like more information on how to set up a WordPress website, check out WPBeginner. You will find a wealth of information and tons of tutorials, all WordPress related.

Keep reading as I explain how you can change your username in WordPress, change and install a new theme, and how to customize a theme. I’m also give you a list of useful tools to create a successful blog.

How To Change You Username In WordPress

If your username is the default username in WordPress, it’s a good idea to change it.

Most hackers are aware of this so when they hack into accounts they use the default admin username to access them. Now all they have to figure out is your password and boom, they are in. Changing your username into something else makes it twice as hard for them to get past the front door.

First, log in to your WordPress account and under Users, click Add New.

• Add your new username under Username. As I previously mentioned, you don’t have to come up with some crazy complicated username that you may not be able to remember later. Anything new is better than the default admin.
• Where the password is, click on Show so you can copy, paste and save it somewhere safe. This password is different than the one you were originally given so make sure to write it down and save it somewhere safe because we are about to delete the admin user.
• Under Role, change it to Administrator.

Click on Add New User and that’s it. Just make sure you have the new username and password saved somewhere!

Now you will need to log out of your account and log back in with your new username and password.

• Log back into WordPress with your new username and password.
• Go to Users -> All users
• Find Admin and delete it.

That’s it, you are done. Now your blog is twice as safe!

Changing Your Theme From Inside WordPress

Every now and then you may feel like your blog needs a makeover.

As your blog takes shape, you might decide that you want to change its style or add certain features that your current theme doesn’t support.

You can start by looking through the FREE themes available in the WordPress Themes section of your dashboard, under Appearance -> Themes. 

These are great as a starting point since you can try as many as you want for FREE!

Here you can browse through the free themes available.

Using your cursor, hover over the design you like and click on Live Preview. This will show you what your blog will look like if you choose this theme. If you are happy with what you see, go ahead and click on Activate.

You can easily go back and forth between templates by simply clicking on Activate.

Installing A WordPress Theme That’s Imported

If you decide to import a theme, make sure that it comes from a reliable source. WordPress does NOT recommend you import FREE themes unless they are listed here, in the Official WordPress.org Themes Directory.

I used a FREE theme for the first couple of years of blogging but eventually moved on to something that offered more features and customization options.

As for where I purchase my themes, I go to Studiopress for premium WordPress themes. Their themplates are stunning and offer lots of different functions. The other advantage of using Studiopress themes is that you get special deals – amazing deals – after your first purchase. You never have to pay full price again.

Elegant Themes is also another company I recommend but not because I’ve used them. I know of them through many successful bloggers who are very happy with their templates.

Importing a theme is slightly different but just as easy.

In your WordPress Dashboard, go to:

Appearance -> Themes -> Add New (the button is at the top of the page, above the themes).

Next to Add Themes, click on the Upload Themes button.

Click on Choose File and upload the ZIP file (the zip file will be inside the folder you have downloaded after purchasing the theme). Click on Install Now and click on Activate.

How To Customize A WordPress Theme

Now that you have a theme picked, you can play around with the font sizes, colors, menu and other features.

To customize your theme, go to your WordPress dashboard and click on Appearance -> Customize.

As you can see, I’m using the Brunch Pro Theme which is actually a child theme paired with the Genesis framework.

* WHAT IS A CHILD THEME?

A child theme is a WordPress theme that inherits its functionality from another WordPress theme -> the parent theme. Child themes are often used when you want to customize or tweak an existing WordPress theme without losing the ability to upgrade that theme.

From here you can make all the changes you desire to give your blog the look you have in mind. Every time you click on something you will see a preview on the right side of the screen. So say for example I change the text color from black to pink, I would see the text in pink on the right side.

Once you are happy with the changes, click the green Published button.

Additional Tools To Create A Successful Blog

Now that you know how to set up a blog on WordPress, here are a few additional tools I recommend checking out. You won’t need all of these right away so I suggest you bookmark this page and come back to it later, when it’s time to do some upgrading.

Google Analytics

You have published a few posts and now it’s time to see where the traffic is coming from.

Is it coming from organic Google searches or from social media channels like Twitter and Facebook? Or better yet, one of your posts was shared by a big site like Buzzfeed and you are getting a sudden spike in traffic.

First of all, how do you find out that Buzzfeed is sharing your content and which one of your post has gone viral?

That’s exactly what Google Analytics is for. It’s a very powerful FREE web analytics service that shows you where your visitors are from, how long they stay on your bog, which one of your post is the most popular and how your blog is being found.

Installing Google Analytics should be a priority since you need to know what your visitors like about your blog in order to become successful at blogging.

Yoast SEO Plugin

Another FREE tool you should install as soon as you have created your WordPress blog is the Yoast SEO plugin.

SEO (search engine optimization) is basically writing content that’s optimized for organic searches. This means that in order for people to find your posts, you will need to rank high on searches in Google, Bing and other search engines. One way to help your posts gain traction is to focus on seo by adding keywords to your high quality content.

Then Yoast can help you create a sitemap, set up meta titles, shorten you urls, and give you pointers on the content of each of your posts.

There are even colored dots showing you what needs work (red) and what looks good (green).

Optinmonster

Once your blog takes off you will want to connect with your readers by sending them weekly newsletters (my traffic always spikes when I send out a newsletter because I have over 10,000 subscribers) or inform them on new products you are selling. If you want to make money as a blogger, it’s essential to have a strong email list!

Your loyal followers will want to know what you are up to and are more likely to purchase something from you than a random visitor to your site. I have three locations for my signup boxes:

• One in my sidebar.
• One that lightbox popup which is a web form that appears on top of the webpage that you are viewing.
• One at the bottom of each post.

I use Optinmonster because they specialize in high converting signup boxes and have a extensive library to choose from. I can also see which boxes are converting well – my lighbox popup converts at 68% versus 23% for the one in the sidebar – and their customer service is by far the best I’ve experienced online. I have the basic package which costs $9/month.

Mailchimp

I currently use ActiveCampaign because of their advanced automation system and competitive prices for bloggers with bigger mailing lists.

But for the first three years of my blogging career I used Mailchimp and was very happy with it. The reason being that Mailchimp is FREE to use – 100% FREE – for up to 2,000 subscribers! It’s also very easy to set up since they have tons of beautiful pre-made templates that only need your content added before they can be sent out.

Buffer

Getting a blog off the ground is a lot of work and part of your job as a blogger is to share your content on social media. The more eyes you can get on your content, the better!

Buffer is a social media management platform that schedules posts, tracks the performance of your content, and manages all your social accounts in one place (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Google +, Linkedin).

By using Buffer, you can schedule content to publish across several social media platforms days ahead of time. This means instead of having to worry about posting stuff a few times a day every day, you can do it once a week by setting up a posting schedule. I’m not 100% sure but I think you can schedule posts up to 3 weeks ahead. This is a huge time saver!

Canva

Canva is a wonderful tool for creating graphics for your posts (look at my blue and white polka dot page breaks – that’s done in Canva) to make reading your content easier. When you only have blocks of writing pasted onto your pages, it can be tiring for the eyes to follow.

Breaking up your paragraph with images, infographics and cute designs will liven up your posts and make them more engaging.

You can also create pins for Pinterest and design eye catching graphics for other social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Landing Page Builder To Sell Your Product(s)

A landing page builder is essential when you are selling your own product. They look beautiful and convert extremely well.

I use Leadpages to sell my ebook 51 Recipes which only took 20 minutes to set up.

The pages are also mobile responsive which is extremely important these days since most people use their mobile devices to browse and shop online. This is money well spent when you have a product ready to sell. Since using Leadpages, my ebook sales have tripled!

Pin This Post To Save Or Re-Read Later

Use my special discount with Bluehost (only available through my blog) and get hosting for just $2.95/month!

That’s it for this How To Start A WordPress Blog On Bluehost tutorial. If you have any questions or would like to share some helpful tips, leave a comment at the bottom or send me an email using the contact form. If you liked this post, check out my top 11 Best Affiliate Programs For Food Blogs.

How To Start A WordPress Blog On Bluehost
Pickled Plum.

Finding a good recipe plugin can be as confusing and frustrating as finding a good hosting company. With so many to choose from, they all tend to blur together and seem to have the same functions.

But as someone who has been food blogging for 8 years and who has gone through several recipe plugins, more than I care to remember, I must say it’s been hard to find a good one.

It took years before I finally found one that automatically increased my traffic, and that’s why I decided to write a little post about it.

Scroll all the way down to see which recipe plugin changed my blog’s life.

I figured that if it was this difficult for me to find a good recipe plugin, then you might also be in the same position.

What is a Recipe Plugin?

A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. In the case of a recipe plugin, it adds a recipe card to your posts where you input your ingredients, directions and any additional information pertaining to the recipe.

To Pay or Not To Pay

If you follow my blogging adventures, you know that I always encourage bloggers to invest a little money from the get-go because those extra dollars really pay off in the end.

I spent the first two years of my blogging career trying to do it for free and I wish I hadn’t done that.

By refusing to upgrade certain plugins, I didn’t have access to features that would have helped my blog stand out and look more professional. Also, I missed out on amazing online courses teaching bloggers how to increase their traffic and make more sales. I was convinced that all the useful tools and blogging information were available for free if I did enough research.

Don’t do what I did.

Believe me, set a few hundred bucks aside and start on the right foot!

Take online courses, find a good hosting company and a good recipe plugin. It will save you months of hard work down the road which is worth so much more than a few saved dollars.

So, to pay or not to pay for a recipe plugin?

If you are serious about food blogging and want to make money from it -> Pay.

The thing with recipe plugins is that free ones are very limiting and may not be structured in a way that can help you grow your traffic.

How Much Does A Recipe Plugin Cost?

Anywhere between $50-$100 a year. It’s not a one time purchase, you must renew it yearly.

By buying the plugin, the hope is that it will deliver on its promise. And because of that I recommend doing some digging around before committing to one for a whole year.

In this post, I’m going to share the three most recent recipe plugins I have used. As I previously mentioned, I used a lot more than that but considering the fact that I cannot remember most of their names, I’m going to deem them forgettable.

What is Structured Data?

Before we begin, let me quickly explain what structured data is and why it matters for seo (search engine optimization) since I will be talking about it a lot throughout this post.

When data from a web page is formatted into HTML code, it can be difficult for search engines to effectively interpret this information. Some of the coding can be hard to decipher and that’s when structured data comes in to help. Structured data like Schema.org and JSON-LD adds extra information that allows search engines to truly understand what your blog is about. That information is then used to improve search result listings.

For example, a recipe plugin that has sections where you can add keywords, type of cuisine, category, cooking method, and nutritional facts, is optimized with structured data.

Structured data makes it immediately clear what all the different parts of a page mean so search engines can better understand your posts.

Easy Recipe – 3/10

Easy Recipe was the first plugin I paid for and used for about three years. At first I was quite happy with it, but the lack of customer support and updates made it so I had to leave, if I wanted to stay up to date.

While other plugins were implementing structured data, Easy Recipe ignored it. Structured data is extremely important in order for search engines to be able to read recipes. Without it, it can be difficult for them to decipher.

My verdict? Don’t bother with it. From what I can tell by reading the comments online, it looks like Easy Recipe hasn’t updated their plugin since 2016, and the customer support is virtually non existent. I’m also not sure if the plugin is optimized for data structuring since I’m not seeing any information regarding that on their page.

WP Ultimate Recipes – 5/10

At first, WP Ultimate Recipes seemed like the best recipe plugin ever, but it didn’t take long before the cracks started to show. First of all, this plugin will mess your WP dashboard because it creates an entire new section called Recipes.

Let me explain this better – you know how you usually go inside WP and go in the Post section to create a new post? Well, with WP Ultimate Recipes you no longer use the Post section and instead create recipe posts under Recipes.

Why is this so frustrating  you ask?

Plugins end up losing some of their functions and the interface is not very user friendly. There’s nothing simple about using WP Ultimate Recipes, I always wondered if I was doing something wrong.

Another big downside to this plugin is the option of adding the slug /recipe/ within your URL (don’t do it!), which initially sounds like a great idea for seo purposes. But this becomes a major problem if you decide to upgrade or no longer use their plugin because the slug  suddenly disappears.

So your links go from https://pickledplum.com/recipe/vegan-shepherds-pie/ to https://pickledplum.com/vegan-shepherds-pie/.

This means you need to use a redirect plugin to make sure your old links point to the new links, otherwise you could lose all your backlinks. This could kill your traffic since strong backlinks are what makes your blog rank high or low in search engines.

Forgetting to redirect can be a serious detriment to the success of your blog.

Is it WP Ultimate Recipes seo friendly?

It wasn’t for me.

After testing a few links in Google Search Console I noticed that most of my recipes couldn’t be read by Google. There were yellow highlighted lines everywhere on all of my recipes and I suddenly came to the realization that my traffic might be decreasing because of this plugin.

I kept this plugin for 1 year and my traffic stalled.

As far as customer service is concerned, it can be either excellent or non existent. I’ve had times when I was blown away by how quickly I would receive a detailed answer to my problem. Other times I would get a short, curt reply that made me feel like I was bothering them. And another couple of times I got radio silence.

My verdict? I don’t like this recipe plugin at all. I also think it can be dangerous for beginner food bloggers to use, who aren’t familiar with backlinks and redirects (should they decided to eventually stop using it). It’s simply not well thought out.

WP Recipe Maker – N/A

This is the updated version of WP Ultimate Recipe and it looks like they fixed a lot of their issues. They got rid of the Recipes section so you can now create your posts from the Post section! Also, they switched from Schema to JSON-LD structured data which makes recipes easier to read for search engines.

Is it good?

I don’t know, I only used it to unsubscribe to WP Ultimate Recipe. I had to upgrade to Recipe Maker (for free) to be able to revert my recipes in the Recipes section, back to the Post section.

My verdict? They lost my trust with WP Ultimate Recipe, so even if WP Recipe Maker happens to be outstanding, I would never go back to using any of their products.

WP Tasty Recipes – 9.5/10

Finally, the only recipe plugin I will recommend getting because it was built by food bloggers. Let’s face it, food bloggers are the only ones who truly know what a recipe plugin needs in order to function properly.

WP Tasty Recipes rocks because it checks all the boxes.

My traffic in the past 4 months has increased by 60.25% overall and as much as 104% in organic searches! That’s incredible!!

Built by Bjork and Lindsay, owners of the super successful food blog Pinch of Yum, they created the plugin with a few specific things in mind:

• Ease of use for both the user and the reader.
• Easy for search engines to read. WP Tasty Recipes uses JSON-LD structured data to provide an in-depth view of your recipe to search engines, including both Pinterest and Google.
• Flexible formatting so you can write recipes the way you like it, and make the recipe card look the way you want it to.
• Video integration. Since video is the wave of the future, the plugin allows video embedding so you can show how the recipe is made right next to the ingredients!

I’ve been following Lindsay and Bjork’s food blogging journey for longer than I’ve had a blog.

In fact, they are the ones who inspired me to start a food blog because I saw them go from making $72/month, to well over $20,000/month in the span of just 3 years!

Bjork and Lindsay are an established source of information for all things related to food blogging. They own Food Blogger Pro, a website packed with video tutorials on how to start, grow and monetize a food blog.

I was with Food Blogger Pro for 2 years and gobbled up all of their videos because they are actually full of information and useful. Also, the chat rooms alone are worth the money because they are filled with helpful food bloggers from around the world.

So when I saw that they had launched a recipe plugin, I was overjoyed!

WP Tasty Recipes delivers on all fronts – it’s solid, easy to use (the interface is almost the same as if you were creating a new post in WP), the style of the recipe cards are polished, and the customer support consistently good.

The verdict? I gave it 9.5 out of 10 because their customer service can take a little too long to reply at times. But other than that, WP Tasty Recipe is a wonderful plugin you will thoroughly enjoy using.

If you are new to blogging, check out these helpful posts:

• How To Start A WordPress Blog On Bluehost
• How To Come Up With A Blog Name
• How To Write Your First Blog Post
• Food Blogging For Beginners

I’m a Food Blogger and this Is the Best WordPress Recipe Plugin
Pickled Plum.

New to Blogging? Start Here!

Maybe you’ve been thinking about starting a blog for quite some time but never found the right moment to pull the trigger. Or maybe it’s all the tecchie stuff that you find scary and confusing? No need to fear WordPress or how to set up your blog – follow this step-by-step tutorial on how to start a blog!

Click here to learn how you can start a blog today for just $2.95/month (this price is only available through this link and includes a free domain name and WordPress installation).

What is a blogging platform?

What is Web Hosting?

Which Comes First – Web Hosting Or Blogging Platform?

A Few More Things To Know About Free Blogging Platforms

Subdomain Names Don’t Look Professional

It’s Not Search Engine Friendly

Bad for Social Media Credibility

You Have Zero Control Over What Happens to Your Content

Why It’s Hard To Make Money On A Free Blogging Platform

1. You cannot run your own advertisements.

2. Your blog can take a long time to load.

3. Limited amount of traffic for your blog.

4. Limited amount of storage for your data.

5. Your blog won’t look professional or convincing.

WordPress – The Best Blogging Platform For Serious Bloggers

WordPress is the best blogging platform to make money because:

• There are no restrictions – you can do anything you want, including adding advertising banners.
• The platform is easy to use, flexible and very powerful.
• You can design your blog exactly the way you pictured it in your mind.
• You can sell your own products (eBook, eCourse, etc.) and have an e-commerce section.
• You can choose which affiliate programs you would like to promote and promote them however you want (banners, posts, eCommerce)
• You can add beautiful landing pages like the one I created for my ecookbook.

Differentiating between WordPress.org and WordPress.com

Why Avoid Free Blogging Platforms If You Want To Make Money Online
Pickled Plum.

Starting a blog is both exciting and a little scary.

Exciting because it’s a brand new project filled with endless possibilities. Most of us start a blog in hopes of turning it into a career so we can make our own schedule and free ourselves of the corporate world. We dream about success and a happy life away from an office building.

A little scary because there are many steps to take in order to start a blog. This can be confusing. What if you make a huge mistake right out of the gate?

Don’t worry, it’s not that hard. I mean it’s not that hard to get started. Full disclosure though: blogging is actually quite difficult!

But I’ll show you exactly how to do it. Today you are going to take the first step: pick a niche and learn about the ones that make the most money.

What is a blog niche?

A blog niche is a topic that you choose to write about for a specific group of people. Say you choose to write about food in general. That would be considered a broad topic. On the other hand, choosing something within the topic of food – such as vegan recipes – would be considered a niche.

The reason it’s best to choose a niche instead of a broad topic is because the internet is saturated with blogs and websites. The competition is fierce. And, most of the time, broad topic sites are owned by big companies with even bigger advertising budgets. Obviously, those guys are hard to beat on all levels. To give you an example: my food blog must compete with massive websites such as The Food Network, Martha Stewart and Serious Eats.

Could I ever beat those guys and become no.1 in the food blogging world?

Never.

And that’s because I can realistically only produce two original long-form pieces of content per week. By comparison, they have a staff of writers publishing dozens of posts every day. I also cannot afford to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertisement – which means I can’t get as much exposure as they do.

Narrowing down your niche will help you attract an audience that is looking to solve a specific problem. For vegans it could be finding tasty vegan recipes – while for single moms it could be something like balancing work and life at home.

By narrowing it down you have a better chance at beating the big guys. Minimalist Baker, which is a plant based blog, does this very well. They constantly show up as the number 1 result in Google searches.

You also get readers who tend to be more loyal than broad topic readers. They come back to your site again and again because you have provided something of value to them: information that is relevant to their lives. Their loyalty (and your pinpointed message) will be good for you down the road when you decide to sell your own product.

Can You Make Money Regardless Of The Niche You Pick?

Of course!

I believe anyone can make money as long as they focus on solving problems.

And the good news is you don’t need a lot money to get started, there are plenty of good and affordable hosting company such as Bluehost, which offers hosting and a free domain name for as little as $2.95/month (this offer is only available to readers of my blog, the discount is automatically applied through the link). You can check out this post I’ve written about setting up a WordPress blog for more information.

If you write about random things that may be interesting to you, but aren’t helpful to people, well… You just won’t make any money in the long run. It’s a harsh pill to swallow. But the truth is that no one truly cares about you aside from your friends and family. What you need to be successful is to focus on the needs of others and forget about yourself.

Do that consistently and I promise you will do well. People are always looking to become better versions of themselves.

You don’t need hundreds of thousands of visitors to your site to make a good living either. There are plenty of small niche blogs that make a lot money because the problems they solve are super unique and targeted. And because there’s so little competition in their field, they quickly become an authority on the subject.

So my advice is this: if there is something you LOVE to do, pick that! Then find a way to solve people’s problems within that niche.

Even if it’s something as obscure as popping pimples. I bet Dr. Pimple Popper didn’t expect to become so big that she would score a show on TLC!

Still not convinced that small niches can make money?

Then look at these three blogs:

• Sharpologist
• Cruelty Free Kitty
• Pixie Faire

Sharpologist is a blog about shaving that makes roughly $6k per month. Cruelty Free Kitty, a blog about cruelty free products, brings in closer to $10k per month. Pixie Faire is an e-commerce site started by Cinnamon and Jason, who noticed their daughter’s obsession for dolls and doll outfits. In 2009 they started selling downloadable doll clothing patterns and online sewing classes. They now make between $50k-$60k per month!

I’m going to say it one more time: remember that people want to be better versions of themselves. So it’s important to pick a niche where you know you can help them and make a difference in their lives.

Be passionate about your niche

This is so important!

Don’t pick a niche simply because you see dollar signs. Unfortunately, this almost guarantees failure. Most bloggers don’t make it past the initial 3-4 months because they saw blogging as an easy way to make money. Hit the publish button and the money will just roll in, right!?

But this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Blogging is time consuming and requires patience and discipline. So you want to make sure you pick a niche that you love since you will be stuck with it in the same way you’d be stuck with a 9 to 5 job.

Take me for example. I know I could be making a lot more money if I wrote about personal finance. But here’s the thing… I’m not an expert in finance. And the reason for that is that I’m not interested in this field of work. Writing about it would be very difficult since I would need to do hours upon hours of research for every single post. And I wouldn’t be contributing anything new to the field. Essentially, I’d be regurgitating the information that was already out there. Plus, I’d have to learn finance speak to really resonate with readers.

Obviously, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with personal finance. I’m just a food girl. So this path makes more sense for me to pursue.

Blogging about something you don’t care about will feel like the worst job ever. So don’t go down that rabbit hole! Plus, you won’t be seen as an authority which means people won’t take you seriously. Make sure you pick a niche that you are knowledgeable in, so you’re capable of giving proper advice.

Grab a pen and a piece of paper and write down what you love doing – and what you’d consider yourself an expert at.

Blog Niches That Make Money

That being said, there are niches that are easier to make money from. Hey – that’s just a fact. Popular topics people need help with tend to do quite well. You can find a few listed below. I’m going to break them down and also tell you the best ways to make money from them. These are listed in no particular order.

1. How To Make Money Online

This niche can be extremely lucrative if you can prove that you make a lot of money online.

So does this mean that beginner bloggers cannot write about making money online?

Yes. However, you can create a blog with the intention of talking about how to make money as the end goal.

For example: in the beginning you might document your journey as a blogger and talk about how you are planning to make money. Then you can show your readers what has been working well for you and what hasn’t. These posts will establish you as a serious blogger and demonstrate your credibility. Once you make a decent amount – I would say over $5k per month – and have enough experience to call yourself an expert, you might start teaching people how to make money online.

The best way to make money from a how to make money online blog:

• Offering an online class or an eBook. People will pay good money to learn how to make more money online.
• Advertising (these are the ads you see on the sidebar and within posts).
• Affiliate products: Tools you use to blog efficiently, digital equipment, books about blogging. I use Shareasale to find good products to promote. They are one of the biggest affiliate marketing networks out there, and anyone can join.
• Sponsored posts. This is when you talk about a company or a service in a post and receive compensation for it.

Successful how to make money online blogs:

• Smart Passive Income
• Any Lynn Andrews
• Pro Blogger

2. Personal Finance

Writing about personal finance can also be very lucrative – because you are helping people save, invest and make money. To be successful in this field you need to be good at showing that you are careful with your money and savvy with investments and purchases. If you love taking care of bills and documenting your spending, this might be a good niche to consider.

The best ways to make money from a personal finance blog:

• Offer an online class or eBook. People will pay good money to learn how to manage their money or make more money.
• Coaching. Offer to help one-on-one for a certain fee.
• Advertising (the ads you see on the sidebar and within posts).
• Affiliate products.
• Sponsored posts. This is when you talk about a company or a service in a post and receive compensation for it.

Successful personal finance blogs

• Making Sense Of Cents
• Mr Money Mustache
• The College Investor

3. Health and Wellness

Health and wellness is an extremely popular niche – because, sadly, obesity is getting worse. In light of that, a ton of companies and single entrepreneurs are investing in weight loss programs so there is a lot of competition in this particular subject.

But the good news is health and wellness can be about a lot more than obesity and weight loss and this is what you should focus on if you want to pick this topic.

What you need to do here in order to succeed is to focus on a smaller niche. There are plenty of niches to choose from in health blogging, some of these include:

• Running or other sports
• Health supplements or other products that are health related
• Mental health
• Aromatherapy or other treatments that are health related

Focus on solving one (just one) big problem. Cover it from all angles. For example, if you pick aromatherapy, write content about the different types available, scents, how it affects moods, how it became popular, celebrities who use aromatherapy, if it can help illnesses. Once you start digging for things to write about your niche, you’ll keep on finding more and more.

The best way to make money from a health and wellness blog:

• Coaching. You can get paid for being a life coach, health coach, motivational coach.
• Online class or eBook. Teach people how to live healthier lives, how to loose weight, be more proactive, learn techniques to reduce stress.
• E-commerce. Sell your own products – such as supplements, teas, oils.
• Advertising (the ads you see on the sidebar and within posts).
• Affiliate products.
• Sponsored posts. This is when you talk about a company or a service in a post and receive compensation for it.

Successful health and wellness blogs

• Avocadu
• Organize Yourself Skinny

4. Travel

The travel niche seems to be growing exponentially faster than before. I have a feeling it’s because of all those Instagram success stories. You can make money with a travel blog because you can drive a lot of traffic from sources like Instagram – and, in turn, get sponsorships. But in order to do that you must know how to take great pictures. Actually, not just great… show-stopping, stunning, amazing pictures.

If you don’t feel very confident as a photographer, you could focus more on telling unique stories about the countries you visit. Top 10 lists are huge with travel blogs (10 best summer destinations on a budget, etc.). Video content tends to do very well within this niche too.

The best way to make money from a travel blog:

• Advertising (the ads you see on the sidebar and within posts).
• Affiliate products. Sell sporting goods, travel books, suitcases, or promote services like travel and hotel sites like Tripadvisor and Airbnb.
• Sponsored posts. This is when you talk about a company or a service in a post and receive compensation for it.
• Press trips. Travel for free in luxury with all expenses paid.

Successful travel blogs

• Helene In Between
• The Travel Hack
• Local Adventurer

5. Food

I had to mention my niche since I know quite a few food bloggers who are making over $5k per month. As you know, I made $127k last year – so there is potential to make a comfortable living sharing recipes and talking about food. But, just like with all other niches listed in this post, this market is quite saturated. So you will need to find a small niche in order to stand out.

What’s important is that you cook or talk about the food you love. Don’t pick healthy eating just because you see dollar signs if, in reality, you love fried foods. The good thing about food is that everyone has to eat! So even if you pick a tiny niche, it will never be as small as doll patterns or pimple popping. You can also zone in on a diet such as paleo, gluten-free, vegan, etc. and produce quality content about that.

The best way to make money from a food blog:

Focus on growing your traffic since most food bloggers make 90% of their income through display ads on their pages.

• Advertising (the ads you see on the sidebar and within posts).
• Online cooking class or eBook. Teach people how to eat healthier, how to bake, how to make international food. You can sell your own eCookbook, eBook on losing weight, Paleo cookbook, etc.
• Sponsored posts. This is when you talk about a company or a service in a post and receive compensation for it.
• Affiliate products. Sell cooking ingredients, cookbooks, kitchen appliances, or promote food services like Blue Apron, Sunbasket.

Successful food blogs

• My blog – Pickled Plum
• Kitchen Sanctuary
• Pinch of Yum

6. Technology

Technology is one of those niches where people will spend big bucks if they trust your judgement. In order for you to succeed in this industry you must specialize in a specific subject like smart TVs, DSLRs or smartphones. You must be an expert here – so be knowledgeable and as thorough as you can be in the content you choose to write. Be very focused and detail oriented.

The best way to make money from a technology blog:

• Reviews. Let companies know you can review their newest product for a fee.
• Advertising (the ads you see on the sidebar and within posts).
• Affiliate products. You could stand to make good money here since tech products can be quite pricey! The higher the product you sell costs, the bigger the commission!
• Sponsored posts. This is when you talk about a company or a service in a post and receive compensation for it.

Successful technology blogs

• Tech Maish
• Stratechery
• She Geeks

7. Mom – Parenting

Sigh… Sometimes I wish I was a mom so I could start a mom blog.

Seriously though, there are a lot of mommy bloggers who are killing it online these days! That’s because mothers often need support navigating through the new problems and experiences motherhood can bring. Being able to go online and find other women who are experiencing the same issues is comforting and helpful.

Obviously, I only recommend going after this niche if you are a mom yourself. You can actually go a bit broad here and talk about all sorts of issues mothers are going through – from the early stages of pregnancy all the way up to dealing with teenage kids. You can also talk about personal issues such as managing postpartum depression, balancing work and kids, how to find time to be romantic, etc…

The best way to make money from a mom and parenting blog:

• Advertising (the ads you see on the sidebar and within posts).
• Affiliate products. Mom blogs can sell anything from baby diapers to kids clothing, breast pumps and lunch boxes.
• Online class or eBook. Teach mothers how to deal with postpartum depression, how to get back in shape after giving birth, how to find time for yourself, how to deal with stress.
• Sponsored posts. This is when you talk about a company or a service in a post and receive compensation for it.

Successful mom and parenting blogs

• Mommy On Purpose
• Swaddles n’ Bottles
• What Mommy Does
• Single Moms Income

8. Lifestyle

This is another broad topic that does well as a… well, broad topic! You don’t need to focus on one thing but you do need to know what you’re talking about. The best way to do well with a lifestyle blog is to write about the things you do on a daily basis. But remember, don’t talk about yourself too much. Your blog is to help people improve their lives!

For example: I like yoga, reading, cooking, makeup and clothing. These are the topics I would feel comfortable writing about. So under yoga I could show readers how to do yoga poses and avoid injuries. I could write book reviews for my reading section. The recipes would be in the cooking section, etc.

The best way to make money from a lifestyle blog:

A little bit of all of the above! Because lifestyle encompasses so many different topics, it will depend on the subjects you choose to cover.

Successful lifestyle blogs

• Just a Girl and Her Blog
• Chasing Foxes

Now you’ve got your niche. So what’s the next step?

Now that you have decided on the type of posts you would like to write about, it’s time for you to pick a blog name. I recommend you do this as soon as possible to maximize your accomplishments with the inspiration you are feeling.

If you wait too long the moment could pass you by and you may lose that drive you’re feeling right now. Bank on that positive feeling and move forward with your plan!

I have a post written that will help you cut through unnecessary steps so you can find with a blog name in less than an hour.

Click here to read How to Come Up With a Blog Name.

Once you are done with that, I’ll show you How to Create a WordPress Blog in just 15 minutes!

Use my special discount with Bluehost (only available through my blog) and get hosting for just $2.95/month!

Blog Niches That Make Money (And The Best Ways To Make Money From Them)
Pickled Plum.

Giving birth to a blog is exciting and overwhelming. And just like a baby, you must find the perfect name for it which can take hours and days. But it doesn’t have to be this way – this post will help you cut through unnecessary steps so you can find a blog name in less than an hour. Oh, and congratulations on taking the first step to your blogging journey!

Today I’m going to show you how to quickly come up with a blog name so you can start working on your first blog post – and be on your way to making money as a career blogger!

The first thing you are probably wondering is: how important is it to come up with an awesome blog name?

And the answer is pretty simple – it’s not that important.

How come it’s not that important?

Because people don’t care if your blog name sounds cool or not. What they want is solid content that speaks to them.

So how long should you spend trying to come up with a blog name?

45-60 minutes, tops! Honestly, the less time you spend on it, the better.

Why?

Because the search for the perfect name can become the reason you don’t ever get around to starting a blog. If you spend too much time looking for the perfect name, the initial inspiration can pass you by.

And which would you rather have: a blog that doesn’t have the perfect name but makes you money – or an idea growing stale while you quest for the perfect name?

This post will help you simplify the selection process by giving you a few shortcuts on how to find a blog name so you can focus on what’s important -> your content.

So grab a pen and piece of paper and let’s begin the search!

1. Identify Your Blogging Niche

The first step to finding a blog name is to figure out what type of content you will write about. Is your blog going to be about traveling? Cooking? Being a mom? Interior design? Photography?

Your blog can also be about a few different subjects like mine is – but it’s worth mentioning that blogs with specific niches tend to fare better financially.

The reason being: these blogs focus on solving a targeted issue (how to save money, how to cook tasty vegan food, dealing with the postpartum phase) – which in turn attract visitors who are specifically looking to find answers to that problem.

What does this mean in terms of dollar signs?

It becomes easier to sell third party affiliate products, or create your own product, because you know exactly what your visitors are looking for. A LOT of money can be made that way!

For the first 5 years of my blogging career, I created only recipes . It’s only recently that I decided to venture out of my niche because I knew I could. I have over 700 recipes, an eBook and a recipe app – so it’s safe to say that I’m established as a food expert.

But since I also happen to be an expert at blogging (I’ve been blogging for eight years) and I love helping people out, adding a section about blogging only made sense.

 2. Know who your target audience is

Will your target audience prominently consist of females in their 30s and 40s? Then you probably want to steer clear of using slang words or trendy words in your blog name.

Conversely, if your target audience mainly consists of teens and people in their early 20s, it might be a good idea to use trendy words to signal that your blog is aimed at a younger demographic.

Knowing who you are creating content for is crucial to your blog’s success. The voice you will be using as an influencer has to resonate with the audience reading your posts.

Take a moment to write down who your target audience is. This shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes.

3. Make a list of keywords relating to your blog’s niche

Once you figure out what your blog is about, the next step is to come up with a blog name.

Make a list of words that relate to the niche you are going to write about.

Let’s say I’m starting a blog about being a mom.

Words that come to mind when I think about being a mom – motherhood, babies, stay at home mom, pregnancy, breastfeeding, back to school, kid’s lunch, working from home.

Try to come up with as many words as you can – and don’t forget to use a thesaurus for synonyms

Don’t spend more than 20-25 minutes doing this.

Set your timer and go!

4. Look at your competitor’s blog names

This shouldn’t take more than 5-10 minutes to do. It’s a great way to help you get the juices flowing and think up a good name for you blog!

First you will need to find your competitors by doing a Google search. You can either look for a list of top bloggers in your niche (e.g.: best financial blogs) – or do a general search.

Next, write down the blog names you like. Be sure to look at the meta descriptions too, since you can find great keywords stuffed in there.

5. Better go with a .com or .co than other domain extensions

The reason being that .com is used widely for all sorts of blogs and websites and is the most popular and common extension. I also suggest .co because there are more domain names available, making your search faster and less frustrating.

What about .net and the other extensions?

You could go with a .net – but before you do, you should know that this extension is mainly intended for technology and networking websites.

I wouldn’t recommend .me because it’s meant for personal blogs with no commercial purpose.

I also wouldn’t recommend these extensions – .org for organizations, .edu for education, .info for information and knowledge database, .biz for business (plus, this one gets a bad rap due to lots of spammy sites ending with .biz).

So here are the top three extensions to use when looking for a domain name:

1. .com
2. .co
3. .net

6. Start your search for a blog name

Now that you have a list of words specific to your niche, synonyms, competitor blog names and additional keywords taken from search descriptions, it’s time to look for a blog name!

If you already have a hosting company, I suggest using them to also get your domain name. It’s easier to have your domain name and blog parked in the same spot, especially if you aren’t super tech savvy.

Otherwise, I recommend Bluehost, one of the most established and well-known hosting companies online. You can start blogging for as little as $2.95 per month, and this includes a FREE domain name when you sign up. Click here to get started and to get the special Bluehost discount only available to my readers through this link.

You can also read my post How To Start A WordPress Blog On Bluehost for more details.

Now that you have a few blog names in mind, try them in the Bluehost domain lookup tool to see what’s available:

If the blog name you like is available, congratulations! You are mere minutes away from starting your own blog!

If you have used up all your ideas and came up empty handed, don’t give up. Try a plural version, different word combinations, add an adjective or a verb to describe your blog.

And remember: don’t overthink this part too much, save your marbles for what matters most – writing your content.

8. If all else fail, use your own name

My own name? What? How does that describe what my blog is about?

It doesn’t.

Yes, it always helps to have a descriptive domain name – but it’s not what’s going to make you successful.

How do I know this for a fact?

Answer: sarahtitus.com

Sarah Titus is a very successful blogger who makes nearly a million dollars a year focusing on selling printables. Yeah, you read that right – close to a million dollars!

By looking at her blog name you would never guess she has an online store full of printables, right? So how does she manage to make so much money?

By creating high quality blog posts and solid products.

She could have called her blog something like healthypuppyslippers.com and it wouldn’t have made a difference. People like what she sells because she understand what her audience needs. And, because of that, they come back for more.

The moral of this post is – create amazing content and don’t fret so much over a blog name

All of us would love to own the coolest domain name, but focusing on that is not the right way to get started.

Instead of spending hours coming up with a great name, why not focus on creating high quality content?

I believe ideas are everywhere. They float in the air all around us – and once in a while, when the timing is right, one will land on your shoulder.

When a great idea strikes (like starting your own blog), it means it’s ripe for picking. Grab it. Don’t let go. Do something with it! If you wait too long, it will move on and someone else will take ownership.

Finding a blog name is just the beginning of your blogging journey, so don’t get stuck on that step for too long. Focus on the end goal instead: which is to have a blog full of awesome content!

Good luck on your journey – and don’t hesitate to ask me questions by leaving them in the comments section.

Use my special discount with Bluehost (only available through my blog) and get hosting for just $2.95/month!

How To Come Up With A Blog Name – Blogging 101
Pickled Plum.

Affiliate marketing courses are essential for people looking to make money online. In this post I share with you the two courses that helped me turn my blog into a six figure business.

Some people make a fortune blogging. Others make enough to live comfortably. And others, yet, struggle to make ends meet.

I was in the last category for about four years of my life (as a blogger), and I can’t tell you how frustrating that was. There I was, working so hard – putting in as many hours as the successful bloggers were – only to make a fraction of their salary.

I spent way too much time comparing my blog to bigger blogs, and I can’t tell you how demoralizing that was. It made me feel like a complete failure.

In 2013 I made $693.32 for the whole year. 

In 2014 I made $2,386.57 for the whole year. 

People seemed to like my food but I wasn’t getting a lot of page views. So I became convinced that having a ton of traffic was the secret to earning a big income. After all, that seemed to be the general consensus out there in the blogging world.

So in 2015 and 2016, I decided to buckle down and throw all of my energy into growing my traffic. I worked non stop publishing posts and making sure they were search engine optimized.

I was a crazy person.

At one point I was shooting and publishing recipes every other day, working 70 hours a week and only taking two days off a month. I walked around with a permanent stiff neck and an inflamed shoulder.

I ate, slept and breathed traffic.

My goal was to get to 1 million page views per month.

But that never materialized.

In 2015, I received around 117,000 monthly page views and made $10,863.49 for the whole year.

Then in 2016 my blog reached a new high. I received around 275,500 page views per month, with March being the highest at 371,000 page views. I finished the year with $37,560.48 in my pocket.

I had almost tripled my earnings from the previous year – not bad!

Things were finally starting to look up, so I felt pretty confident that I had cracked the code to running a successful blog. Suddenly my goal of getting to 1 million views per month didn’t seem so out of reach.

But then in the spring of 2016 Pinterest updated their algorithm and my traffic started to dip. Group boards were now on the chopping block and no longer showing up in people’s feeds. This resulted in less views and visits to my blog.

So even though my traffic was consistently growing through organic searches, I was losing about the same amount on Pinterest.

The growth totally stopped.

You have got to be kidding me.

I felt like I had tried everything in my power to make my blog succeed but nothing was working. I had poured blood, sweat and tears into Pickled Plum and to see it stall was heart breaking. Devastating.

A Brand New Chapter For Pickled Plum

That whole theory that you need an insane amount of traffic to make good money wasn’t working for me.

I was completely burned out and over it.

So I started looking for other, more practical ways to earn a good living – without having to focus on page views.

That’s when I found a post written by Michelle Schroeder-Gardner of the blog, Making Sense of Cents. In it, she talks about how she found success by focusing on marketing instead of numbers.

Michelle makes around $100,000 PER MONTH!

I can’t tell you how surprised I was when I saw that Michelle gets around 400,000 page views per month. That’s a lot less than you would expect from someone earning so much money!

What struck me the most is that both of us had about the same amount of traffic and yet, here she was, making 32 times more money than me!

This was a game changer.

I realized I was going about it the wrong way.

I was so obsessed trying to grow my traffic that I was missing out on all the ways I could earn more money with the traffic I already had.

That’s when I decided to stop focusing solely on page views and learn as much as possible about affiliate marketing.

The Proof is in the Pudding

After following Michelle for a few weeks, I decided to go ahead and purchase her course – Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing. In it she teaches the basics of affiliate marketing, strategies to promote affiliate products on your blog and a lot more. Scroll down for an in-depth review of this course.

It took me all of two days to get through it. I was so excited I couldn’t wait to start implementing her ideas!

Fast forward >>> One month later and I had earned an extra $1,000 in affiliate sales. I’m not joking, this really happened. Just look at the charts below.

This was the only time in my blogging career that I saw my earnings increase this fast.

I was pumped!

To keep the momentum going I decided to take Create and Go’s Six Figure Blogger course, since it came highly recommended among bloggers in Michelle’s private Facebook Group.

This course, created by Alex and Lauren – owners of the health blog Avocadu and Create and Go – dives deep into affiliate marketing (how to create sales centered content), and teaches people how to sell digital products and create your own product(s) from scratch (eBooks and eCourses). Scroll down for an in-depth review of this course.

This is a big and rich course filled with unique tips and step by step guides.

Quite frankly I’ve never seen anything like it.

Alex and Rachel don’t keep any secrets. They share everything they have learned, along with all the tools they use to be so successful (they made over $800,000 last year!). It’s all out there for us to take and use to our advantage.

After implementing the tools I learned from both courses, my earnings jumped from $37,560.48 in 2016 to $127,000 in 2017!

And so far 2018 is looking like it’s going to be even better!

Since taking these courses, I realized that I’m surely not the only blogger who has experienced frustration over monetizing her blog. Marketing is a completely different beast than content creation, and let’s face it…

Those who are good at it reap all the benefits.

If you are struggling to make money online, like I did for so long, then it’s time for you to make some changes.

I get it, it’s frustrating. Like I mentioned, I was there for a good four years and it sucked.

But, listen, it doesn’t have to be that way. You can double or triple your income in just one year if you work on your marketing skills.

The good news is you don’t need a ton of traffic to make a decent living. What you need are tools to help you plan your posts – and to learn to strategize about the ways your blog can make money.

The bad news is you will have to spend a little money to make more money.

But… wait for it… the other good news is you can later claim these courses as business expenses

What is Affiliate Marketing?

According to Wikipedia: affiliate marketing is a marketing arrangement by which an online retailer pays a commission to an external website for traffic or sales generated from its referrals.

Basically, it’s when a person like you or me makes a commission from selling products that aren’t ours (third party). It’s like working in a retail store and promoting a brand you love – like Prada – and making a commission when you sell one of their purses.

The only difference is you are doing it online, and you are your own boss.

It’s up to you to promote the products effectively, while following the requirements each company has (for example: clearly disclosing the fact that your post contains affiliate links, which I do in all of my posts).

Commissions vary per company. Some pay extremely high – up to 50-75% of the total sale of the product – while others companies like Amazon will only pay around 6%.

Best Affiliate Marketing Courses

The reason I’m recommending these two particular courses is simple. It’s because they work.

Believe me when I say that I’ve taken many courses and bought plenty of eBooks which claimed to be able to double my traffic – or go from $0 to $100,000 in just a few months. Often I find they offer nothing new that hasn’t already been written about all over the internet. And the tips don’t work.

Their sales pitch is enough to make me want to purchase their product. But, at the end of the day, I’m left feeling like I got cheated. I always feel like there is a valuable piece of information missing and that I’m only getting half of the information and insights I was promised.

Not with these two courses.

Michelle, Alex and Rachel go out of their way to teach bloggers how to become successful marketing machines – and are also there to answer your questions. They don’t hold back on anything, and share their own marketing plans to make sure you get similar results.

That’s why I’m recommending these courses – because they deliver on their promise.

Both courses also go a step deeper to explain in detail what makes people click the purchase button. This is incredibly helpful because it made me see that I was doing things out of order.

And that alone negatively impacted my sales strategy.

Each course is unique in its own way. So if you decide that you would like to try both, you don’t have to worry about getting a lot of repeat information. One is more geared toward beginners while the other is for intermediate to advanced bloggers.

Here are my two reviews.

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing

What it is: Affiliate marketing for beginners.

How much it costs: $197 (Once you buy it, it’s yours to keep it forever. There are no time limits.)

Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing is a course created by Michelle Schroeder-Gardner who runs the personal finance blog, Making Sense of Cents.

In this course Michelle shares all the different methods she uses to make money through her blog, and how to do the same for your own blog.

She strongly believes that if you’re not earning money through affiliate marketing, you are leaving money on the table.

I took the course after seeing how successful Michelle is at selling affiliate products (she makes around $100,000 every month!), and wanted to learn from the best in the industry.

This course is great for beginner bloggers because it teaches you from the ground up, how to set your posts up so you can make money as soon as you get a little traffic. It’s also good for more advanced bloggers like me, who are looking to improve their conversion rate – and increase the amount of passive income earned through affiliates.

What the course includes

6 modules and over 30 lessons related to affiliate marketing

You can see a full sized version of the lessons on the Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing page.

Michelle takes the time to go through every single step so the reader can understand exactly how effective affiliate marketing works. She does a great job of illustrating that affiliate marketing is much more complicated than just slapping a link in a post.

If that were the case, we would all be rich!

She taught me marketing strategies that have been proven to work – while, at the same time, forcing me to think about which products would be a good fit for my blog, and the best ways to promote them.

Printable worksheets

There are over 15 printable worksheets (I highly recommend you use these since they will become part of your marketing plan). With these, you can participate during the lessons by entering your own information and ideas.

This means that, by the time you finish the course, you will have an affiliate marketing plan ready to fire up!

Access To Facebook Mastermind Group

I think being part of the Facebook group alone is worth the money.

I’m usually not a big fan of Facebook groups, but I have to give credit to Michelle for possibly creating the best and most helpful group ever!

I’ve seen questions about blogging being answered better there than anywhere I’ve seen online. Everyone in this group is active and supportive – including Michelle who is on it regularly.

There is a FREE group coaching session two Saturdays a month, hosted by Michelle. Here, you can ask her any questions related to your business, the course material, your affiliate strategy, blog, and so on. I’ve been taking advantage of these sessions to pick her brain. I look at it as the equivalent of hiring a specialist to help me figure out how to make my blog succeed!

Bonus Pinterest course on how to grow your Pinterest traffic

This course is taught by Pinterest consultant Rosemarie Groner, who also runs the blog The Busy Budgeter.

She has been actively helping bloggers increase their Pinterest traffic – and was generous enough to share her Pinterest Strategy Guide with the students of the Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing course. The same guide for this lesson is available on her blog for $136.

What the course doesn’t include

Videos.

I usually like it when courses offer videos, but I didn’t feel like this one needed any. I was able to get through the material swiftly because it was well written and concise.

Who is Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing For?

Beginners and advanced bloggers who haven’t had much success selling affiliate products.

Even though I knew a good amount of the information included in the course (I’ve been blogging for 7 years after all), it was worth spending the $197 to discover a couple of areas I was failing at marketing. After implementing some of her ideas, my sales dramatically increased less than a month after taking the course.

If you feel like there is more you could learn about affiliate marketing, I think this course will help you.

Who is Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing NOT For?

Bloggers who have a strong background in online marketing, or those who already have experienced moderate success with affiliate products.

The course is a basic overview of affiliate marketing – so I don’t recommend taking the course if you consider yourself super knowledgeable in this area already.

Is it worth the money?

Yes. I know for a fact that I wouldn’t be where I am without this course.

My brain doesn’t think in dollar signs. Since I’m more of a creative person, I needed someone to show me exactly, step by step, how to create posts that convert into sales.

With Michelle’s course I was able to make my money back, plus an additional $800 in profit, one month after taking the course.

I feel like I got my money’s worth because I walked away with two essential tips that changed the way I now structure and write my posts.

My earnings have been steadily increasing since taking the Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing course.

Six Figure Blogger

What it is: This course is specifically about monetizing a blog through selling products and services (both affiliate marketing and/or your own products).

If you’ve started a blog, and have made your first bit of income ($0-$1,000), but are looking to expand that growth – then this is the course you should consider taking. Six Figure Blogger is NOT suitable for brand new bloggers.

How much it costs: $297 (Once you buy it, it’s yours to keep it forever. There are no time limits.)

Six Figure Blogger is a course created by Alex and Rachel who run the health food blog Avocadu – and Create and Co, a website with blogger resources. They are quite well known in the blogging industry for having some of the best courses.

I found them through Michelle’s private Facebook group after reading a thread started by a member that was looking to take additional classes focusing on online marketing. Six Figure Blogger kept popping up in the group thread as the best one, so I checked them out. I recognized them right away.

You see, I had heard of Avocadu’s success – their health food blog makes about $28,000 every month – so I was surprised to learn they also offered courses on marketing.

Oh, and here is another interesting tidbit: just like Michelle, their sites don’t get a ton of traffic and yet they managed to make over $800,000 last year!

Do you see a pattern developing?

These people are marketing geniuses.

I hesitated for a few days before actually pulling the trigger. It’s an expensive course. I had just finished Michelle’s course, so spending an additional $297 seemed like a lot of money.

But, at the same time, I realized that I needed to change my blogging tactics since nothing had worked well until I took Michelle’s class. I figured another highly recommended marketing class couldn’t hurt. So I bit the bullet and started the lessons.

What the course includes

Six Figure Blogger is a much more intensive course than Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing. It took me a long time to go through all the material. There was so much to learn!

Alex and Rachel cover A LOT of ground. 

I put together an image of the modules and lessons (available below) but I recommend you visit their page to get the full sized version.

The course offers so much information that it’s next to impossible to absorb everything the first time through. I plan on revisiting this course over and over to get the most out of it.

What you get:

Most of the course consists of videos – all of them very well made.

Step by step tutorial on how to create an automated trust funnel

Learn how to turn your new subscribers into customers in less than a week through the use of email. Templates are available, as well as a step-by-step lesson on how to create opt-in forms and a post-purchase funnel. 

Step by step tutorial on creating an eBook from scratch 

Alex and Rachel share the exact formula they used to launch 5 successful products. Everything from creating a name for your product, to outlining your product – and even finalizing the design – is covered in this section.

Step by step tutorial on creating an eCourse from scratch 

This tutorial demonstrates the exact system Alex and Rachel use to launch their eCourses (including this eCourse).

How to design high converting sales pages

Everything is broken down, step-by-step, from the headline to sub-headline and body copy. They even throw in sales page templates. 

Selling via affiliate marketing 

Learn how to effectively sell products that aren’t yours through the creation of blog posts, emails and videos.

Private community access through their Facebook group

I find this community to be less active than Michelle’s, but I’ve also been guilty of not getting really involved.

However, everyone in the community is helpful. Rachel takes the time to write long replies to anyone who has questions related to blogging. In fact, they helped me figure out this whole GDPR mess I was having so much trouble understanding!

Continued Course Updates

This is so great, because the internet is a fickle beast. So much seems to change super quickly that it’s sometimes hard to stay ahead.

I think it’s amazing that Alex and Rachel keep track of changes and make updates to their courses accordingly – so that what we learn remains current and effective.

Printable templates

Print and use these templates to create your own email trust funnel, eBook, eCourse, etc.

What the course doesn’t include

Help on how to grow your blog traffic. If growing your traffic is something you are currently more interested in, I recommending trying Pinterest Traffic Avalanche.

A lot of reading material. 90% of this course is video based.

Who is Six Figure Blogger For?

Intermediate bloggers who have already made a little income ($0-$1,000), but are looking to expand that growth.

Bloggers interested in creating their own digital products such as an eBook or eCourse.

Who is Six Figure Blogger NOT For?

Beginners who are still learning WordPress and haven’t driven any traffic to their blog yet.

If you are interested in learning about how to successfully build and launch your blog on WordPress, the Launch Your Blog course would be a better option.

Is it worth the money?

Absolutely, unequivocally yes.

If you are serious about affiliate marketing, or want to learn how to successfully create and sell your own products, this course will help you tremendously.

There are no other courses like Six Figure Blogger out there – and at $297, it’s a steal.

You would have to pay thousands of dollars to take this type of class in a college or university setting.

And, there it is! Hopefully this information will be helpful in your quest to successfully integrate affiliate marketing into your own blogging strategy.

Trust me, I know how hard it can be to stare up at that mountain and wonder how I’ll ever get out of the valley.

I’m confident that these eCourses can help by providing some of the steps you can use in your own climb towards the top!

If you are thinking about starting a blog but feel intimidated with all the steps needed to get started, check out my post on how to start a WordPress blog.

The 2 Affiliate Marketing Classes I Took To Become A Six Figure Blogger
Pickled Plum.

How To Become Your Own Boss – 8 Ways to Make Money Without a 9 to 5 Job

The last time I ever held a 9 to 5 job was in Toronto, Canada, back in 2004. I was working  for a newspaper selling ad space and attending morning meetings that seemed completely pointless. After months of sitting in a cubicle and sounding like a broken record – “Hi, my name is Caroline and I’m calling from XYZ newspaper. I saw that you were advertising in another newspaper and thought you might be interested to know that we can double your exposure! XYZ newspaper can boost your sales and I can show you how, if you have a couple minutes to spare.”

Ugh.

You know when you read something off a page but don’t believe a word of it? That was me. I couldn’t have cared less about ad space. But it was a fairly easy job and my coworkers were sweet as pie. So I stayed on for a few months and thought I could hack it until I found something better.

Then one morning during a meeting, the newspaper’s business manager stormed into the room and expressed his disappointment in all of us.

And you know what he did? He gave each one of us a quarter.

“That quarter,” he said, “is for calling yourself a cab when you get fired. Because that’s what’s going to happen if your numbers don’t start improving soon.” Remember, this happened in 2004, before everyone owned a cell phone

While most people in the room were shaking in their boots, I on the other hand was disgusted by the manager’s behavior. I thought it was completely out of line. “No one is going to treat me like that,” I clearly remember thinking. But instead of walking out right then and there, I took a deep breath and returned to my cubicle feeling both angry and deflated.

That’s when I realized I had two options: either I quit my job and take a chance at starting a brand new life with the possibility of great happiness and satisfaction – or I stay here for an undetermined amount of time feeling unaccomplished and resentful.

And then I thought about my dad who passed away when I was only seven years old. I’m sure he would tell me to live the life I envisioned for myself because I deserve it.

The next morning I walked into my manager’s office and gave him a week’s notice.

I quit my job and it felt good, really good!

I promised myself to never take another 9 to 5 job for the sake of money or to give my life the illusion that it could be more stable. Sure, the steady paychecks made it easier to manage my bills, but that was about it. I felt more unstable emotionally than I ever had, and my happiness level was dangerously low.

I realized that, by following the self employed path, I might give up on a safe retirement. But that didn’t matter to me. I just wanted to be happy again! And if that meant having to work a string of jobs, hopping from one career to another to find what I’m passionate about, well it was worth the risk because -> HAPPINESS.

And hop I did. A lot!

But at least I had fun doing it!

For the next six years I worked as a waiter, bartender, lifestyle model, I was an actor (for TV commercials), did extra work (background), was a tour guide for new developments (condos), worked in retail, did online technical support, was a sous-chef for a catering company, was an executive assistant, a makeup artist and dabbled a little in graphic design.

Phew!

And believe me, every time I started something new it was with the hopes that I would love it enough to turn it into a career. And although none of them turned into a full time job, I learned something incredibly valuable: I’m resilient and always take good care of myself. So no matter what happens in my life, I’m going to be okay – because I will never let myself down.

That’s powerful.

That conviction gave me the courage to start a blog and the strength to keep going whenever it looked as though I wasn’t going to be able to make it succeed.

Wearing different hats is also good if you are trying to figure out what career to pursue, because it’s the only way to find the right fit.

For me, I noticed that I was at my happiest whenever I cooked, tended bar and took pictures. What made me most miserable was interacting with strangers (customer service) on a daily basis – and being away from home for long periods at a time (acting).

I’ve created this post to help those of you who feel stuck at work and dream of becoming your own boss. A lot of people ask me how I manage to stay so busy and constantly have different streams of income coming in. They also want to know if I make enough to live a comfortable life – and the answer is yes. In fact, I made $212,161 last year which is more than I ever made working in a office!

Plus, I give myself 2-3 months vacation time so I can travel and enjoy life to the fullest!

Before we get started, it’s important for me to mention that I don’t have any children. This post is written from the perspective person without the huge responsibility of providing for kids. And because of that, I prefer not to give specific tips for mothers on how to quit their job. However, Single Moms Income has a great post about single mothers working from home that can help you toward making a decision.

Before quitting your job, ask yourself these questions

So you want to quit your job because you find it unfulfilling, or your boss or coworkers are driving you nuts.

Is it time to give your two weeks notice?

Yes!

But before you do so it’s important to find out if the timing is right. When I quit my job at the newspaper, I was able to do it quickly because I had money in savings and no one to support financially. It wasn’t a lot but enough to create a safety cushion in case I wouldn’t be able to find work right off the bat.

Here are a few questions to help you find out if you are a good fit for freelance work.

1. Do I financially support anyone other than myself?
2. Do I have money in savings? If so, enough to pay my bills for 3 months?
3. Am I comfortable moving from one job to another, working in different environments?
4. Am I comfortable working with different people on a regular basis?
5. Am I willing to work on call and sometimes put in long hours?
6. Am I good at motivating myself?

If you answered yes to all the questions except #1, go and give your two weeks notice – you are the perfect candidate for freelance work!

How to Successfully Work From Home

You may be surprised by this, but the hardest part about not having a job isn’t finding work.

The hardest part is to stay disciplined enough to maintain a steady and productive work schedule. This means waking up at the same time every morning to either look for work or focus on creating something that will become your next full time job.

The first few weeks are all about getting used to a new life and setting yourself up for happiness. Don’t be afraid to try new things or apply for jobs you think you have zero chance of getting. You are free and this is the time to explore new avenues and possibilities. Besides, what’s the worst thing that could happen? Either you don’t get a reply or one that says, “no thank you.”

By being unafraid and opening yourself up to new opportunities, your world will suddenly expand. Only then will you be able to see how easy it is to find work and how exciting being your own boss can be!

Also, the more digging you do – the better. Find out about what it takes to start a business, sell your creations on Etsy, become a freelance writer. The world is your oyster!  Want to become a blogger like me? Read my posts on How To Start A WordPress Blog On Bluehost and How To Write Your First Blog Post.

The Ultimate Work Bundle

Obviously you can find all the information you need online for free, but there’s another way to go about it that takes less time and effort. The Ultimate Work Bundle is a collection of e-books, courses, and resources created by people who successfully work from home. And because you are buying the material as a bundle, it’s sold at a discounted price. It’s great because you have all the tools you need to launch your new career all in one spot – written/recorded by people who have gone through the process.

With the bundle you can learn how to:

• Create simple work routines to fit your family’s schedule.
• Find work-from-home clients or companies who will appreciate your skills.
• Identify your marketable skills and differentiate yourself from the competition.
• Turn your business & entrepreneurial dreams into a reality.
• Learn to avoid scams and identify legitimate work-at-home opportunities (plus discover 150 real companies that hire from-home-workers).
• Ditch the guilt and balance work + family life more gracefully.
• Learn legal and accounting best practices to keep you worry-free.
• Market your business with easy-to-implement strategies for social media.

Click here to learn more about the Ultimate Work Bundle.

8 Ways to Make Money Without a 9 to 5 Job

Below are different ways you can make money working from home or anywhere. My recommendation is to go for all of them if you want to be busy. I have done it and sometimes was so busy I had to turn down work! Working from Home

1. Start a Blog

I had to bring this up since I am making a good living from blogging

I have been blogging full time for the past 4 years and am more successful than I ever could have ever been as a 9 to 5 employee. Yes, blogging has its challenges – it takes patience and resilience in the beginning – but the advantages quickly outweigh the negatives.

1. Everything I create belongs to me 100%. When I was working for a company, the effort I put in ended up benefitting someone else in the end. That’s something I’ve always been bothered by.
2. I can pack my bags and move to Spain tomorrow if I want to, and still have a high paying job. There’s something incredibly liberating about knowing that I can move anywhere I want to and not worry about finding work. That’s what I call freedom!
3. I make up my own schedule. This means I can cram a 40-hour workweek into 4 days and take 3 days off if I want to. It also means I can start working at 6am and finish at 3pm during the summer, so I can enjoy the beautiful weather outside.

There are plenty of ways to make money blogging – you can review products, make commission from third party affiliates, banner advertisements, open your own Etsy shop, sell your own product or class, sell an ebook, write sponsored posts… The longer I blog, the more I realize that the possibilities to make money online are endless!

If you are interested in starting a blog, I have created a post that details step by step how to start a blog for cheap. You can start a blog at just $2.95/month (this price is only available through my link) for blog hosting, including a free domain name.

2. Become a Freelance Writer

Freelance writers are very much in need these days.

Because websites are constantly pushing out new content, they need the help of freelance writers to get the job done quickly. You can also write technical content for catalogues, write about music, lifestyle, politics, etc. The list is endless!

Click here to download a free list of 200 Freelance Writing Niches To Choose From to spark some ideas on what to write about.

How to become a freelance writer

Sign up for freelance accounts like Odesk, Upwork, Toptal and Freelancer. The more accounts you have, the better your chances of getting hired are!

Reach out to blogs and websites you like to see if they need a freelance writer.

Increase your exposure on Linkedin. A lot of companies use Linkedin to find future employees.

3. Participate in Online Surveys

This is more of a side job, something to do while you are watching television or sitting in the subway.

It’s an easy way to make a few extra bucks, anywhere between $100-$300 per month on average.

I recommend joining as many survey companies as you can to raise your chances of qualifying for surveys. But beware of sites that are not legitimate.

• If a site asks you for money upfront, do not sign up with them. All legitimate survey sites are free to join.
• If a site claims you can make a living from just answering surveys, they are probably fake.
• If a site pitches you other products or services (unless it’s pointback or cashback scenarios), they are not a real survey site.
• Look for a Privacy Policy page. Legitimate sites always have one.

This is a list of legitimate survey sites you can safely join. There might be more out there but I only feel comfortable listing ones I know are 100% real.

1. American Consumer Opinion. The company started in early 1986 as a small mail survey panel and went online in 1996. Since then, memberships were opened up to all countries across the globe. The panel currently includes over eight million men, women, and children throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America, and Asia.
2. Pinecone Research. With Pinecone research you can get paid for doing online research, playing games, shopping online and answering surveys.
3. Harris Poll Online. Most surveys pay between $3 and $4 each for about 20 minutes of your time. They also have lengthier ones that pay up to $75.
4. Swagbucks. Swagbucks if pretty well known in the survey world because of its various ways to make money. You can get free reward points and can redeem cash via Paypal or gifts cards from big retailers like Amazon.
5. Inbox Dollars. Earn cash for taking surveys, playing games and watching videos. The downside is they pay comparatively low (some people like to call them Inbox Pennies).

4. Become a Virtual Assistant

Many of us bloggers will hire a virtual assistant to help lighten the work load.

That’s because our schedule is so busy we need to outsource certain tasks in order to better focus on what’s important – our content.

So what does a virtual assistant do? 

A virtual assistant is a self-employed person who usually works from home and provides technical, administrative or creative assistance. It can be for a singular project or ongoing, like answering emails and sharing posts on social media.

You can become a virtual assistant for websites, bookkeeping, online research, database entries, scheduling, etc.

How to become a virtual assistant

Take a course

There are a few courses you can take online but the one I recommend is by Gina Horkey who is a successful virtual assistant. Gina created her business in 2014 and was able to book her first virtual assistant job within a month. Within six months she was earning $4,000 a month!

The upside of taking a course is that virtual assistants are more and more in demand. To be more informed about the industry means you are raising your chances for success.

Just these past three years, the demand has gone up by 95%. This means you are investing in your future and in a career that allows you to work from home or anywhere you want.

A virtual assistant makes between $25-$100 an hour and can work part-time or full-time.

Click here to learn more about Gina’s 30 Day Virtual Assistant Class.

Advertise your services

Sites like Upwork allows you to connect with businesses looking for freelance workers. You create a profile, upload a resume and add some of your work samples (for example: websites you’ve conceptualized, if you are a web designer). You can also apply for jobs and projects through the job board.

Problogger is another site you can use to advertise your services.

Networking

You know I’m big on networking!

That’s because I was able to find most of my work through connections I made throughout the years.

Let everyone know – through social media, emails, text messages – that you are a virtual assistant looking to help on short term and long term projects. You never know, there could be a huge job opportunity waiting for you!

Working Outside

5. Become an Extra or a lifestyle model

Most people think you have to live in a major city or be really pretty to do this type of work, but it turns out that’s not entirely true. I may have agencies in New York and Toronto, but I also have one in Philadelphia and another one in Des Moines, Iowa.

Okay, for sure you will be busier with this type of work if you live in a bigger city, but I can vouch for this – the smaller markets are also good to keep in mind because there is less competition. I have gone to Philadelphia for an NBA catalogue shoot, and had to turn down a jewelry TV commercial in Des Moines because my schedule conflicted with the shoot dates.

Doing extra work and lifestyle modeling is great if you want to make a few extra dollars every month. And who knows, you might end up booking a big job that pays five or six figures!

How to become an extra

An extra, or background actor, is someone who appears in film and television in a non speaking role. The pay isn’t great if you are not part of the union (SAG-AFTRA), but it’s a fun job if you love movies and TV shows. You could end up on the set of your favorite show and maybe meet some of the cast.

You don’t need to sign with an agency to become an extra. Anyone can do it as there are no requirements.

You can sign up with a few online casting companies such as Central Casting, Casting Networks or Actors Access (the more the better if you want to get booked often) and upload a few pictures of yourself.

Another way to do extra work is to find a local agency that focuses on that. Or, if you live in a smaller city, contact talent/lifestyle agencies and ask if they also book people for background work.

How to become a lifestyle model

Lifestyle modeling is different than extra work because you are the main subject. You can do:

• Print – catalogue, posters, flyers, magazine ads.
• Online – advertisements on social media and for websites.
• Video – TV commercials, online commercials, industrial video and tutorials.

It’s harder to book this type of work because you have to fit the profile of the hero, which is the main character. In big cities like New York, you will have to attend auditions to book this type of work. In smaller cities like Des Moines, they skip that and book you based on pictures, which is why it’s important to have good headshots done professionally.

Online casting companies like Casting Networks and Actors Access post lots of auditions – all legit – you can submit yourself to.

I would also encourage you to look for local representation by doing some quick Google searches for Talent Agencies + name of the city you live in, and Lifestyle Modeling Agency + name of the city you live in.

6. Catering

Catering work is easy and can pay quite well! I did quite a bit of catering when I lived in Toronto and sometimes got paid up to $25/hour + tips.

Catering is basically passing trays of food around at events – or putting dishes together in the back kitchen. You need a good pair of shoes because you will be standing and walking around for 4-8 hours at a time.

I personally enjoyed catering because I like food and going to fancy parties! It was fun to cater an event for the Toronto Film Festival where celebrities like Marilyn Manson and Michael Douglas were part of the crowd. It was also fun trying new dishes (you do get to eat and take home leftovers) and going out for a beer with the crew after a long shift.

What’s also great is the fact that most people who are in catering do this as a side job. If you ask them for help finding other work, they will usually provide you with tons of information and contact numbers!

To find catering companies, do a quick Google search by typing Catering Agencies + the name of the city you live in, and either send an email or call them directly.

7. Join a temp agency

Joining a temp agency is great because you have someone representing you and helping you find work.

I was with a temp agency both in Toronto and New York and was able to find decent work that way. I was a bilingual receptionist (my native language is French) and also worked in retail for a high end fashion brand.

The interview process is straight forward and you can tell them exactly what type of work you are looking for.

You might also find a job you love and get hired as a full time employee. This happens all the time!

To find catering companies, do a quick Google search by typing Temp Agencies + the name of the city you live in, and either send an email or call them directly.

8. Become a dog walker or pet sitter

I live in an area of Brooklyn where people make a TON of money walking dogs and pet sitting! If you enjoy being active and love animals, this may just be the dream job you’ve been waiting for.

I have never dabbled in this type of work so I can’t say much about it. However I do know someone who walks dogs as a career and she loves every minute of it. In fact, she used to be our cat sitter but had to stop because her schedule was too busy. She was so overbooked that she rarely had any time to spend with her own cats at home.

If you are someone who is attentive and caring – remember that pets are just as important to their owners as children are – you may want to give dog walking and/or pet sitting a try.

To become a dog walker/pet sitter:

• Post an ad on Craiglist offering your services.
• Word of mouth. Let your friends and family know you would like to walk dogs and pet sit for a living.
• Contact your local pet sitting service and let them know you would like to work with them.

Want to Start Your Own Project/ Sell Your Own Product?

Then read Will It Fly? by Pat Flynn.

This a great book for self-starters. I bought this book last summer and ate it up in three days! Will it fly? combines action-based exercises and real-world case studies on how to find what you are good at – and then make money from it.

Part of the book is about categorizing your likes and dislikes, writing down jobs you’ve enjoyed vs ones you didn’t. Then you sort through all the skills you’ve gathered throughout the years. It’s truly a wonderful book that can help anyone who is feeling a little lost in finding their true calling. I read it a couple of years ago and, because of the book, I was able to zero in on the type of content I really wanted to create for the blog.

Ben and I also decided to start our own production company after doing some of the exercises. Those exercises quickly made us see how much we love video and photography and was just the push we needed to turn an idea into reality.

How To Become Your Own Boss – 8 Ways to Make Money Without a 9 to 5 Job
Pickled Plum.

Writing your first blog post can be a daunting task if you don’t know where to start. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be difficult, all you need are a few pointers to help you get started. In this post I show you how to structure your post to make it more engaging and how to get traffic to it once it’s published.

The day has finally arrived.

You’ve thought about starting a blog for a long time and now you are here, about to write your first blog post.

Congratulations, you must be so excited!

You may also be a little nervous about what to publish as your first blog post.

And that’s okay.

No one starts a blog knowing exactly what they are going to do.

It usually begins with a concept or a desire to share information with the public. You create content, people respond to it – and that’s how your blog takes shape. It’s a process that might be a few months in the making.

Take my blog for example – it started off as a French-Japanese recipe blog. It evolved into an easy and healthy food blog with a focus on Asian flavors.

The main reason I decided to phase French food out and focus more on Asian cooking is because my Japanese recipes were trending quite a bit. They often appeared in Buzzfeed roundups and were featured in Bon Appétit, The Kitchn, Huffpost Taste, etc… Also, readers commented on how they liked the fact that my recipes were easy to make and much healthier than most food blogs out there.

So I catered to them. I gave my audience exactly what they wanted. And as soon as I did that, my traffic started to grow and my blog gained momentum.

Eventually I was able to make enough money every month to quit my job and become a full time blogger!

And because I was able to make it happen, I believe you can too – which is why I have created this post to help you get started.

This step by step guide to writing your first blog post is something you can use for all your posts. It’s a method I use all the time to help me organize my thoughts, my schedule and make it easier to put pen to paper finger to key.

The First Post

Now before we begin, I’m assuming that you have a domain name and are using paid web hosting.

The reason I’m bringing this up is because it’s very hard to make money as a blogger if you use a free blogging platform. One of the reasons is that your url won’t look professional in the eyes of your readers. Google is also likely to tank your posts as it may think your blog is a hobby blog (based on the url), which means it will be very hard to get organic traffic from searches.

You can read my post Why You Should Avoid Free Blogging Platforms If You Want To Make Money Online to learn more about it.

The good news is you don’t need a lot money to go with paid hosting, there are plenty of affordable option such as Bluehost, which offers hosting and a free domain name for as little as $2.95/month (this offer is only available to readers of my blog, the discount is automatically applied through the link). You can check out this post I’ve written about setting up a WordPress blog for more information.

You need paid web hosting to make money online, it’s the only way you will become a successful blogger!

What To Write About (First Blog Post Ideas)

Your first blog post should be exactly that – a post about the subject you have chosen to write about.

What it isn’t: an introduction to yourself, who you are and what you like to do. Save that for your ‘About’ page.

Instead, think about why you started a blog and what the purpose of the blog is.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself. Write the answers down, because they will help you come up with blog post ideas.

1. Why did you choose to create a blog around this specific subject or category?
2. What do you know intimately about this subject or category?
3. What is the first thing most people want to know about this subject or category?
4. How can you help people with your blog? By answering questions, giving tips, tricks, teaching something?

Let’s say I want to write about modeling. I’ve been a professional model for over 20 years so I can see how blogging about it could help others. By answering all the questions above I would have something like this:

1. I chose to create a blog about modeling because I have been in the industry for over 20 years and I’d like to share my experience as a professional model.
2. I know about working in different countries, how to look for and find an agency, how to get started, what to wear for castings, how to pose, read contracts, etc…
3. The first thing people want to know about modeling is how to get started, and especially how to find a modeling agency that’s not a scam.
4. I can help in so many different ways! I can help them put an outfit together for a casting, teach them how to do hair and makeup, pose, find a good photographer for a test shoot, etc..

If I look at my answers, I can see that my first blog post should be about getting started in the modeling industry. From there, it’s easy to branch out and write about everything else.

You see?

Think of your first post as the center of it all, the core that links out to other posts, just like this little graphic I created underneath.

The first step is to find an agency. The rest comes afterward.

What makes a blog successful is being able to interlink posts so there is a natural flow from one post to another.

This way, your readers can easily navigate through your blog.

How To Write A Blog Post

We all have our own methods when it comes to creating posts. Some people just go with the flow and write as they go, while others prefer to do a little planning before they start typing.

I belong in the latter category since my goal is to get as much traffic to my blog as I can. And that means having to do some research to find out what words I should add to my post and what type of questions I should answer.

And since you are reading this post I’m guessing you are looking for the same types of results; lots of eye balls on your blog so you can quit your job and become a full time blogger

This is how I recommend you create and structure each one of your posts.

1. Go to Google and type the subject you are going to write about in the search box. As you type your query, a drop down menu will appear with Google’s suggestions. This shows you the top searches on the internet – what people look for the most in your category. This is a great way to get ideas on topics you can talk about throughout your post!

2. Now, once you’ve completed a search on your subject, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and you will see that there are more searches related to your category/subject. These are also great to throw into your post (organically – never in such a way that would make your post look spammy!) to help you rank in searches.

This is how I would include a few search related words;

“Finding modeling agencies for kids can be difficult since most agencies also work with adults. Instead, write down the names of a few modeling agencies you know or have heard of and give them a call to see if they have a kid’s division. If you don’t know any, here is a list of top modeling agencies in the US to help you find the right one near you.”

3. Now that you have a list of words and questions to build your post around, it’s time to start writing it! However, before you start typing, here are a few more rules to keep in mind when writing a blog post, which will hopefully make the reader’s experience more enjoyable.

• Write short paragraphs because most people like to scan, not read. It’s also easier on the eyes. Plus, a blog post shouldn’t require the same level of focus and commitment as a Leo Tolstoy novel.
• Add graphics and images. It makes a post much more engaging and easy to understand since we are visual beings. Graphics and images also break up a page and encourage the readers to scroll down.
• Look for grammatical errors. These can make you look unprofessional in both your reader’s eyes – and in Google’s eyes (their algorithm picks up on these errors and can tank your post).
• Ask yourself every question you can about your subject. Then go find the answers you don’t know already and find a way to incorporate them into your post.
• Break your post into sections you want to write about with H2 tags. You can look at this post as an example. I wrote down the questions that seemed to pop up a lot in searches and used them as anchors to create my post around. This makes writing a lot easier and less intimidating!

Lastly, don’t think too much. Just write. Because publishing your post is just as important as creating it! Sitting on something for too long rarely yields positive results (unless you’re a chicken), and can end up making you feel like you suck at writing.

Ignore that self-sabotaging voice and click the publish button! You’re doing just fine.

How To Get People To Read Your Blog

Now that your post is live, it’s time to tell everyone about it!

Share your link on all your social media channels. I recommend opening accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram – YouTube if you are making videos – and Pinterest using your blog’s name and logo. The sooner the better, since you want to get as many eyes on your post as possible.

Submit your blog’s url to Google and Bing. This is to ensure that your post gets listed on their search pages. Now don’t freak out if it doesn’t happen right away. Getting a post indexed, especially in the beginning, can take months.

Ask your for your friends and family to help. Whether you’re asking them to share your post on their Facebook page – or tell their coworkers about it, your friends and family are there to support you. This isn’t the time to be shy! So don’t be afraid to ask. Let the whole world know you have published an amazing post!

Use Tailwind to share your post on Pinterest. About a third of my traffic comes from Pinterest. Most bloggers will tell you the same thing and this is why: Pinterest is the third biggest search engine on the web next to Google and YouTube!

And the best part about Pinterest is you don’t need to have thousands of followers to get loads of traffic. There are plenty of Pinterest users with less than 5,000 followers who make a living either selling products, or from the traffic they get from their pins.

And this is why:

• A pin is 100 times more spreadable than a tweet or a Facebook share.
• Traffic never completely stops coming in, because your images are constantly being shared. Compare this to the shelf life of a tweet (25 minutes) and a Facebook post (less than 2 hours) and it’s easy to see why everyone should consider adding Pinterest to their marketing campaign.

But in order to get a good flow of traffic, you must be pinning consistently. Since this can take hours to accomplish, I recommend using Tailwind.

Tailwind is a Pinterest marketing tool that schedules pins to go out at certain times during the day so you can get traffic all around the clock. It can also schedule pins weeks ahead of time, freeing you up from having to be physically active on Pinterest every day.

Tailwind also analyzes your board’s performance and gives you the most optimal times to pin (to get more clicks and shares).

Most bloggers (including myself) use this tool because it’s a time saver and is very easy to set up.

Read my post How to double your traffic with Tailwind for more information on Tailwind and Pinterest.

Share your post on Reddit.

This is a very easy way to get traffic to your blog.

Create an account with Reddit, click on Submit a new link (bottom right of the page), pick your category and click Post. Then wait and see if your post gets shared.

It doesn’t work very often but when it does, you can easily get hundreds if not thousands of views in one day!

Add social share buttons above and below your post.

This is very important since you want to encourage your readers to share your post.

And the easiest way to do this is to use a plugin that adds buttons at the top and bottom of your post.

There are plenty of social share plugins out there, but the one I use is Social Warfare. I like the way the buttons look, because they are not too intrusive. I also like that the plugin is light (doesn’t slow down my blog’s speed when pages load) and takes less than a minute to set up.

Well, that’s it for How to Write Your First Blog Post (and Get People to Read It). If you have any questions or would like to share your own helpful tips, leave a comment at the bottom or send me an email using the contact form.

Use my special discount with Bluehost (only available through my blog) and get hosting for just $2.95/month!

If you liked this post, check out my top 11 Best Affiliate Programs For Food Blogs.

How to Write Your First Blog Post (and Get People to Read It)
Pickled Plum.

Learn how to grow your blog by using Tailwind to double, even triple your traffic! Become a Pinterest champion by following these steps and watch your traffic improve in a matter of weeks!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link.

How To Double Your Traffic With Tailwind

As with most bloggers, Pinterest is one of my biggest sources of traffic – second one to be exact (after Google searches). I use it every time I publish a new post, whether it’s recipes or blogging tips and I also use it to revive old ones. I get a lot of engagement from it and that’s because I’m consistently pinning, even though I’m rarely on it.

Every month I receive around 110,000 page views from Pinterest which accounts for just under a third of my traffic!

For the longest time I didn’t take Pinterest seriously thinking it was just another social media platform. But it turns out I was completely wrong and was missing on lots of traffic and opportunities for exposure.

What is Pinterest?

First of all, Pinterest isn’t a social media platform.

It’s the third biggest search engine (visual search engine) online behind Google and YouTube!

What this means is you can get a TON of traffic from it by sharing beautiful images, infographics, collages and messages such as inspirational quotes.

Pins are More Powerful Than Tweets and Facebook Shares

This is absolutely true!

A pin is 100 times more spreadable than a tweet or a Facebook share!

Plus, the traffic never stops coming because your images are constantly being shared. Compare this to the shelf life of a tweet (25 minutes) and a Facebook post (less than 2 hours) and it’s easy to see why everyone should consider adding Pinterest to their marketing campaign.

To give you an example, this is a sponsored post I created and shared on Pinterest in 2015. Since then it has been shared over 160,000 times! And because it was such a big success, I was hired to create 10 more tofu recipes for the same brand!

If you are serious about starting a blog or growing your current blog, using Pinterest should unquestionably be part of your marketing strategy.

This is especially true if your blog is about education (how to posts for example), planning, DIY, fashion, food, health, mom stuff and inspiration.

Not only can you get a massive boost in traffic, you can also sell products and make good money!

But that’s another post and right now we are focusing on getting you set up so you can get more traffic to your blog .

In order to rank high in searches, Pinterest looks for pinners who are active at both pinning their own content and sharing those from others. In fact, I think the ratio is somewhere around 20% your own and 80% others.

Because of that, building a strong presence on Pinterest can take up a few hours a day, every day. And that can feel overwhelming when your schedule is already packed.

And that’s why using a tool like Tailwind can be a life saver.

I signed up with Tailwind May 31st, 2015, when I decided to get serious about Pinterest.

I needed to find a way to grow my blog since traffic has stalled and remained at around 150,000 monthly page views. I had heard amazing things about Tailwind from other bloggers so I gave it a try. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made for my blogging career!

Because of Tailwind, my Pinterest traffic nearly doubled in a matter of weeks and tripled in just 6 months!

And the tofu post that got shared over 160,000 times? That was because of Tailwind too

These are my personal results, but Tailwind also publishes the Typical Results of Tailwind for Pinterest Members every year, so you can see exactly what the average growth rate looks like for their members!

So What the heck is Tailwind?

Tailwind is a Pinterest and Instagram marketing tool that schedules posts and pins to go out at certain times during the day so you can get traffic all around the clock, even in your sleep. It can also schedule pin weeks ahead of time, freeing you up from having to be physically active on Pinterest every day.

Ben and I are about to go to Europe to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary so I have scheduled 3 weeks worth of pins to go out. This means I won’t have to worry about Pinterest at all and still get the same amount of traffic coming to my blog!

How hard is it to use?

Not hard at all!

The interface is very easy to navigate and there are a ton of free video tutorials to help you set up an account, use each function and join Tribes.

Tailwind also offers courses!

You can learn how to plan a Pinterest marketing strategy and how to use Pinterest to grow your sales.

Tailwind Tribes

You are going to love this!

Tailwind Tribes is a tool that enables you to meet and grow with other bloggers who post the same type of content as you. You can add your own content to a Tribe and have others view, schedule and share your content to their own audience. You can also create your own Tribe and invite others to join.

It’s very similar to group boards on Pinterest and private groups on Facebook.

This is really helpful because everyone is pinning each other’s content, therefore broadening the potential for repins. When you pin directly from Pinterest, there is no guarantee that the favor will be returned, which can be a bummer if you are consistently pushing certain bloggers. With Tailwind Tribes you are guaranteed a few shares.

It’s also a great tool to socialize with other bloggers and to see what type of posts are popular within your field (by looking at the blue flame icon on the top right).

Smart Calendar

After using Tailwind for a couple of weeks, it will optimize your schedule based on when your audience is most engaged.

This is important data that helps your content get more exposure and repins. I saw an increase in traffic just a few days after I followed their suggestions!

Tailwind is going to display in white, the times your pins receive high engagements and suggest you add these timeslots to your smart calendar.

All you need to do is click them and they will automatically appear in your pin scheduler.

In the image above you can see the pins that are scheduled to go out at the times set by your smart calendar. You can shuffle your pins if you see the same one taking up a whole row.

You can also remove pins, edit the description of a pin or add or change a link.

This is extremely useful if you have forgotten to add a link to your pin in the draft section. Without a link, a pin has no value because it points to nothing, it’s just a pretty image. I hate to admit it but I do forget to add links regularly, especially when I’m tired and dazed from staring at a screen for too many hours.

This feature saves my butt every time!

Pin Inspector

The pin inspector is an area where you can see which pins are being shared the most so you can repin them to get more traction.

Even though Pinterest doesn’t consider itself a social media platform, some of the rules to being successful at it are very similar. Just like with Facebook, it’s important to keep track of pins that do well and reschedule them to boost your profile.

From there you can click on Re-Schedule this Pin and save it as a draft if you want to re-pin on multiple boards (which I always do). You also have the option to add these pins to Tribes or find similar content.

Tailwind Browser Extension

Installing the Tailwind browser extension makes pinning effortless. The browser extension lets you easily create multiple repins from any site with one click – including repins on Pinterest.

This is a huge time saver!

Let me show you how I do my schedule and how easy it is.

First I go to Pin Inspector and choose ten pins with high engagement. I make sure those pins haven’t gone out in at least 10 days so viewers don’t get bombarded with the same images over and over again.

Then I go to Pinterest and type in the search box general words like Gluten Free Recipes, Soups, Salad, Vegan Recipes, etc… One at a time of course! Once the search comes back with results, I click on the Tailwind extension and this is what happens:

Here is where you select pins to schedule by clicking on the ones you like. Click Go Schedule and you will be taken to the next page.

Choose the boards you want the pins to appear on and click Schedule All.

The reason why I pick words based on diets and ingredients like Gluten Free, Vegan, Tofu is because I have boards created for these types of pins. This makes it easy to pin several images on the same board because they fit one specific category.

By choosing the same category (gluten free for this example) I scroll down, choose one or many gluten free boards and I’m done! This way I can schedule 20 images with just one click!

That’s it! Now repeat the same with different categories to fill your smart calendar and make sure you don’t forget about your own content!

Tailwind will give you suggestions of pins that receive a high amount of shares. These are good to add to your calendar because remember, the higher the engagement, the better for your profile.

Analytics

Lastly, Tailwind offers in depth analytics and insights so you can see what’s working and what’s not.

What’s interesting about Pinterest is how the amount of followers a person has has no bearing on the amount of traffic he/she can get. It’s the amount of Repins that has a big impact. As you can see, I don’t have a ton of followers but look at how many repins I’ve received in just 31 days!

You will also be provided with:

• Virality Score – How much your pins are being repinned across you profile.
• Engagement Score – How much interaction your pins are receiving.
• Engagement Rate – How well your content is resonating with your audience.

How much is Tailwind?

You can get a free trial version that allows you to pin up to 100 pins before you have to join.

The cheapest option after that is $9.99/month which is what I have and what most, if not all bloggers have.

Tailwind is an essential tool to have if you are serious about Pinterest marketing. The potential for traffic and sales are huge!

Since using Tailwind, not only has my traffic spiked, so have my earnings!

Ready to increase your traffic? Click here to get started and happy pinning!

More posts about Blogging:

• How To Start a WordPress Blog on Bluehost
• Food Blogging for Beginners
• 11 Best Affiliate Programs for Food Bloggers

How To Double Your Traffic With Tailwind
Pickled Plum.