The Key to Making Money Blogging

Admit it, you've dreamed about it. You're the current big thing, sponsors are pounding down your door, your significant other has quit work to join you, and most importantly you are working to your own schedule.

We've all dreamed it, but it's become a reality for very few people. So how do bloggers with more modest numbers make a living online? How does anybody stand a chance, if they're not the next Heather Armstrong?

They diversify!

Bloggers who are successful at making money look past just the sidebar ads and find additional avenues of income:

• Sponsored posts
• Giveaways
• Paid contributor positions

A year into my blog, I started monetizing it with sidebar ads, making a couple hundred dollars a month - nowhere near the income point I wanted to reach. Then I started assisting Design Mom and learned firsthand how even a popular blogger was diversifying, not solely relying on her sidebar ads to supply income. She was working with an ad network, working with sponsors in various ways, and contributing as a writer to other sites.

If somebody as successful as she is diversifying, I should too. I took action and landed a couple paid contributor positions and started working from home full-time!!! I did it. My income is still modest, but I do have an incredibly flexible schedule and right now I’m writing this while sitting in my pajamas.

If you’d like to learn more about alternative income opportunities, I go more in depth in my class, Bringing Home the Bacon When Your Blog Isn’t Huge.

Post written by Melanie Blodgett. Photography by Anna Williams.

3 Tips for Good Blog Etiquette

Good blog etiquette is essential to growing your site quickly. Here are three etiquette tips.

Regarding Comments:

• Leaving comments is really about showing support. Bloggers work hard to put together content. Reward them.

• Don't self promote in your comments. Use the "name/URL" box. If someone wants more, they'll click on your site. 

Regarding Copying:

• Choose your battles wisely. Grace Bonney (Design Sponge) mentioned this in her panel last year regarding etiquette. I've always remembered it because it's so true. Some things just aren't worth the time and effort.

• Don't air your dirty laundry. Deal with it privately instead.

• Don't copy. Be inspired. Take an idea and make it your own. 

Regarding Crediting:

• Give credit where credit is due. People won't think you're unoriginal, just honest.

• Find the proper credit.

• Put a disclaimer on your blog about how others should use (or not use) your stuff.

Tips by Danni Hong. Photography by b.a.d photography for Alt.

Five Steps to Embrace Vulnerability

You've heard it all before: others relentlessly diminishing the power of creativity and some even claiming to not possess a single breath of it, but you do not believe it. You have made it a practice to see into people, to believe in their potential and their power within. But letting go is never an easy task. It requires vulnerability, a luxury that very few allow themselves and most certainly not before an audience. And yet the reward is so satisfying. In the end, one must choose between safety and vulnerability. A life lived without creativity or one fully ignited by it.

Five Steps to Embrace Vulnerability

1. Journal your fears. Don't hold back. This is just for you. Do you have any fears that are keeping you from truly letting go? 

2. Write a post on your blog about vulnerability. Be honest with your readers. I have found that most of the feelings we have are actually quite common. You might be pleasantly surprised to discover that your readers have likely struggled or are struggling with the same things. 

3. Try something new, something creative that you have never tried before. Let yourself be imperfect at it. 

4. Create a project just for yourself. Sometimes the pressure of knowing that others will see your work can stifle your ability to let go and simply enjoy the process of creativity. If the end result is something you want to share, then that is great. But, if you are not quite pleased, that is great too. This one was just for you. 

5. Remind yourself that being vulnerable is hard for everyone. When you create, remember how far you have come in your work, and don't be afraid to give yourself a pep talk every now and then!

Photo and article by Tina Fussel.

Tighten your Text

A good blog is a tight blog. To tighten your blog, eliminate these words; 

1. In order to. You never need it. Instead of "going to the kitchen in order to make a sandwich", "just go to the kitchen to make a sandwich". 

2. Start to. Did you do it, or just start to do it? Is the car starting to roll down the hill, or is it, you know, actually rolling down the hill? Be presise.

3. There are. Never start a sentence with “there are…” There are usually better ways to phrase it. Opps. Except at times “there are” or “there’s” works, like I just used it. But, mostly, “there are” makes your sentences sound boring.

4. That. That often gives birth to wordiness. Ask whether you are truly clarifying or just revving up.

5. Currently. Currently mostly is redundant. You never need it. You’re not currently working for a law firm. You are working for a law firm.

6. Very. This is a very difficult one to remember. I almost never get it right, until I go back through my copy, and the word jumps out at me. This is a difficult one to remember. Same thing with "really".

7. Make. Like, “start to,” make repeals stronger verbs. For example, I first titled this post, “10 Ways to Make Your Copy Stronger.” That was fine for a first draft. But, when I re-read it, I realized the verb was weak. So, I changed the title to “10 Ways to Strengthen Your Copy.” Eventually, I realized “tighten” was an even better verb. The real improvement started when I killed “make”.

8. Passive Voice. Avoid the passive voice. Write like you mean it. Be bold. Use active voice. 

Do you notice any of these problems in your copy? What words do you eliminate when you’re self-editing?

Thanks to Alexis Grant for the tips and photography by ShePinTea.

Photography 101- Great Light!

You have good taste. I can just tell. I mean, look at those shoes you're wearing. And your blog is beautiful and a real reflection of your great style. And now you want your own photographs to match that style.

Sounds good. Let's start with the most important element of photography: great light! To make a great picture, use great light.

It's so much easier to make a flattering, interesting image when there's gorgeous light, whether you're taking pictures of food or how good you look in your new pants. Under ideal lighting conditions, you can make interesting, compelling pictures whether you're using a camera phone or a $3,000 camera. This is important, so I'll repeat that. To make a great picture, use great light.

So you ask, what does "good light" mean? It means, light that is flattering to the subject, or that falls on the subject in flattering ways.

Let's start with what good light isn't. The flash from your camera does not produce beautiful, flattering light. Turn that sucker off!

Now, that’s a cute boy and all, but that flash isn't doing the picture any favors. Oh, sure, there are going to be times you don't have any choice, but in most cases, you're better off without it.

Next, bright, direct sun, in most cases, is not flattering light. It produces harsh shadows that you probably don't want.

Plus, if you're taking pictures of people out in the sun, there's going to be lots of squinting. And if you're taking pictures of kids in direct sun, in addition to squinting, there’s bound to be complaining. "It's too bright. It's burning my retina. How come I can't have another otter pop?”

What does that leave, then? It leaves natural light. The source of natural light is still the sun, but not directly. It’s the ambient light on the shady side of a building. It’s the light coming in from the windows. It’s the light that comes into your house when you open your front door. This picture below was taken in the entry way of my house. 

I made sure the overhead light was off and then I just opened up the front door which is just to the right of the frame, producing beautiful soft, descriptive light. I just had my son sit down on a stool with the front door wide open.

You may notice that this picture was taken in the exact same spot as the first image at the exact same time of day. However, in the first picture taken with a flash, it produces an unnatural shadow underneath the chin, and the harsh, direct light coming from the flash flattens everything out. In this third picture, the shadow that is created gives the image a sense of depth and takes a two-dimensional object (a photograph) and gives it the appearance of a three-dimensional object (handsome fellow).

Just like any of the rules of photography, these lighting rules aren't hard and fast. They’re more like guidelines, but a darn good place to start.

This post is part 1 of a 4 part series by Justin Hackworth. If you’d like to learn a lot more about how to make great pictures, then join us on July 16 for DSLR 101 and on July 26 for DSLR 201. 

P.S. After you take all those great pictures, you’ll probably want to do what we did. Which was spend the next two hours at the pool.