December 2015 Goals

This past month was a really great one for me. I gave myself time to get my life together and then just came back with a big bang. And I am hoping to keep this momentum up during the December month. As holidays approach my schedule begins to get simultaneously busy and free at the same time. I never know what my day is going to be like--but hopefully these goals can keep me in line.

What you might have missed last month: 

Tea Time No.001
3 Ways to Overcome Blogger Burnout
Book Review: Zoo
How to Make Your Business Stand Out on Social Media
What It's Like Living with Migraines

Don't miss anything by following me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Last month's goals:

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+ Call a family member regularly.

As much as I want to say that I accomplished this one... I did not :( Sadly, this is actually a really hard thing for me to accomplish. My family and I both live such busy lives that its difficult to catch any one of us in a moment to just talk.

+ Do something on my blog every day.

I believe I accomplished this one!! Whether I responded to comments, drafted up a new posts, fine tuned my Pinterest boards, or found new amazing blogs to follow on Bloglovin', I was striving to make my little corner of the web even better.

+ Journal before bed.

Another one off my list! Wow, I actually did pretty good this month.

+ Blog twice a week consistently.

I'm going to count this one as a win. I took a break half way through November, but when I came back I was consistent!

+ Send out a weekly newsletter.

Got it done!!!! If you aren't already subscribed what are you even doing?! Check out my tips and tricks here.

December Goals

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This holiday season is going to spent a lot of the time with family. I love my family, but sometimes they can distract me from my blog and my online duties, so unlike any other month, this month's goals are going to have to be set in stone and really taken super seriously. I don't want all of you, my readers, to miss out on what I have to say (hehe!).

+ Post to Instagram at least once a day.
+ Fill an entire journal.
+ Practice yoga daily.
+ Finish two books.
+ Decorate for Christmas.
+ Budget better.

Need an update on how I'm doing with reaching my yearly goals--check them out here! Leave a comment below and let me know what you are hoping to accomplish this month. Have you set goals for yourself?

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Affiliate Marketing: Success Tips for Beginners

The world is filled with eager bloggers. More bloggers than existed when I started almost 3 years ago. And the best part about this wonderful blogging community is that it continues to grow every single day. As you start to thrive as a blogger, you might get requests for affiliate marketing. Are you ready to tackle this?

What is affiliate marketing?
At the core, affiliate marketing is all about relationships. As you have begun to build a relationship with your followers and readers, a company may have begun building their relationship with you, and now, they can take it to the next level by allowing your relationships to co-mingle and become one. As a member of an affiliate program, you will be rewarded for helping companies promote their products and services from their website. This can include text links, banner ads, email opt-in programs and a few others.

How does affiliate marketing work?
Affiliate marketing allows companies of all kinds to find new customers via your fan base. They will typically provide you with a special link to begin promoting their company on your website. As people gain your trust, they may venture onto the companies website and order their services via your recommendation. If your link is used to create a purchase, companies will grant you a cut of the sales!

Tips for Success

Do not promote everything.
As the requests come in to your email, it can be tempting to take on every single one just so you gain experience and credibility. But, be selective when choosing the products or services you want to promote and offer to your audience. Pick products that works well with your your blog's style and them, and think about the type of people who read your blog. When you are first starting out you may be very overwhelmed and want to promote every product the affiliate company has to offer. Think instead: "What need can you fulfill for them?"

Check out your stats.
I know that you do not want to be checking your stats all day, but after you post something related to affiliate marketing it is important to watch the impact that it has. Try to keep an eye on your data and see which programs work better than others and the impact that each one has. As you discover what works and what doesn't, try to focus on all of the positive outcomes that you have. Your stats can show you your click through rates and conversion rates, which will help you to determine if you are presenting your affiliate links correctly, and if they are something your audience actually wants to see.

Promote different ways.
I've seen it too many times--don't just sign-up for an affiliate program and then copy the banner ad into your sidebar. Waiting for the money to roll-in like this will NOT happen. Try writing about why you like the company or product you are promoting, or showing your readers the benefits before just sticking in a link that has nothing to do with the content of the post. In my opinion, the best marketing strategies are the ones that stand out, but don't draw attention to themselves. Market something that is related to what you like talking about--nothing bothers readers more than when you just throw in a random plug.

No matter what your next step is as a blogger, be sure to do you research. Make sure that whatever you are promoting is right for your audience, and that you have everything sealed and squared away with your affiliate company.

Have you written promotional posts? Comment below and let me know what kind of things you like to share with your readers!

P.S. The Design Consortium is looking for interested bloggers who want to become part of their affiliate program! Check out what you can do with TDC here.

Tea Time No.001

I miss my weekly vlogs, I miss my Periscope Friday's, but I can't film life every day. I don't have the skill to edit things quickly (I blame it on my perfectionism), and I don't always look good enough to pop up a camera and be confident as I talk about my daily life. But writing is something I can do.

Over and over again, I tell myself "don't start something you can't finish" or "don't start something that you won't be able to do regularly like you want," but this is really something I want to try. I've been writing a lot in my journal, and I love expressing myself there--but, I still want to share my daily life here.

That's why this blog started. It was a place for me to talk to my family and friends. Along the way, I've been able to meet some new people and expand my blog, but the idea of this being about me and my lifestyle is still constant.

So, Welcome to Tea Time! A post where I sit down and chat it out with you all every Saturday while I chug down my favorite tea of the week. I'll recap my week, talk about whatever is on my mind, and share a little bit more about myself every time. I hope you enjoy!!

Monday

I woke up at 4am to start a crock pot... how adult is that?! But, then I received a wonderful care package from my old youth group back at my hometown. I am so grateful that I have wonderful people who love and miss me always.

To keep up with my daily life on the regular follow me on Instagram and check out my SnapStory (@dnbailey94)!

Tuesday

Today is the second day of Thanksgiving Break. I love when I have a break from school! It gives me plenty of time to catch up on blogging tasks, schedule out some posts, and get my editorial planner all primped up and ready to go for the new year. I can't believe that 2015 is almost over--but more importantly, I can't believe I graduate this spring!!

Have you seen this article about how the voice actor of the old TV show, "Hey Arnold," is like SUPER hot?! I am now an avid fan of this hunk on Instagram... just don't tell S. The beard and tattoos make me weak.

Wednesday

I watched the Lord of the Rings Series today. I seriously need to just read the books! I absolutely love all of the movies--including The Hobbit Trilogy. Should I start with Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit when reading first?

Thursday

Happy Thanksgiving!!! We spent this Thanksgiving with my family in Chicago. It was a crazy long drive because everyone seems to be traveling on this day. My family and I spent the time talking about politics (yuck), but it was a nice way to catch up--you learn so much about someone based on their views of the world.

Friday

Did you do anything for Black Friday? I didn't. I think I would rather spend someone money on Cyber Monday and never have to leave my house.

I've also been working on creating some new goals for 2016. Check out last years goals and my progress. I'm trying to tick those final things off my list before the new year starts in just a month!

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SEO: A basic guide for mastering search engine optimization [As Seen On: IT Training Tips]

Search Engine Optimization. What is it? And why is it important? These are questions that every blogger, website owner, and business should be asking. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short, is "the process of maximizing the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine."

But now comes the real question--how do you optimize your website to its full potential? If you want to make sure that your site stands out in the battle of google search results, then SEO is going to have to become your best friend. Search engine traffic is often one of the top contributors of the number of visitors to your site making SEO ever important. Let's start from the top of your page and work our way down. Double check that these key things are being accomplished in order to verify that your site will be most liked by all search engines.

Keep your URL short and rich with keywords.

Avoid using ugly URLs at all costs. Not only does this upset search engines, it also makes it harder for users to remember and share your links. This is one of the first things that search engines will look at when determining your rank, and Google has even stated that the first 3-5 words in a URL are given the most weight--so make them count! In order to ensure that you are using the best keywords available to you, check out the Google Adwords Keyword Tool.

Title your posts/pages properly.

When you're titling something, think about what you would search for. Would you search for the title that you just gave that blog post? Would you click on that page title if it came up in your search? Your titles play a very important role in SEO--not only does it appear on the actual page, but it also shows in the browser's title bar. To make sure that you are getting the most impact, it is best to have your page title be the first element in the title that appears in the browser tab. Also, start your title with keywords--everything important should be visible in the first three words.

Don't be afraid to use multimedia.

Videos, photos, infographics, and more. All of these elements can really make your content stand out. By keeping your viewers entertained and happy you are ultimately reducing your bounce rate and increasing the time that they are on your site. These two statistics of user interaction can be an important ranking factor for Google. Keep accessibility in mind while you're doing this in order to really stand out above the rest.

Link to Other Content

Just like I mentioned above, allowing your viewers more opportunities to navigate around your site improves your bounce rate. This looks good to search engines, so by adding in related posts that you've previously written or linking one product to another you are improving your SEO. One other reason that you might want to include links to other content is because whenever you have a link on a page, a search engine will crawl through it (think of links like doorways to more content). You want search engines to be able to easily navigate around your site through your multitude of links, so the easier you make it for them to move around the better.

Search engine optimization really isn't difficult. Take the time to revise your website and make sure that you are following these key steps to make your site stand out above the rest. Keeping a clean design and flow can improve your SEO and make it easier for your content to shine. If your site is full of clutter like random images, unnecessary banners, and doesn't look consistent or have a nice flow, then consider going minimal. Make your site all about the content. SEO is a tool that everyone should know about and master with ease.

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This blog post was written by Danyell on ittrainingtips.iu.edu, a blog written by UITS IT Training staff in order to inform readers of tips, tricks, and useful tools when combating different technology, software, and online devices. Check out IT Training Tips for a daily dose of knowledge that's quick and on the go.

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3 Ways to Overcome Blogger Burnout

Have you ever had a month where you just didn't accomplish as much as you wanted? Did your blog falter and slip between the cracks? I've been blogging for over three years, and, without a doubt, these types of things happen to me from time to time. There's nothing you can do about it other than scoop up your pride and jump right back in.

Blogger burnout can be a killer! And if you can't recover, you might risk losing all of your readers. So, jumping right back in to the swing of things is so important in succeeding at creating a constant and personal online presence. The following tips are things that I have done in order to accomplish a quick and seamless recovery.

1. Refocus with goals.

Keep a list of goals visible:

Every month I lay out some goals that can help me become a better blogger, worker, and person. Having goals keeps me focused, and creating goals when I'm in a slump gives me something to work for and strive to achieve.

Make sure your posts are in line with your goals:

Okay, so now that you're back on track with some amazing goals that you're ready to achieve, make sure that your blog content follows your goals. Keep your goals in mind all of the time no matter what you're doing. When you're sharing something on Twitter, creating a new blog post, or even commenting on a fellow bloggers posts. Your goals should always be in the front of your mind, and should keep you focused on your blog.

Find and connect with someone who inspires you:

When I'm facing some blogger burnout, where I don't want to do anything or I just can't get inspired to write something amazing, then I'll scour my Bloglovin' feed and check out everything that my favorite bloggers have been doing. Hello Neverland is my inspiration blog--and I love checking out her amazing posts about journaling. Having someone to gain ideas and motivation from can really help pull you back into your own blog.

2. Refresh your space.

Clean up your workspace:

I'm so guilty of having a trashy desk. I love working at my desk and with time that usually brings about clutter. Whenever I'm feeling down and don't want to work on my blog, it often has to do with the fact that I feel unorganized and unproductive. Having a clean desk creates a minimal feel and makes it so all of your important things are totally in focus.

Redo your schedule:

Creating a task list, routine, or blogging schedule is another way to refresh the way that you're living and jump start your mind for fresh ideas. Having a plan, like a schedule, can help you get your mojo back and tackle that blogging funk you're in. Beating blogger burnout is all about keeping your mind sharp, your task list manageable, and your schedule busy with things you love.

Reevaluate your blog design

At the beginning of this year, I did a blog re-design. I wasn't happy with how things were going and that got me in a big blogging funk that forced me to stall for over a month. I needed a fresh start, so I made the website like you see it now. Taking the time to create something new got me inspired to do more and do better. Now my blog is thriving more than ever and my blogger burnout has subsided.

3. Keep learning.

Read blogs.

Just like I said earlier, you need to have your blogger inspiration person that you can go to to grab ideas and just get creative with. Another reason to follow other bloggers is to learn something from one another. Following blogging sites that teach you about blogging is going to make sure that you always keep your head in the game.

Find books you love.

There are tons of books out there about blogging, marketing, and making a living in the digital world. I love picking up a book every now and again that is about making my blog and myself better. Books can help you find your voice and really tune in on what you want to accomplish with your little online space.

Follow Pinterest.

Another great place to learn from is Pinterest. Pinterest has a million bajillion different pins related to blogging that can remind you why you love doing what you do. I have a special board on my Pinterest account dedicated specifically to blog ideas, and I have another all about Blogging and Social Media tips. Learning from these articles pulls me out of any blogging burnout that I am in and inspires me to get right back at it.

Have you ever been stuck in a blogger burnout? What did you do to combat the negative effects of this minor illness? Let me know in the comment section below!

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Book Review: Zoo

I'm no literary expert. I read just to be occupied, to say that I've read something, and to keep growing and enriching my vocabulary. Reading is simply a hobby of mine. But whenever I read a book that I really enjoyed, or that I think others would enjoy, I want to share it.

If you haven't noticed already, I changed the categories on my blog (see sidebar). I'll still be writing some of the same things. I just wanted a better way to organize my content on my blog. However, a few new categories might stick out to you--one of which is literature.

I've recently started reading a lot. I've always loved to read, to escape into some fantastical world, or become part of a century that no longer exists. I recently became a Barnes & Noble member and am using it to my fullest extent. I've already purchased so many books and can't wait to grow my own personal library here at home. Along with book reviews and reading tips, my new literature category will also include some content about writing and journaling which are other hobbies of mine.

If you have any book suggestions or blog post ideas that you would like to share with me in regards to my new category, please comment them below. I love to hear what you readers have to say and really respect and welcome your opinions and suggestions.

Anyways... let's get to this review!!

Like I said early, I am not an expert on books, philosophy, writing, or reading in general at all. I do everything simply because I enjoy it and it entertains me. That being said, I've heard a lot of terrible things about this book. If you look online for different reviews, you will find mostly bad scores, people completely hating on it, and other saying that this is the worst book that they have ever read.

I enjoyed it just as much as I was expecting to. James Patterson--everyone knows that name. He is the author of this book and about a trillion more. How much literary expertise do you expect from someone who comes out with about 10 new books every year? These type of books are often categorized as fluffy, beach reads. They are the type of book that you would pick up on your way out of the airport or see at Walmart near the magazines. That is exactly what I expected of this book, and it did a fabulous job of keeping me occupied for a week.

I was interested in reading this book because I watched a few episode of the related CBS television show. The show intrigued me, so before I went any further into it, I wanted to read the book. While the book and the show have a similar theme and idea, they are nothing alike. Even the main characters are different people. So, if you're worried about watching the show before you read the book, don't fret.

The plot line of this book is simply this: animals are turning against humans and the main character, a scientist, wants to figure out why and how to stop it. It is a very interesting concept that could have went further, but as simple books do, this one lacked any further thought provoking message. It was basically and quick read with a decent enough story line. The chapters were super short (I mean super super short--like 5 pages tops), and it kept me flipping the pages every 30 seconds.

There a few complaints that I have about this book that a lot of other people seem to share with me. First off, it was written by a man in the perspective of a man--thus, it brought about some interesting views that were a little unrealistic. As you read through this book you could tell you were living in a man's world--one without emotions, one with manly men who survived anything, and one where women stayed home and took care of the kids no matter what was at stake. There were times when events happened (deaths, shocks, and surprises) that no matter your gender, you would have been hit by a depression for at least a few days, and yet, the main character moved on like nothing happened.

There is so much more that I could talk about from this book. It really got my mind going but didn't have any sort of satisfying ending that made me feel good again. So, I'd love to talk about what happened, but don't want to ruin anything for anyone who has not read it. If you've read this book and would love to start a conversation with me. Let me know in the comment section below or shoot me a message on Twitter!

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How to Make Your Business Stand Out on Social Media

Using social media as a business and using it as a personal user is not very different! No matter what platform you are using, whether it be Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or anything else, the things that a business needs to do to stand out are very similar to the things a personal user will need to do in order to stand out.

If you take a look at my Twitter account you will see that I use it mostly for personal tweets, posting motivational updates, and sharing funny images that I find. By taking a look at any of the other accounts that I manage for businesses and blogs you will see that the method of tweeting is similar (but not exact). This is true for all social media platforms.

A business needs to be personable and relatable and trustworthy while posting on social media, but they are also marketing something. As a personal user, are you marketing anything? Not really, but without even realizing it, you may be looking for businesses to market to you. Here's another question, as a personal user have you ever tagged or communicated directly with a business? By talking with a business on a social network like Twitter, you are marketing for that business. This is a business's dream!

A business needs to fit in enough to create a social relationship, but stand out enough to make their product shine. When a customer tags them or communicates with them on social media they are showing all of their personal followers that this company is someone worth talking to. A business' goal for all social networks is engagement. Getting a customer to engage with them in a positive manner, to appreciate the things that they are posting, and to share and communicate the wonderful things that this company has to say with all of their personal followers, too.

Positive communication with personal users and a large engagement rate is the key to making your business stand out on social media. Getting users to interact with you, share your information, and talk about your company in a positive manner is the perfect way to spread your word.

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