My blogging tips

I am linking up today with Kelly's Korner SUYL, How to Find A Job. 

I want to give my tips on working from home. While I don't make a ton of money, I do like the little bit I do make and the sense of purpose it gives my blogging.

1. Getting started
Start a blog and write about what you love. I love my family and I have a passion for crafting. I start with that and go from there.  Project Life was a great scrapbooking project for me. It gave me a weekly blog topic and a way to record our family memories on a regular basis.  Find something you love and can see yourself sticking with.

2. Affiliates
Look for relevant affiliates. I joined Avant link a few years ago. It provides a commission for each sale I generate. I use it for TwoPeas scrapbooking to tie in with my layouts. I also recently joined their program for Steals.com, which has a daily scrapbooking deal as well as regular deals.
Another great affiliate program is Shareasale, they cover Simon Says Stamp, Scrapbook.com and One Kings Lane.
You can basically just show how you use products and provide links to buy in your post, which is what I do.  You can also just put out links on social media letting people know about sales or deals through Facebook and Twitter.  

3. Ads
I signed up with BlogHer recently. I get paid a few dollars each month in ads. It is not a ton of money, but it is slow and steady. Every once in a while they contact you about special ad posts which allow you to earn several hundred dollars. Those make it really worthwhile.

4. Etsy

I first opened my shop, Rainbow Scrapbooks, when I started doing Project Life. I sold handmade PL cards at first. Then I added on die cut cards and polaroid frames when I got a cameo. This year I started selling washi tape as well.

I took a few large custom orders as well recently and think it is something I need to do more often even though it is more time consuming than my regular shop.
I made a set of custom initial polaroid frames for a wedding. I also had a huge order for die cut 12*12 pages and PL cards. I do my own design work, so it was a lot of fun working with the clients coming up with fun and new designs.

I encouraged my cousin to start her own shop as well. She has a passion for painting and makes some amazing canvases.  

5. Pinterest
Lastly, marketing. I know there are a lot of different ways to market yourself but my favorite is Pinterest. I will always be something of an introvert and chatting all day long on message boards or FB just doesn't work for me. I do love Pinterest however. Because my projects are very visual oriented they are very well suited to pinterest. 

Here are my top two pinterest tips. 

Make your photo vertical.

Add some text.

That's it!
I have tripled my page views with these tips and increased my Etsy sales by at least double. 

Give these tips a try and let me know if you have questions.  I hope this helps.