The Blogger Genius Podcast

Here are my 9 ways to get your blog off on the right foot in 2021. After a crummy year, I'm starting to feel much more optimistic about the New Year. So, I recommend you take this time during the holidays to get yourself prepared to jump in in a new way come January. Some of the ideas I present relate to mindset shifts, like believing in abundance and focusing on your audience's needs over your own. While, some of the ideas I propose are strategic, like figuring out what you can sell to your audience, getting comfortable showing your face on video, and joining our next six-week MiloTree Entrepreneur Coaching Group to grow your business in real time with our help. If you want to jump on a call with me to discuss your goals for 2021, and how I might be able to help you, please click this calendar link and schedule a time. I'd love to connect with you and help get your ready for what's to come! Show Notes: MiloTree Catch My Party MiloTree Six-Week Coaching Group Blogger Genius Facebook Group Subscribe to The Blogger Genius Podcast: iTunes Stitcher YouTube Amazon Music Imagine a world where growing your social media followers and email list was easy… If you are looking for ways to grow your community whether that be email whether that be social media, right now head to Milotree.com install the MiloTree app on your blog and it will do the work for you. Let it do the heavy lifting for you. Let it pop up in front of your visitors and ask them to follow you on Instagram Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook, join your list, check out the exit intent but really get your community growing. And we'd love to help you with MiloTree. And I will see you here again next week. Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!

What is Pinterest saying now to be successful on the platform? I've got Alisa Meredith from Tailwind back on the show for her fourth visit. She is a dear friend and alway willing to share the most cutting edge news about Pinterest. As we all know, Pinterest wants "new content" on the platform. But what is new content? Back in February this was a new pin. Now they've now come out and said that a new pin connected to a new URL (a new blog post) counts as "new content." So does this mean you need to blog every day to be pushing out new URLs? Or that your old content won't work on Pinterest anymore? Absolutely not. Listen to the episode now, to understand how you can still have a lot of success driving traffic from Pinterest. Show Notes: MiloTree App Catch My Party The Blogger Genius Share & Grow Your Blog Facebook Group Tailwind Tailwind Facebook Page Pinterest Creative Agency Advertising Guide Tailwind "How to Create New Content for Pinterest" Tailwind Create Subscribe to The Blogger Genius Podcast: iTunes Stitcher YouTube Amazon Music Imagine a world where growing your social media followers and email list was easy… If you are looking for ways to grow your community whether that be email whether that be social media, right now head to Milotree.com install the MiloTree app on your blog and it will do the work for you. Let it do the heavy lifting for you. Let it pop up in front of your visitors and ask them to follow you on Instagram Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook, join your list, check out the exit intent but really get your community growing. And we'd love to help you with MiloTree. And I will see you here again next week. Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!

If you listen to this podcast, you know I talk a lot about how to write content that attracts your ideal audience. If you listen to this podcast, you know I talk a lot about how to write content that attracts your ideal audience. I think of my content as the top of my purchasing funnel. If I can get it right, I've set myself up for success—whether that be selling MiloTree subscriptions, selling coaching or workshops, collecting an email address, or getting someone to join my Facebook group. But the question is how does I come up with the right content on the first try, without feeling like I'm throwing spaghetti and the wall and seeing what sticks? My guest, Shondell Varcianna, a professional content creator for the banking industry, shares her tips for figuring out what type of content your audience is looking for. She shares about the importance of keyword research, spending time in Facebook groups in your niche, making yourself easy to find online, and interacting with your ideal customers one-on-one. Shondell demystifies content creation so you can spend more time creating, less time guessing, and have much more success growing your blog or business. Show Notes: MiloTree App Catch My Party The Blogger Genius Share & Grow Your Blog Facebook Group Shondell Varcianna Subscribe to The Blogger Genius Podcast: iTunes Stitcher YouTube Amazon Music Imagine a world where growing your social media followers and email list was easy… If you are looking for ways to grow your community whether that be email whether that be social media, right now head to Milotree.com install the MiloTree app on your blog and it will do the work for you. Let it do the heavy lifting for you. Let it pop up in front of your visitors and ask them to follow you on Instagram Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook, join your list, check out the exit intent but really get your community growing. And we'd love to help you with MiloTree. And I will see you here again next week. Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!

Just in time for Thanksgiving, I'm releasing a guided meditation on gratitude. Given how strange and unsettling this year is, I thought intentionally focusing on something positive in our lives—all things we're grateful for—could help make this time a little easier to stomach. My hope is that this will offer a few minutes of peace and calm. Just recording it, offered that to me. It's so easy to feel overwhelmed right now, and for those celebrating Thanksgiving without family, this can be a deeply lonely time. I feel it myself. I miss my parents and my normal life desperately. May this meditation help us all remember and cherish the blessings in our lives, as we invite them to our Thanksgiving table. If you enjoyed this meditation, please reach out to me at jillian@milotree.com. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Show Notes: #136: SPECIAL EPISODE: A Guided Meditation on Perfection Subscribe to The Blogger Genius Podcast: iTunes Stitcher YouTube Amazon Music Guided Meditation on Gratitude Given that it's Thanksgiving week, and this year is a little unusual. Instead of talking about business and blogging, I wanted to offer up something a little different to help with maybe some of the unsettled feelings we're all having. This is my second guided meditation. I did my first meditation on perfection a few months ago, and I'll link to it in the show notes. If you're interested. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, this meditation is on gratitude. Find a comfortable place where you can sit down or lie down and close your eyes. And let's start breathing. Breathe in and out. And in and out. On this breath, picture, a giant wave crashing over you. So, ready, breathe in. A giant wave crashes over you. And as you exhale, the water retreats, and so does a little bit of the tension you're holding in your body. So, let's try that again. Breathe in, let the wave crash over you. And as it retreats, exhale feel a little more tension, leave your body. Let's do that one more time, breathe in. Feel this wave crash over you. And as the water retreats, a little more tension leaves your body. And now, let's scan our bodies because there are usually some extra places where we hold tension. When I mentioned a place, see if you can relax it just a little bit more. Let's first focus on our eye sockets. Can you feel them relax just by focusing on them? And now let's move down to our jaws. We tend to hold a lot of tension in our jaws. Oh, feel it relax. And now, let's move down to our throats and to our shoulders. And to our solar plexus which is the spot right under your ribs. Like if you got punched in the stomach. That's where your solar plexus is and just put a little softness there. Let's move down to our bellies. We tend to hold a lot of tension in our bellies. So, see if you can soften it so, that you have soft belly. Ah. Let's move down to our hips and to our thighs and to our calves. And now focus on your feet and see if you can flex them really hard. And then point them really hard. Oh, and then let it go. Let them just melt. So, now, as we start talking about gratitude, I want to invite you to open yourself up to receive guidance, wisdom, almost like you're an empty vessel. Let's start with the breath. Breathe in. Breathe out. And now please repeat these words in your head. And I want you to see what shows up. Ready. I am grateful for, what materialized? What popped into your mind? So, give it a second. Visualize it. Is it a certain person, pet, thing, event experience, maybe a circumstance? Who or whatever it is, please welcome that into your heart. Surround it or them with love. And give thanks for playing such an important role in your life. Then invite it or them to your Thanksgiving table. Let's do it again. Please repeat the words, I am grateful for in your head and see what materializes. Was it another person? Again, a pet, experience? Whatever it was, welcome this person or this thing into your heart. And invite it to take it or them to take a seat at your Thanksgiving table. And let's do it one more time. Please repeat these words I am grateful for and whatever pops into your mind, hold it or them in your heart. And again, invite them or it to join you at your table. Now think of a challenge in your life that you have overcome. It could be an illness, a circumstance or relationship. Feel your bravery. Build your inner strength for getting to the other side. And welcome that challenge into your heart. Thank the challenge, thank your strength. This has helped transform you, helped you evolve. So, invite this experience to your table. Now, think of someone in your life. Who could use a little grace, a touch of kindness. A little bit of love and warmth right now. Who in your life is struggling? And in your mind, hold them tight. Send lots of love their way and invite them to your table. Are there other people who might need that little touch of grace? If so, invite each one to your table, surround them with love. And now as our final act of gratitude. Please welcome yourself into your heart with all your strengths, and all your weaknesses. Your fears, your loves your foibles, your best qualities, your worst qualities, the whole package of who you are without judgment. Please thank yourself for being uniquely you. Nobody else is like you. And thank yourself for hanging in there in this unusual time. Thank yourself for showing up in whatever way you've been able to. Please, place your hand on your heart. And feel the lifeforce inside you as you breathe in and out. And in and out. Feel how alive you are in this mysterious incarnation. Now, sit yourself at the head of your Thanksgiving table and look around at all that you are grateful for. And those that you love. And please take this in. So, let's breathe together. Let's breathe in and out. And in and out. Notice the abundance people experiences, challenges. Know that this is life and it isn't always easy. And a lot of times, it's messy. And it's also a deep and beautiful mystery. And we keep showing up. For that, let's give thanks and let's celebrate. When you're ready, wiggle your fingers and your toes. Feel yourself coming back into your body. And when it feels comfortable, open your eyes and notice the subtle shift that has taken place. I wish you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving, and I'll see you again next week.

Want to learn how to drive enormous traffic to your blog? Today I'm talking with Melanie Ferguson from Southern Crush at Home for a Part 2 interview. Melanie starting focusing on her blog about a year ago, and since then has grown it large enough to be accepted into the ad network, MediaVine, which has a minimum of 50k sessions per month. You will learn the strategies Melanie used to leverage her large Facebook page to grow her blog. I was impressed with how strategic she was at directing her traffic from social media to her blog. Because building a business on Facebook is like building a business on rented land, we talk about the value of making your blog the hub of your business, and treating all the other areas as spokes. We also talk about the importance of showing your face on video to build your community of fans. Melanie share all her best tips for going live. And even she admits that it still feels weird, but gives her reasons for doing it and why you should consider it, too. If you are looking for concrete strategies for driving traffic and engaging with your audience, this is the episode for you! Show Notes: MiloTree App Catch My Party The Blogger Genius Share & Grow Your Blog Facebook Group MiloTree BlogStart Southern Crush at Home Southerncrushathome.com/sixfigurefollowing Mediavine Subscribe to The Blogger Genius Podcast: iTunes Stitcher YouTube Amazon Imagine a world where growing your social media followers and email list was easy… If you are looking for ways to grow your community whether that be email whether that be social media, right now head to Milotree.com install the MiloTree app on your blog and it will do the work for you. Let it do the heavy lifting for you. Let it pop up in front of your visitors and ask them to follow you on Instagram Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook, join your list, check out the exit intent but really get your community growing. And we'd love to help you with MiloTree. And I will see you here again next week. Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!

In this episode I share my thoughts on the perfection of B- work and how to get stuff done in your business. This is a personal solo episode I recorded about my deep and conflicted relationship with perfectionism. I call myself a "recovering perfectionist" and believe I will be dealing with its affects for the rest of my life. There have been times my perfectionism has served me well, but in my life as an entrepreneur, I think it have held me back. In this episode I talk about why I recommend bloggers shoot for B- work and what that looks like in practice. I talk about how B- work helps you move quickly and test new ideas. I also share how putting B- work out there can be uncomfortable and even embarrassing. At the end of the day, I have learned that "Perfection isn't profitable. So I have a Post-It on my desk that says, "B- work every day!" I recommend you put one on your desk too. Show Notes: MiloTree App Catch My Party The Blogger Genius Share & Grow Your Blog Facebook Group MiloTree Six-Week Blogger Coaching Group #136: SPECIAL EPISODE: A Guided Meditation on Perfection with Jillian Leslie Subscribe to The Blogger Genius Podcast: iTunes Stitcher YouTube Amazon Music Grow your social media followers and email list on autopilot… If you are looking for ways to grow your community whether that be email whether that be social media, right now head to Milotree.com install the MiloTree app on your blog and it will do the work for you. Let it do the heavy lifting for you. Let it pop up in front of your visitors and ask them to follow you on Instagram Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook, join your list, check out the exit intent but really get your community growing. And we'd love to help you with MiloTree. And I will see you here again next week. Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!

Today I'm talking with my friend and Pinterest expert, Jennifer Priest, from Smart Creative Social, about how to be effective on Pinterest today. Pinterest is getting a bad rap these days because people are seeing their traffic from the platform plummet. Jennifer and I debunk some of the myths swirling around Pinterest, and talk about how there is no one way to have success on the platform. Understanding what your specific goals are for being there (traffic, sales, email signup, etc.) and what the algorithm is looking for (compelling images, specific headlines, keyword-heavy descriptions, etc), will set you up for success. Creating a ton of new pins without a clear strategy, following techniques and trick you read about in a Facebook group, or throwing spaghetti against the wall to see if anything sticks is guaranteed to lead to frustration. Your business is different from everybody else's. So, you've got to think really critically about what you're trying to accomplish, then test and learn, test and learn to fine-tune your strategy. Pinterest is a numbers game in that your analytics can teach you a lot, but it isn't a numbers game, in that if you put out 1,000 pins, one of them is guaranteed to hit. My advice is slow down, and take the time to see what works uniquely for you, then build off of it. If you are frustrated right now with Pinterest, I think you'll find this episode very helpful and reassuring! Show Notes: MiloTree App The Blogger Genius Share & Grow Your Blog Facebook Group Blogger Genius 4 Biggest Takeaways Email Subscribe to The Blogger Genius Podcast: iTunes Stitcher YouTube Amazon Music Other Blogger Genius Podcast Episodes about Pinterest You Might Like #143: How to Easily Design Pinterest Pins to Get More Traffic with Clarita Gerlach #135: How to Be Successful on Pinterest and Instagram Today with Jeff Sieh #128: What's Working on Pinterest NOW! with Kate Ahl #109: How to Get Ahead of the Changes at Pinterest to Win on the Platform with Alisa Meredith #072: How to Make Promoted Pins Work for You With Monica Froese #053: Powerful and Easy Pinterest Tips from Pinterest Insider, Tori Tait Growing Social Media Followers and Email Subscribers Doesn't Have to Be Hard If you are looking for ways to grow your community whether that be email whether that be social media, right now head to Milotree.com install the MiloTree app on your blog and it will do the work for you. Let it do the heavy lifting for you. Let it pop up in front of your visitors and ask them to follow you on Instagram Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook, join your list, check out the exit intent but really get your community growing. And we'd love to help you with MiloTree. And I will see you here again next week. Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!

Today we're talking about why it's worth growing an engaged Facebook audience and how this could be a game-changer for your business. I'm interviewing Melanie Ferguson from Southern Crush at Home. Melanie has a Facebook page with over 100k followers. We talk about how valuable followers are when growing your online business because they show up for you. And Facebook is one of the best ways to get quick and easy feedback from your fans. Many people are underestimating the power of Facebook right now. They believe it's hard to get organic reach. But if you are willing to go live on Facebook regularly, and engage with your audience, Facebook will reward you. Melanie shares strategies she uses to grow her page, how she's built different businesses by leveraging her audience, and tips you can use for going live on Facebook. After listening to this episode, I think you might want to reevaluate your relationship with Facebook. It might not be as cold and unloving as you think. Show Notes: MiloTree App MiloTree BlogStart Southern Crush at Home Southern Crush at Home Facebook Page Southern Crush at Home Christmas Craftathon Episode #017: How To Use Facebook to Go Viral with Rachel Miller MiloTree WordPress Workshop Blogger Genius 4 Biggest Takeaways Email Subscribe to The Blogger Genius Podcast: iTunes Google Play Stitcher YouTube Amazon Music Imagine a world where growing your social media followers and email list was easy… If you are looking for ways to grow your community whether that be email whether that be social media, right now head to Milotree.com install the MiloTree app on your blog and it will do the work for you. Let it do the heavy lifting for you. Let it pop up in front of your visitors and ask them to follow you on Instagram Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook, join your list, check out the exit intent but really get your community growing. And we'd love to help you with MiloTree. And I will see you here again next week. Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!

Ready to learn how to win selling on Shopify? If you are a blogger, you know I recommend finding something to sell to your audience, and Shopify might be the perfect platform for you to do it on. This is why I'm excited to share my interview with Shopify expert, Elle McCann. In this episode, we delve into lots of important Shopify strategies and tactics including: Selling on Shopify vs. Etsy What to consider when opening a Shopify store The importance of doing B- work to get your store open fast Common mistakes people make when selling on Shopify How to drive traffic to your shop How to use social media to sell The importance of using email marketing in ecommerce And so much more! I think every blogger should listen to this episode because even if you are not ready to open a Shopify store yet—notice I said "yet"—this episode might get the wheels turning for you on what you can sell to your audience. Snag My 4 Takeaways Weekly Cheatsheet Hello friends. It is me, Jillian, serial entrepreneur, founder of Catch My Party and MiloTree. I take what's working now in online entrepreneurship and I break it down. So, you can take these techniques into your business. If you'd like to get an email from me once a week where I send you my four biggest takeaways from every podcast episode, please head to bloggergenius.com and sign up. It's like a cheat sheet every week. So, you can stay on top of what is happening now in online business. Again, head to bloggergenius.com and sign up, I would love you to be part of my community. For today's episode, I have Elle McCann on the show and she is a Shopify expert. Imagine a world where growing your social media followers and email list was easy… If you are looking for ways to grow your community whether that be email whether that be social media, right now head to Milotree.com install the MiloTree app on your blog and it will do the work for you. Let it do the heavy lifting for you. Let it pop up in front of your visitors and ask them to follow you on Instagram Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook, join your list, check out the exit intent but really get your community growing. And we'd love to help you with MiloTree. And I will see you here again next week. Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!

In today's episode of The Blogger Genius Podcast, we're digging into how to easily design Pinterest pins to get more traffic. Face it, there's no better way to get traffic to your blog than Pinterest. And now that Pinterest has come out and said it wants "new content," it behooves you to create lots of new pins for the platform. But how do you do that without burning out? I've got my friend and graphic designer, Clara Gerlach from 5tips.co, on the podcast to share her strategies for creating effective pins easily and quickly using Pinterest templates. Clara also shares her five tips for effective pin design, and the five photo types she recommends you capture to use in your Pinterest pins. If you are not a designer, you can still create eye-catching pins that "stop the scroll." You need to know a few design rules that Clara outlines, and have a plan in place before you start creating your next pins. It's totally doable! Show Notes: MiloTree Pop-Up App Blogger Genius 4 Biggest Takeaways Email MiloTree Six-Week Entrepreneur Group 5Tips.co Clara's Pinterest Templates Canva Catch My Party Subscribe to The Blogger Genius Podcast: iTunes Google Play Stitcher YouTube Amazon Music Sign Up to Get My 4 Favorite Takeaways Email Hello friends. It's me, Jillian, serial entrepreneur, founder of Catch My Party, founder of MiloTree, business coach and really, business translator. I take what is working right now in online entrepreneurship. And I break it down so that you have tactics that you can go and take into your own business. If you would like to get a weekly newsletter from me, where I take my most recent podcast episode. And I share my four biggest take aways with you kind of like Cliff Notes, please head to bloggergenius.com and sign up. I would love you to be part of my community so that I can get to know you. Imagine a world where growing your social media followers and email list was easy… If you are looking for ways to grow your community whether that be email whether that be social media, right now head to Milotree.com install the MiloTree app on your blog and it will do the work for you. Let it do the heavy lifting for you. Let it pop up in front of your visitors and ask them to follow you on Instagram Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook, join your list, check out the exit intent but really get your community growing. And we'd love to help you with MiloTree. And I will see you here again next week. Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!