The Blogger Genius Podcast

If you think that niching down cuts into your earnings, think again. We're talking about how to easily profit from your niche. As you know, I've been a proponent of niching down for a long time. And if you still aren't sure that the "riches are in the niches," this episode is sure to change your mind. My guest, Tamara Bennett, has built an empire with her site, Southern A-Door-nments Decor. You will be inspired as you hear how Tamara has built her business by teaching people how to paint door hangers. But first, if you haven't joined my Facebook group, I want to encourage you to do that today! Every Monday at 3:00 EST, I go live in the group to talk about that week's podcast episode. I go over the highlights, what I've learned, and what I think is important for you all to take away from the discussion. How to Find Your Niche Have you ever gone to a direct sales party in someone's home? I'm sure most of you have. But, did you ever think of starting your own style of the in-home party? That's exactly what Tamara did! She began by hosting painting parties in her home while her husband was deployed. But when he came home, she felt the need to discontinue the parties she was having at home. However, she missed the camaraderie of the other women so much that she decided to offer to do the parties in the homes of others. She would allow the hostess to paint her project for free and the guests each paid a fee for all of the materials needed to create their own personalized door hanger. Word spread quickly as the women began hosting parties for their own friends. Using Facebook Live to Grow Your Business Tamara admits to being an early adopter of new technology, so when Facebook started, it was no different. She decided to do a live video while she created a bow for one of her door hangers from the parties. The live videos quickly became almost addicting for Tamara. She loved the fact that she could be at home, working on her crafts, but still be carrying on conversations with friends who were watching. She quickly began painting door hangers on Facebook lives. She figured people would like to see the process, and again, it provided her with that sense of community that she longed for. Creating a Membership Site Tamara noticed that her audience was divided into two segments: those who wanted to learn to paint, and those who just wanted to watch. Tamara built her membership site to help the audience that wanted to learn more in-depth painting techniques. People were already asking questions and Tamara was teaching as best she could during a Facebook Live, but she realized there were better platforms to teach her audience. A few days before she launched her membership site, she began doing Facebook Lives every day, talking about the new site and all the benefits of joining. When she officially opened the site a few days later, 407 people joined immediately. 407 people. As soon as the site was opened. Organic Facebook Growth When Tamara started her Facebook Live videos, she had around 2,500 followers. A year later Tamara had 5,000 followers, without running any Facebook ads. And that's when she hired a coach to help her continue to grow her page. The main things the coach told her were to be consistent with her videos and to show her face in every video. Scaling A Business Using Facebook Ads Tamara hired her business coach when she had 5,000 Facebook followers, in August of 2017. By January of 2018, Tamara had 7,500 followers on her page. At this point, Tamara hired someone to manage her Facebook ads. After four months of running Facebook ads, she had 15,000 followers. She doubled her followers in just 4 months. Today, Tamara has 103,000 Facebook followers. How to Build a Team As your business grows, you get to a point where you simply can't do everything yourself. Tamara now has a Director of Operations. She helped build Tamara's website, manages the membership site, and she is also responsible for delegating tasks to other team members. The beauty of an operations manager is that it frees you up to focus on those tasks that have the biggest ROI, rather than spending your time micromanaging your team members. Tamara also has a social media assistant who manages her Facebook ads, and who helps to create and manage the content for Facebook and Instagram. Adding a Blog to Your Business One of the things I found fascinating about Tamara's story is that she has only recently added a blog to her offerings. She and her team are posting to the blog a few times a week, focusing on content that is relevant to people who are interested in painting door hangers. It may seem counter-intuitive to start a blog after your business is successful, but your social media posts don't stick around like blog content does. It's difficult to go back and look at past content on social media, whereas on a blog, it's easy to access previous content. Stay in Your Lane One of the things that Tamara struggled with when she first started was comparing herself to others. Her advice to anyone starting a blog or online business is to not worry about what the competition is doing. The moment she decided to focus on her community, and on the path she was taking was the moment everything changed for her. We all have an innate need for community, so I want you to think about your own business and figure out how you can create that sense of community for your audience. I'm building a community in my MiloTree Mastermind Group on Facebook. If you aren't a member, please come over and join us! Read the transcript for "How To Easily Profit From Your Niche" Imagine a world where growing your social media followers and email list was easy… It can be with MiloTree! Try the MiloTree pop-up app on your blog for 30 days risk-free! Let your MiloTree pop-ups help you get to that next level by turning your visitors into email subscribers and social media followers on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and YouTube. Sign up today! Install your MiloTree pop-ups on your site in under two minutes. Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!

This episode is one of my most popular of 2019, which is why I'm rebroadcasting it here. My guest on the show is Jeff Hawley. He is an SEO guru who works with publishers, bloggers, and online entrepreneurs to find successful SEO strategies for their businesses. In this episode, we talk about how SEO is more of an art form than a numbers game. But there are definitely things you need to know to help you in your quest for growth. If you're trying to increase more organic traffic from Google (and even Pinterest, which is also a search engine), this episode is for you!

As bloggers, our number one need is traffic. We all know it, and yet sometimes, we try to talk ourselves out of it. We think we can grow our blogs and our businesses and not worry about traffic. And that's not true. If you want to increase your blog income, you have to increase your traffic first. Here are 6 easy hacks to get more traffic to your blog Today, I've got my friend, and MiloTree Community Manager, Paula Rollo, back on the show, and we are talking about increasing your blog traffic. SEO, Pinterest, email marketing, and MiloTree are all great ways to grow your traffic. You'll notice I didn't mention Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. While social media can still provide traffic, the game has changed dramatically in the last couple of years. When the social media platforms first started, there were many hacks and tricks you could use to gain lots of traffic. Today, those platforms have tightened up so much, you have to truly provide good content to gain that traffic. Google doesn't run on keywords alone anymore either. Today, Google actually reads your content and serves up only the best content to its audience, not just the most keyword-heavy posts. Easy strategies to get your content found So, if social media isn't the way to get your blog in front of new readers, what are the best ways to do that now? There are several strategies you can use to get more eyes on your content: Answer actual questions that people are asking You want to be the authoritative voice in your niche Master your niche In order to be an authority, you have to figure out what it is about your content that your audience is connecting with Look at your analytics See which posts get the most engagement After you've done this: Build up your content Create blog posts on this topic and related topics Link your posts internally on your blog Google will see those links and serve up that content when someone has a question about your expertise. Create a page on your site where you have all your posts organized in a useful way Create long-form content Google likes longer content so aim for 1,500 3,000 words per post Know who your perfect audience is MiloTree's perfect audience is people who already have traffic and want to convert that traffic. That's who I want to go after because I can actually help them. I am very intentional in my blog posts and podcast episodes so that my target audience knows it is for them and is going to help them. You want to strategically go after the audience that will benefit from you. If you know your audience, then you will know the things they will be interested in. You do not want to go after every audience possible. You want to go after a specific person you know is interested in your topic. Growing your traffic through Pinterest To grow your traffic through Pinterest – Search Pinterest for popular pins and create content that is similar or on similar topics Use keywords in your title, your board descriptions, your pin descriptions, and on your pins Use relevant hashtags — 2-3 per pin description Just being active on Pinterest is not enough anymore. You have to be intentional. Why you need to be intentional and focused in your business If you think you cannot be creative in your niche, then you can experiment outside that, but I would suggest you find new ways to be creative inside it. While you do have the ability to do what you want, you have to be consistent if you expect to grow your business. You certainly don't have the same level of freedom that bloggers had several years ago. If you are an influencer as a business, you do not have the freedom to just do what you want. You can always start a little side project to play with, but you should not let it affect your business. The audience I am looking to help is business people. Even if they have no experience with making money on a blog, that is their first and foremost desire. If you have a creative idea, and you don't care about making money with it, go for it. But do not sink your business to follow a creative idea that will not make you money. It isn't all fun and games. Sometimes you have to sit down and look at the numbers, you have to think about the business side of it. How to get traffic from newsletters I know a food blogger who sends out three recipes a week to her email list. Her RSS feed is what drives the majority of her traffic because she has a very loyal audience. At the end of the day, you're paying for your email service. Email services aren't cheap, so you have to balance what you're making on ads versus what you're spending to send them. You need to make sure you can make money from those emails and not just get traffic. If you're planning on selling a product, then your email list is essential. Your subscribers are your biggest opportunity for making money through selling. On MiloTree, I put together a post about growing your Instagram followers. I give this valuable information away to people who are willing to give me their email address. What Type of Business Owner is MiloTree Right For? Now that I'm getting more intentional with my own blog and business, I'm not just going to be going after people who just want to grow their Instagram followers, but people who already think of themselves as a business –people who can see that MiloTree is a great way to help them grow their business. Are you in the middle stages of growing your blog? Have you got some traffic but you know you need more? Let MiloTree help you get to that next level. Sign up today! Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE! TIMESTAMP 7:04 Strategies To Get Your Content Found 17:57 Know Who Your Perfect Audience Is 24:02 Growing Your Traffic Through Pinterest 29:34 Being Intentional and Focused 35:29 Traffic and Newsletters Get Full Podcast Transcript Here

Are you looking for the cheapest way to get started with Facebook ads? If so, you're going to want to listen in today because I have my very own Facebook ads experts on the show. Jessica Gleim and Amy Christie are the founders and creators of their own "mom-powered, marketing agency," called Flairst. Today, we are going to be talking about how to run ads to cold audiences, people who haven't yet heard of your business. If you want to begin with ads on Facebook, this is going to be the least expensive option for you and a great way to start. If you find Facebook ads confusing or you tried them and they didn't work, you're going to walk away from today's show with some solid ideas! The Value of Facebook Ads Ten years ago when Jess and Amy began their online business, the social media platforms were not only supportive of content creators, they were promoting your content to your followers. Imagine a time when, if you posted to Facebook, your followers saw 100% of what you posted? Or the days when your followers on Pinterest actually saw your pins? As we all know, the algorithms have changed over the years, and those social media platforms no longer work to serve content creators. They now work to serve themselves. If you want your content to be seen today, you have to do what some people call "pay to play," also known as ads. You can still get organic traffic through posting and SEO, but your main source of traffic from social media is going to come from ads. Are Facebook Ads Cost-Effective? One of the biggest misconceptions about ads is that it's expensive to run. But there is a way to do it so that you aren't draining every cent you bring in. It can actually be cost-effective to run ads on Facebook. The minimum ad campaign daily spend is $5, so for a small amount of investment on your part, you can run more than one campaign and see what kinds of results you get. If you are trying to reach a cold audience -- people who don't know of your business -- this is the best way to do it. Your small investment brings new eyes to your brand and your content. Should Bloggers Run Ads for Content? I think we all understand why businesses want to run ads, but what if you're a blogger whose income is mostly from ads on your site and sponsored posts? Is it ever worth it for a blogger to run ads to their content? Let's consider that bloggers make about $1 per one thousand views for ads on their site. So, if you are only trying to get traffic to your site to see your personal ads, it is not be worth the money. But if you need more clicks to your site to show an advertiser, ads can help you. Ads are a great way to increase the number of eyeballs on your content. ADVICE: Have a Ad Strategy in Place When you decide to run ads, you have to go into it knowing exactly what you want from the ads. Before you start your campaign, you should have an end goal in mind. Know what results you are expecting and who your target audience is. If you are running ads in order to direct traffic to sponsored content on your blog, be sure to allocate some of the payment from the sponsored content toward those ads. I personally share with the brand I am working with how much money I intend to put toward ad spend and I increase my fees to cover that ad spend. Should I Boost A Post on Facebook? Even if you haven't run Facebook ads, you've likely seen the option to boost your posts. The difference between boosting a post and running regular ads is that when you boost, you're just getting more eyes on the post itself. If you need more viewers on your page to show a brand partner that you have an audience large enough to deserve their sponsorship money, boosting posts might be enough for you. But a cold traffic campaign is a more customized process. It allows you to do a lot more than just grab some extra likes on your posts. Cold Audience Campaigns A cold audience campaign might be for you if you have a specific plan for how you are going to monetize your content. If you sell a product, have a tripwire of some type, or a gift guide, that is the ideal type of content to run cold audience ads to. If you have a seasonal, evergreen post that converts extremely well during certain times of the year, you could do a cold traffic ad for that content. Should You Run Ads to Grow Your List? It makes sense to run ads to content that you are monetizing, but what about running ads to grow your email list? Is that ever worth it? The answer is, it depends. You can send a traffic campaign to your site, to a landing page where they can get your free offer, and be added to your list. Or you can build a campaign into the Facebook platform so that the user can actually sign up for your list without leaving Facebook itself. This is a great strategy because we all know that nobody wants to click through anymore. So, this allows you to run ads and build your list without the user having to click through to your site. How to Budget for Ads Conventional wisdom says that if you make $100 on a piece of content, you can spend one-third of that amount on marketing that content. If you sell that item for $100, but you've spent $99 in ads, chances are you already spent the other $1 on other costs in your business. So, you have to be mindful that you are actually going to make a profit on your ad campaigns. What is a Cold Traffic Campaign on Facebook? Let's take a step back and define what we mean by cold traffic. These are people who do not know you, who have never seen your product, and aren't at all familiar with who you are or what you do. Your ads will put your products or content in front of this cold audience. A cold traffic campaign is one of the cheapest ways to get your products in front of people who would otherwise never see it. The average cost per click across all ad platforms on the internet in 2019 was $1.72. You can use this average to decide if a cold campaign is worth it to you. Another thing to think about is that people are ready to spend money in the holiday season. They want to see things that they can buy, so if you have products to sell, it's a great time to run an ad campaign to those products. Just know that holiday ad spend tends to be higher per click. If you are thinking about starting an ad campaign for an evergreen piece, you might want to wait to start in January if you want the ad spend to be less expensive. Learning Through Experimenting Don't be surprised by the learning curve when running ad campaigns. You have to put in the time in order to figure out which ads do the best for you and how much you need to spend to get the results you want. But here's a tip: the more you spend, the faster you will learn. If you are paying the minimum of $5 per day, you will be learning at a slower rate, and possibly paying the same amount of money over a slower period of time. Learning from the Facebook Ads Experts Jess and Amy actually have a course that will teach you to run a traffic campaign. The objective of these ads is that you are asking Facebook to show people your ad in order to have them click through to your website. Within the ad campaign, they will also teach you how to build two audience segments. The first segment is interest targeting. This means you will tell Facebook who your audience is and what they want. The second segment is a look-alike audience. This audience is a group of people who are like the audience who already visits your site, but who have never visited your site themselves. Not only is Facebook going to show your ads to people they think will like your brand, but also to people who are more likely to click through to your website. The beauty of Facebook ads is that Facebook will show your ads to the people you tell them to, but they know more about what people want than you do, and so, they will target the people they know want what you have to offer. Are you ready to get started with Facebook ads after listening to this? Are you still feeling a bit nervous though? If so, Jess and Amy are here to help you. They have a course designed just for you to help you get started. To learn more about the course and the other services they offer, head over to Facebook Ads are Fun. (affil) And be sure to come over to Facebook and join my MiloTree Mastermind Group. I want this to be a place where you can come to get your questions answered and where we can all grow together. I go live in the group every Monday at 12pm PT/ 3pm ET to discuss the latest podcast episode and to share my biggest takeaways. So be sure to join our active and growing group today! Read the transcript for "How to Get Started with Cold Audience Ads on Facebook" TIMESTAMP Intro 2:10 The Value of Facebook Ads 6:25 Cost-Effectiveness of Ads 8:40 Should Bloggers Run Ads for Content? 11:27 Have a Strategy in Place 13:27 Should I Boost A Post? 16:40 Cold Audience Campaigns 18:15 Should You Run Ads to Grow Your List? 22:21 How to Budget for Ads 23:25 A Cold Traffic Campaign 27:00 Learning Through Experimenting 31:17 Learning from the Experts TOP 4 TAKEAWAYS The days of social media showing your content to your audience are over; if you want your content shown today, you have to be willing to pay to play. Running Facebook ads can be a cost-effective way to get your content in front of new eyes, but you need a carefully thought-out strategy going in. Monetized content is the best type of content to run ads to, although you may also find value in running ads to your email list. The more you spend, the faster you will learn what works, so jump in with as much as you can handle in order to shorten your learning curve. Imagine a world where growing your social media followers and email list was easy… It can be with MiloTree! Try the MiloTree pop-up app on your blog for 30 days risk-free! Let your MiloTree pop-ups help you get to that next level by turning your visitors into email subscribers and social media followers on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and YouTube. Sign up today! Install your MiloTree pop-ups on your site in under two minutes. Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!

Do you dream of being an entrepreneur? Are you creative and long to build a business around your skills? You're going to love my newest episode. Kayla Butler and I dig into how to build a successful creative business today. I'm sure many of you are familiar with Kayla's site, Ivory Mix, where she gives away beautiful, free stock photos for social media. In this episode, Kayla and I talk about how she started creating images, how she grew her email list, and how that eventually turned into a successful business. We go deep into what it means to be an entrepreneur: the struggles, the mindset, and how to be successful. I think you are going to enjoy this episode. Before I jump into my discussion with Kayla, I want to let you all know that I have been having loads of fun over in my Facebook group. I am in there nearly every day, chatting, going live, and helping you build your business. And the group is full of other bloggers, encouraging each other, and answering questions. If you haven't joined us yet, what are you waiting for? Come on over today and introduce yourself. We're all waiting on you! Growing a Business Through Failure When Kayla first started creating content, her style was very hit or miss. Her first course was a phone photography course. Kayla's audience wanted an easy way to shoot photos and immediately have them available. But her first launch did not do well. She only made about $50. Through testing and trial, Kayla has turned that first course into content that generates thousands of dollars a year. The course is comprehensive and shows you how to edit pictures for your social media in an easy-to-understand format. Using Tripwires to Drive Sales Kayla turned the success of her course around by selling it as a tripwire. A tripwire means that when someone signs up for her free photos, they get redirected to a "Thank You" page. On that page is the offer for the course. At just $7 for a limited time, it's a no-brainer for most people. That $7 product brings in thousands of dollars every month. A tripwire is not meant to be expensive, but rather something that will make a steady income from people seeing it when they subscribe to your list. You have to know how to ask at the right moment and market your products to meet your audience's needs at the right time. Tripwires also contain a time-sensitive factor, in that there is a designated amount of time before the offer runs out. This motivates the subscriber to buy the tripwire now, rather than waiting. Why You Need to Experiment with Your Marketing Techniques After another launch that Kayla didn't consider a success (even though she sold 30 of them), Kayla looks at all of her launches as beta runs. This allows her to test the marketing and content to see if it's what her audience needs and will respond to. If a course doesn't do well, Kayla can try new techniques to make it more successful. You need to be flexible and look at your content as fluid rather than all-or-nothing deals. Be willing to adapt to what works best for your audience. As entrepreneurs, we think we tend to know it all, but we don't. We have to learn as we go. Kayla began her membership site for her stock photos. The membership was free until Kayla realized what a valuable service she was providing for her members. It then went to a monthly charge. But she has found that annual memberships serve her and the audience much better than a monthly membership. The longer-term relationship helps Kayla to get to know her people better and what types of photos they need. As Kayla began to get more members, she had to bundle her content to help manage the sheer number of clients. Members get access to new stock photos once a month for free, access to existing courses, and once a month, there is a specific training that the members have requested. Building Relationships on Social Media When it comes to Instagram, Kayla focuses on her audience and the transformations they want to see in their lives and businesses, rather than on her products. Most of Kayla's viewers come from her site where they can see her stock photos already, so it is redundant to post those pictures on her Instagram page. Her goal is motivating her audience and focusing on them and their successes. The more meaningful social interaction you have, the more your account will grow organically. Kayla uses hashtags to show up in searches as her following and interaction grows. The hashtags follow the topic of the day, popular hashtags, or medium-popular hashtags. Helping Your Audience Feel Empowered Kayla tries to make people feel empowered to decide to take their business to the next level. Making decisions is the way to make goals happen. Kayla tries to help her audience make decisions to take the next step. We all have to make decisions and learn from them to keep moving forward. Once you get into the habit of making small decisions and tweaking them, it gets easier and more comfortable. It is essential to surround yourself with people who will push you to do the next thing. Freedom to Scale Your Business Kayla believes that mistakes are good things. Through every failure or setback, you can learn something that will help you move forward. Do not be afraid to ask for a sale. You need to push yourself to get to where you want to be. As women, we are helpers. You have to tell yourself that offering your products, even for a price, is helping others. You can do more to help others when you are more successful in your business. Do not be afraid to grow and have a team growing around you. You want to be able to scale a business that can support your life goals. Having more people on the team gives you a new vision, as well as more freedom to pursue new goals. I hope you got as much out of my conversation with Kayla as I did. I love how she never gave up, but kept learning what her audience wanted and provided it for them. And when necessary, she pivoted. Think about that in your own business. What does your audience want from you? How can you provide them with even more value? Now before I go, if you haven't seen the new snowflakes on our MiloTree pop-ups, you have to go look right now! If you have any questions or comments, please pop over and join my Facebook group. I hope to see you there! Read the transcript for "How to Grow a Seven Figure Business by Listening to Your Audience" TIMESTAMP Intro 3:04 Hobbyist to Business Owner 9:03 Growing Through Failure 11:13 Using Tripwires to Drive Sales 14:50 Marketing Techniques 17:30 Successful Membership Sites 23:55 Building Relationships on Social Media 28:13 Helping Your Audience Make Decisions 37:04 Freedom to Scale TOP 4 TAKEAWAYS Even if your first product seems like a failure, try repackaging it as a tripwire. Test all of your marketing, be flexible, and walk away from the "all or nothing" mindset. Using social media to focus on the transformation your audience wants to see in their lives allows you to build genuine relationships with them and to grow organically. Ask for the sale. Remember that your products help people, so never shy away from asking for the sale. Imagine a world where growing your social media followers and email list was easy… It can be with MiloTree! Try the MiloTree pop-up app on your blog for 30 days risk-free! Let your MiloTree pop-ups help you get to that next level by turning your visitors into email subscribers and social media followers on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and YouTube. Sign up today! Install your MiloTree pop-ups on your site in under two minutes.

Today, my guest, Brooke Riley, and I are talking about how to grow a seven-figure business by listening to your audience. And for Brooke, that audience has been on Facebook. We talk about whether Facebook is really dead. Is it still possible to grow an audience on Facebook and actually get your content seen? Brooke has grown her blog, Refabbed into a large DIY blog, coaching business, and online boutique in 4 years, mostly through her Facebook page, which currently has around 500K followers. Many people in our industry would tell you not to expend any efforts on Facebook; that it's a complete waste of time unless you want to "pay to play" through Facebook ads. And while it's true that the algorithms aren't favoring bloggers or businesses the same way they used to, if you go into it with a specific strategy and you focus on engagement, you absolutely can build a community on Facebook and use it to grow your business. Today's guest on the podcast, Brooke Riley, shares with us how she did it, and why Facebook was a great decision for her business. She also talks about how she has expanded her business from just a blog, and she shares her tips for folks just getting started. Before we jump into our discussion though, I have to say that I have been having loads of fun over in my Facebook group. I am in there all the time, chatting, going live, and helping you build your business. And the group is full of other bloggers, encouraging each other and answering questions. If you haven't joined us yet, what are you waiting for? Come on over today and introduce yourself. We're all waiting on you! My guest, Brooke Riley, has grown her blog, Refabbed into a large DIY blog, coaching business, and online boutique in 4 years, mostly through her Facebook page, which currently has around 500K followers. Brooke has invested in her followers and built relationships with them, and now she has an audience that knows and trusts her. Starting a Blog Even if You Don't Know What a Blog Is Brooke began her blog as a way to document and share the projects she was completing around the fixer-upper home she and her husband had purchased in western Kentucky. At the time, Brooke admits, she wasn't even sure exactly what a blog was. Even though Brooke was spending time creating content for her blog, and building relationships with her readers, email list subscribers, and social media followers, her pageviews weren't growing as quickly as she wanted. She knew she needed pageviews for ad income. And income was definitely her goal from the beginning. She didn't know what types of income were typical for bloggers, but helping to provide for her family was her goal from day one. Over time, Brooke got to know her audience well enough that she was no longer 100% dependent on ad revenue. She began to experiment with affiliates and figuring out other ways to monetize. She learned what her audience really wanted from her, and that led to other streams of income. Creating Connections with Your Audience From the beginning, Brooke wrote her blog with the intention of being vulnerable and honest. She wanted her audience to know her personally and she wanted to get to know them. Her vulnerability allowed her audience to connect with her on an intimate level. When Brooke placed calls to action in her posts and emails, she worded them in a way that her audience would want to answer. She also took time to respond to their replies in a way that made them feel validated and want to respond again. Connecting with Your Audience on Facebook to Grow a Seven-Figure Business It's one of the most popular things to say right now... that Facebook is dead for bloggers and online business owners. But Brooke hasn't found that to be the case at all. From the time she started her blog, Brooke focused on her Facebook page. Facebook was where she saw the most interaction and the most engagement with her audience. Her page grew slowly, but she kept putting in the time and sharing with her followers there. After two years of working her page, Brooke realized that she wasn't connecting with her audience on FB the way she wanted to. And it was because even though she put out a ton of great content for them, they never saw her. They read her voice in her content, but her face wasn't something they experienced. So, she began doing live videos on Facebook to build that connection with her audience. Planning a Facebook Strategy After a couple of years at this live video thing, you would suspect that Brooke has a special strategy that she uses to get as many people as possible watching. Surely she plans out her live videos and lets her audience know exactly what day and time they will be, right? Nope. Sometimes, she doesn't even know what she's going to talk about until 5 minutes before she gets on there. Brooke says it is important to know that you don't have to follow rules that somebody else has set. You need to do what works for you and what works for your community. When Brooke first started going live, she would go live once every two weeks or so, but now she goes live once or twice a week. Brooke aims to post at least 4 times per day on her Facebook page. It's not the end of the world if she doesn't get 4 posts up, but she does try to keep it active by posting regularly. Brooke posts things that are relevant to her audience, from her blog or other creators her audience enjoys. Brooke knows her audience well enough that she has been able to build other revenue streams and businesses based on their wants and needs. Creating an Online Clothing Boutique One of these additional businesses is an online boutique for her female audience that is just about to hit 7 figures in revenue. I realize that not everybody would think to start an online boutique, so I asked Brooke to share why she started it and how she knew it would work for her audience. She shared with me that she was getting so many questions about her appearance (her hair, clothes, and makeup), that she realized she could build an additional stream of income based on that interest. Brooke was doing all of the affiliate marketing she could based on her readers' requests, but it didn't take long to figure out that she was onto something. She knew she needed to capitalize on the passion she felt for her style and her audience's love of it, so she decided to start a boutique selling the things she liked and then share those products with her audience. Creating a Coaching Business A coaching business is something Brooke never dreamed she would do. Brooke has a passion for teaching others how to do things. She enjoys showing her audience how to do the crafts she loves, how to dress in a way that they can express their true personalities, and even how to build an online business. She totally didn't see herself as a teacher, however, she kept getting questions about Facebook, growing your audience, and making money online. Her audience wanted to learn from her and they continued asking her to teach them. Even if you think you aren't the best at something or you don't really know how to teach it to someone else, you have a unique voice that others can appreciate and want to learn from. Building a Team Brooke and her husband were the only ones running the business for the first 3+ years. For the first 9 months, Brooke still had a full-time job! It's only been a little over a year ago that she hired her first employee. Brooke eventually realized that she could not grow the business any larger without having outside help. There is only so much one person can do before they need outside help. Currently, Brooke has a full-time assistant whose sole responsibility is to work with her on the blog. Her husband, Brandon, came home full-time in May of 2019, and he works mostly on the boutique. The boutique has a store manager and an additional full-time employee, as well as a part-time employee whom Brooke says is pretty close to full-time. Brooke also hires outside contractors to handle things like Pinterest, etc. What About Her Instagram Strategy? Instagram is the hottest social media platform on the block for most online entrepreneurs right now. Everyone is trying to grow their IG following and engage with their people over there, but until this past summer, Brooke had not focused on her Instagram. Now that Brooke is spending more time on the site, her account is growing quickly. Brooke likes that she can share even more behind-the-scenes stuff about her life with her Instagram stories. This allows her to continue to build that intimate relationship with her audience. Advice: Don't Be Afraid to Break the Rules Brooke says that if she looks back on where she thought her blog would go and where it has gone, those two things would not be in the same neighborhood. Running a business is not always something you can plan for. You can't predict the opportunities you may be presented with or where your path might take you. Sometimes you see a need that you can fill and your business is born from that. Brooke strongly recommends that you hold your ideas loosely and not worry about "following all the rules" that other people set up. That's a great way to lose the fun of running your business. Trying to keep up with what everybody else tells you to do can cause you to lose that initial passion that inspired you to start your business. Okay, I don't know about you, but isn't it just amazing how Brooke has been able to build such a huge community relatively quickly? Four years may not seem quick when you're in the middle of it, but she took her blog from zero to multiple businesses and over 7 figures in just 4 years. I find that incredible! And she did it by being true to herself and authentic. She shared the things that she loved and took her audience along for the ride. Her audience relates to her and that allows her to serve them with content and products! So, right now, click over and join my Facebook group if you haven't already so that we can talk more about this episode. I want to hear what your takeaways are and I'll be sharing mine. Read the transcript for "How to Grow a Seven Figure Business by Listening to Your Audience" TIMESTAMP Intro 3:00 Brooke Starts a Blog 6:14 Starting a Blog...Even if You Don' Know What a Blog Is 7:45 Creating Connections with Your People 9:45 Connecting with Your Audience on Facebook 15:12 Planning a Facebook Strategy 20:05 Growing Additional Businesses 25:12 Building a Team 29:40 What About Instagram? 32:14 Don't Be Afraid to Break the Rules TOP 4 TAKEAWAYS When starting a business, have a goal. Even if it changes, your goals will keep you passionate while you build your audience. Find ways to build intimate connections with your audience, like live video. Get to know your audience so well that you can develop products they will want to buy. Don't be afraid to hire help; one person can only do so much. When you hire people, you can grow even more. Imagine a world where growing your social media followers and email list was easy… It can be with MiloTree! Try the MiloTree pop-up app on your blog for 30 days risk-free! Let your MiloTree pop-ups help you get to that next level by turning your visitors into email subscribers and social media followers on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and YouTube. Sign up today! Install your MiloTree pop-ups on your site in under two minutes. Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!

Productivity is something I am always thinking about and trying to learn more about because I know that it is crucial to growing my business. So in this episode, we're talking about how to find new productivity hacks for yourself. But let's be honest, sometimes we, as bloggers, get bogged down in the weeds instead of doing the things that will take us to that next level. That's why I invited my friend and MiloTree community manager Paula Rollo back on the podcast, where we are talking all things "productivity." We're sharing what works for us, the things that don't work, and where we are winging it in our own businesses. Before we jump into our discussion though, I have to say that I have been having loads of fun over in my Facebook group. I am in there all the time, chatting, going live, and helping you build your business. And the group is full of other bloggers, encouraging each other and answering questions. If you haven't joined us yet what are you waiting for? Come on over today and introduce yourself. We're all waiting on you in the MiloTree Mastermind Group! Okay, are you ready to be more productive? Let's jump right into my discussion with Paula... Balance Is a Myth One of the biggest issues with productivity is the old comparison trap. We think that everybody else is more productive than we are. But it's not true. We all struggle with the number of things on our plates, and I've never met a blogger who was satisfied that everything was getting done. My own mom reminds me frequently that balance is not a state that you achieve; rather it's something you move in and out of. There will be days when you plow through your to-do list like a ninja, and days where it feels like you are walking through molasses. So, don't get too hung up on trying to find that elusive balance. Let's shoot for productivity instead. When Are You Most Productive? So, rather than comparing myself to Susie Blogger over there, I need to look at my own life and how my days are structured. When am I at my best? When do I accomplish the most? And I'll be honest, I am at my best from 3:30-5:30 p.m. If I have some deep work that needs doing, that is the time when I can really dig deep and focus. So, pay attention to your own rhythms. You will notice the time of day when things come easier to you. If you are trying to get stuff done and you feel that you aren't doing your best work, move on to something you can do easily. Save the heavy lifting for when you are in the right mindset, even if that's late at night. Another tip is to do those easy mindless tasks when you aren't at your best. This will give you a boost because you're accomplishing a goal, instead of just wasting that time on social media. Using the Pomodoro Technique One of the tricks I use to increase my own productivity is called the Pomodoro Technique. The Pomodoro Technique is simply a system where you work without stopping for 25 minutes and then you take a 5-minute break. I use the online timer at tomato-timer.com. You repeat the 30-minute cycle 4 times and at the end of the third or fourth round, you take a longer break. (Tomato-timer allows you to set the length of your short and long breaks, as well as the length of your focused work session.) If you say that you are going to work for several hours straight, you may goof off for a lot of the time. You may get distracted, you may feel bad about how little work you're doing, and you may only actually work for 25 minutes of that 2-3 hours. But, if you can set that goal of 25 minutes and really focus, you will get more work done in those 25 minutes than you will sitting at your desk for 2 hours but wasting the majority of it. Be Intentional About Breaks Breaks are necessary when you work online. Your eyes need time away from staring at the computer screen. The trick is to use that break time to actually do something away from the computer. If you use your break time to scroll through Facebook or Instagram, it won't feel like much of a break when you switch tabs to get back to your work. During your break, use that time to walk around, get a drink of water, step outside for fresh air, or talk to a friend or family member. Stop to smell the roses every so often and you will find yourself more productive when you sit back down to the screen. Breaks aren't optional; you will be more productive with well-timed and regular breaks than you will if you sit there and try to press through for hours. Scheduling Software and Paper Planners As someone who runs several businesses, you would think that I am the most organized person on the planet, that my planner is scheduled to the half-hour every day. And I'll admit, a good schedule is not optional when you are a business owner. We also use Trello in our business and we love it. However, I want to be completely transparent and let you know that I am just like most of you and I wing it a lot. The system that I actually use more than any is Post-Its. My desk is covered with Post-Its. I love that they are something tangible that I can write on, and then see in front of me as I accomplish my goals. Paula works for several clients and uses both Trello and BaseCamp. But personally, she can't live without her Erin Condren paper planner. Working In Advance One of the best ways to increase your productivity is to work in advance. My assistant and I use a calendar to schedule our posts for Catch My Party. We write out what the posts will be about and we schedule those a couple of months in advance. We post on that site 3 times a week as follows: New content, usually focused on a trend we are noticing An updated post A highlight of our 4 favorite parties of the week As you know, because you are reading this post, I also release a blog post every week based on the podcast for those who would rather read than listen. This blog post also allows us to rank for SEO and it provides a place for listeners to grab any links we mention in the podcast. One thing to notice is that you may be more scheduled and more productive than you think you are. Going through this exercise showed me ways that I am being more productive than maybe I would have said I was. When the Work Feels Hard While I'm sure that there are some incredibly organized people who seem to have it all together, most of us are still kind of winging it and that's okay. It's okay to decide how scheduled you want to be and when you need to say, "Enough!" But, if you don't want to do something, think about what it is worth to you financially. That post you don't want to write? Why are you writing it? Is it because you've got a family that depends on the income that post will bring in? That right there might be all the motivation you need to get off Instagram and finish the post, even when it feels hard and you just don't want to do it. At the end of the day, you are running a business. Typically, the harder you work, the more money you make. If you want to have the freedom to do what you want, you need to put in the work necessary. Find the System that Works for You At the end of the day, you have to know who you are and what works for you. You need to know how you function best and what type of schedule brings out your best work. No one else can tell you what is right for your business and your mental health. If you aren't as productive as you need to be, ask yourself why you haven't gotten your work done. Take the time to ponder what rhythms would work better for you. Everyone has their own unique rhythms, their own schedules, so I challenge you to figure out how you function best. You get to decide what your days look like and what productivity means for you and your business. If you enjoyed this episode, I hope you'll share with me what works for you. I go live on Mondays at 3 pm in my Facebook group and I'd love for you to join me and let's chat all things productivity! Read the transcript for "How to Find Productivity Hacks That Work for You" TIMESTAMP Intro 1:46 Balance Is a Myth 2:48 When Are You Most Productive? 7:57 Using the Pomodoro Technique 12:00 Be Intentional About Breaks 16:54 Scheduling Software and Paper Planners 21:31 Working In Advance 25:00 Mixing Up the Schedule 30:29 When the Work Feels Hard 33:17 Find the System that Works for You TOP 4 TAKEAWAYS Balance is a myth; some days you will slay your to-do list and some days it will slay you. Stop trying to achieve balance and focus on increased productivity instead. Pay attention to when you feel at your best and do the deepest and hardest work during those times; save the mindless tasks for when your brainpower is lowest. Be intentional about taking breaks; use break times to take a walk, talk to a loved one, stretch, or anything that involves stepping away from the screen. If the work feels too hard and you just don't wanna, remember why you're doing it. Knowing that your family depends on the income can make it easier to press through. Bonus- Don't depend on somebody else's system to work for you. Find the best times and schedules for your unique set of circumstances and please don't compare what works for you with what works for others! Now imagine a world where growing your social media followers and email list was easy… It can be with MiloTree! Try the MiloTree pop-up app on your blog for 30 days risk-free! Let your MiloTree pop-ups help you get to that next level by turning your visitors into email subscribers and social media followers on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and YouTube. Sign up today! Install your MiloTree pop-ups on your site in under two minutes. Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!

As bloggers, we are always looking for new ways to add income streams to our businesses. Sponsored posts are a popular way to do just that. But first, if you haven't joined my Facebook group, I want to encourage you to do that today! Every Monday at 3:00 EST, I go live in the group to talk about that week's podcast episode. I go over the highlights, what I learned, and what I think it's important for you all to take away from the discussion. It's a great place for you to ask questions and to share your knowledge with others. I hope you'll join me! Now, if you're ready to learn how to make the most from sponsored content, you're going to love this episode. My guest, KariAnne Wood, is the creator of the blog, Thistlewood Farms. KariAnne works with over 50 sponsors per year on her blog, so she knows all the ins and outs of sponsored content and partnering with brands! KariAnne shares that working with sponsors is all about building relationships and creating win/win situations. TOP 4 TAKEAWAYS FROM THE EPISODE Build a relationship of trust with your audience so that you know what brands you should be pursuing. Only work with brands that your audience will find helpful or pertinent. Take the time to fully research a brand before reaching out to them. Share what you know about the brand in your pitch along with information about your audience. Keep your rates flexible so that you have room to negotiate. Think of other things you can sell to brands, such as specific and timely knowledge of social media features. Imagine a world where growing your social media followers and email list was easy… It can be with MiloTree! Try the MiloTree pop-up app on your blog for 30 days risk-free! Let your MiloTree pop-ups help you get to that next level by turning your visitors into email subscribers and social media followers on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and YouTube. Sign up today! Install your MiloTree pop-ups on your site in under two minutes. Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE! Read the podcast transcript for "How to Work With Brands from a Blogging Expert"

If I say the words, "social media," what comes to mind? Does it fill you with a sense of dread because you're overwhelmed trying to figure out what you should be doing and how much? Or do you feel confident because you love social media and it the easiest part of your business? Whichever way you lean, I think you will get a ton of information from today's show where we're talking about how to use social media to grow relationships and engagement with your audience. Today, my guest is Neal Shaffer, a social media strategy consultant. Neal teaches large companies how to best use social media to grow and stay engaged with their customers. We're talking about many different social media platforms today, hearing his insights on how to have success on each. But first, if you haven't joined my Facebook group, The MiloTree Mastermind Group, I want to encourage you to do that today! Every Monday at 3:00 ET, I go live in the group to talk about that week's podcast episode. I go over the highlights, what I learned, and what I think it's important for you all to take away from the discussion. It's a great place for you to ask questions and to share your knowledge with others. I hope you'll join me! Building Real Relationships Online As bloggers, we work alone most of the time. It can be an extremely isolating lifestyle. That's why Neal puts a huge focus on building relationships. I want to tell you how I met Neal as a great example of using online research to build those relationships. I use an app called Bonjoro to send a personal video to everyone who signs up for MiloTree. Recently, I had sent a video like this to Neal, as he had signed up for MiloTree. A few weeks later, I was randomly researching "social media experts" and I saw Neal's name on a list of people to follow. I knew the name looked familiar so I went to his website and realized I had just recently sent him that video, welcoming him to MiloTree. And the rest, as they say, is history. We connected from there and here he is, on my show! All of that to say, you have to be reaching out and building those relationships with your followers and with those you follow. Neal points out that if you follow 1,500 people on Instagram and you send just 5 of them a direct message every day, you will have contacted every one of the people you follow in a year! But don't just message them; ask them how you can serve them. Being able to connect one-on-one is a huge step toward helping other people in the online space to remember you. The Importance of Consistency in Social Media When your goal is to increase your presence online, build relationships, and increase brand awareness, you have to focus on consistency. If you've been blogging for a while now and you feel discouraged, if you feel like things will never work out for you and you will never meet your goals, the first thing Neal wants you to remember is that success is often just on the other side of giving up. Focus on what's working for you on social media Keep track of your analytics Stay the course Don't stop creating content and putting it out there. Go back to your "why," the reason you started your blog in the first place. What are you trying to accomplish by being on social media? If you don't know "why" you're using social media, you aren't going to be successful with it. Are Followers the Goal? Most bloggers are very good at gaining followers. It comes naturally to us. The trick is what to do once we have those followers and how to monetize them. The main goals of online business are: You have to have passion You have to have a product to sell You have to build a community that will want to buy your product If you want to attract people who will be interested in what you sell, you have to push out the type of content that will draw those same people in. Focus on the platforms that give you the best returns and work on growing those. You don't have to build every platform at the same time. The platforms that work the best for Neal may not be the same ones that you are the most successful with. That's okay; do what works for you. Neal's Instagram Strategy Instagram requires a different strategy than other social media platforms. Neal posts a few times a week on IG but his goal is to be publishing daily. While Neal has mostly used IG to keep in touch with people rather than using it for business, when he's traveling and doing conferences, he focuses more on posting photos of what he's doing. Over the past year, he has focused on developing his own Instagram strategy, and that begins with the premise that IG should not be 100% dedicated to business. When you have a broader reach and you post things your community will engage with, whatever that may look like, it helps your overall reach. These days, Neal's IG posts fall pretty neatly into 3 buckets of content: Travel - mostly international business travel Food - because of his international travel, he eats a lot of different foods and he has followers who love to engage over food Business - this includes blog posts, conferences, podcasts, etc. His business posts get the worst engagement, but by mixing it up, he can at least keep people interested in that side of it. Neal believes strongly that you need a lifestyle focus on IG and your posts should lean heavily in that direction. Why? Because those are the posts that allow your followers to feel like they really get to know you. A potential client is following you and they see a post that makes them feel a connection to you. Maybe it's a shared passion or a place they've also been to. You posting about your passions will connect you to those people who share your passions. Instagram Posts vs. Stories One of the cool things about Instagram is the options available. You have a main feed filled with posts but you also have the ability to share even more with your audience by using stories. It's important to post to stories more frequently since they do disappear after 24 hours. Instagram now has the option of having a Creator account, which is what Neal has. This is not the same as a business account but it is public. It provides you with tools to better understand your growth and manage your IG presence. While IG posts can be put off indefinitely, stories are more for what's happening right now. Also, the IG audience tends to engage more with creators on stories than on posts. Growing Your Following on Instagram Instagram is a bit different than Facebook when it comes to your followers vs who you follow. You want to be focused on who you are following and how you are connecting with them and building relationships. Neal is reducing his follower count because he does not want unengaged followers. He wants his content to go to the people who will engage with him. If someone is following you and not engaging, you are wasting a follower. Instagram DM Strategy Go into your app, and you will be able to sort the people you followed by the date you followed them. Go back to your first follows, and choose 5 per day to visit their feed, send a message, and ask how they are doing. Just basically reconnect with them. If you do these in order of when you followed them, just grab a screenshot of the last DM you sent, and the next day, pick up where you left off and keep going. You don't need to spend hours on social media to be able to build meaningful connections and grow your organic community. Facebook Strategy Neal does not spend the majority of his time there. It can still be a valuable asset, but it is one that takes more work. Facebook ads are still a great place to find your people and build community. Neal still spends some time on the platform but it's the bare minimum that keeps his account active. He typically posts once per day and does live streams occasionally. He also sometimes uses his Facebook lives to record his podcast. Compared to Facebook, Instagram can have a bigger reach, simply because the sheer number of people on Facebook limits your reach. Don't disappear on Facebook but keep life support connected to it. Neal uses it for recording his live streams and for the ads. Otherwise, he focuses elsewhere. Bloggers On LinkedIn Are you using LinkedIn as a blogger? Have you thought about using it? Isn't LinkedIn just for trying to find a job or connecting with business people? Here are a few very interesting statistics that Neal, shared with us: 50% of Americans with a college degree use LinkedIn 45% of LinkedIn users earn $75,000 a year LinkedIn's audience has 2 times the buying power of the average web audience Does this sound like anyone you are trying to reach or build relationships with? You want to be going after this audience. Keeping Up With Changes in Social Media There is one thing that never changes about social media: it never stops changing. Algorithms change from day to day; audience engagement goes up and down based on the seasons; your content may not be applicable to every platform. So how do you keep up with all the changes? Look at your data and track your information on a regular basis Continue to show up on the platforms Learn how any changes are going to affect you Follow social media experts who share upcoming changes Mentioned in the Episode: Jenny Melrose podcast Agorapulse Social Bee TIMESTAMP Intro 2:00 Building Real Relationships 4:20 Neal's Journey to Social Media Expert 7:45 The Importance of Consistency 13:15 Are Followers the Goal? 21:12 Neal's Instagram Strategy 24:42 Posts vs. Stories 27:58 Following on Instagram 29:57 Instagram DM Strategy 32:00 Facebook 33:42 Bloggers on LinkedIn 39:27 Keeping Up with Changes TOP 4 TAKEAWAYS Connect with people one-on-one as much as possible in order to build real relationships that will help you grow your business. If you are discouraged with a lack of social media success, don't quit! Consistency is the key to success so keep posting what your audience wants to see. On Instagram, focus on sharing more lifestyle posts and fewer business posts. Lifestyle posts help your audience get to know you better. Find a couple of social media experts to follow so that you are always aware of any changes coming up and can prepare for them. Read the podcast transcript for "How To Use Social Media To Grow Relationships And Engagement" Imagine a world where growing your social media followers and email list was easy… It can be with MiloTree! Try the MiloTree pop-up app on your blog for 30 days risk-free! Let your MiloTree pop-ups help you get to that next level by turning your visitors into email subscribers and social media followers on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and YouTube. Sign up today! Install your MiloTree pop-ups on your site in under two minutes. Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!

Have you heard that blogging is dead? Or that regular folks can't build large social media followings anymore? Well, today's guest on the podcast is a blogger and entrepreneur who has proved what can be done quickly -- in under two years -- with some hard work and a belief in herself. Andrea Scalzo Yi is the owner and content creator of the blog, Raising Dragons. Andrea creates STEAM/STEM projects for kids and makes videos of her 4 sons completing them. And she has built her entire business very quickly, in under two years. So we are going to talk about how she did it, and where she plans to take the business in the future. Beginnings a Blog by Making Videos for Facebook After working in retail her whole adult life, when Andrea began staying at home with her 4 young sons, she was at a loss as to how to fill her time. She knew she enjoyed design, she had a degree in engineering, and she loved art. So she began creating projects to work on with her sons. She considered starting a blog because she had a friend making a full-time income blogging, but she wasn't a natural writer, and so she wasn't sure she could make it work. But one thing she did enjoy was making videos. And so, in 2017, Andrea bought the domain, Raising Dragons. And instead of blogging, Andrea began posting 1-minute videos on Facebook of her sons doing the projects. These videos had no sound and were really meant for the busy parent who was scrolling and looking for something simple to do with her kids. Viral Facebook Videos As Andrea began adding more and more of her videos, Facebook began sharing them to more and more people. Friends and family were sharing them, as well, and before long, she had a video go viral. She kept creating videos in the same style, and as of today, she has had over 20 videos go viral. One of her viral videos has over 30 million views on Facebook. At the same time, she was posting her videos on her blog, but she didn't even know what SEO was. So, each blog post was just the video, a short paragraph on how to do the project, and that was it. What Andrea did was build an audience with her videos and then she began to find out how to best serve that audience. Utilizing Social Media Because the algorithms change on social media platforms all the time, bloggers have to be ready to make adjustments. But Andrea tries to stay true to her original form of content by creating and releasing 1-2 new videos each week. Since Pinterest recently allowed video content, Andrea uploaded all of her content to her Pinterest account. Andrea is also working to grow her Instagram account (using MiloTree!) because brands are more interested in IG, and want to see an active presence and audience engagement there before they work with you. How to Monetize Your Social Media Accounts Andrea's prime revenue source is sponsored content, but she only promotes brands that fit in with her STEAM content. Andrea likes to work with smaller brands that are just getting started. She does have a business partner who helps her with the business side of marketing and brand contracts. Brands can get different packages when working with Andrea, from a simple blog post to across the board social media marketing. To monetize, she also takes advantage of Amazon's affiliate program, as well. Running a Business from Your Phone One of the things I was most interested in talking to Andrea about was going from "end-to-end" on her phone. She basically runs her entire business from her phone. and I'm not so great at that. To shoot her videos, Andrea uses a sunroom in her house that gets great light. Lighting is everything when it comes to video, and this room has plenty of windows. She tries to keep activities set up in the room so that when her son wants to work on something, she can film it for content. Andrea cuts the volume from most of her videos, adds music, and keeps them close to one minute. When posting her videos, Andrea puts a branded watermark in the bottom corner of her videos. Andrea's Team Andrea is truly a one-woman show. She has her partner that helps her interface with brands and has used a contractor to rewrite some of her blog posts for SEO purposes. Otherwise, she runs her business all on her own. Thoughts on YouTube Andrea posts her videos on YouTube but she isn't currently monetizing them on there. Andrea believes that her videos aren't the best for YouTube because they are very short, do not have volume, and are designed for the busy parent. Andrea caters to the busy mom scrolling through her social media and wants to see something inspiring. She does not cater to the person wants to dig into the meat of her projects on YouTube. Take note - it's perfectly okay to figure out what works for you and then jump into that. You do not need to be doing amazingly well in every single area or do everything that everybody else is doing. Blogger Burnout Andrea has been experiencing burnout this year. Writing her book, figuring out the marketing plan for it, and creating more content for her blog, all on top of creating new video content has been a lot to manage. So, she scaled her videos back to once a week and she's also batching the video work. It is okay to recognize that your business is in a new season and to change things up to reinvigorate yourself. Andrea's Book At the beginning of 2018, Andrea made the goal to write a book, which became 100 Easy STEAM Activities. Andrea submitted her idea to PageStreet Publishing and they told her they were interested, but wanted to go for 100 projects instead of the 40 she had suggested. The publisher covered the photography since Andrea's strong suit is making video. But the photographers worked with Andrea to make sure it was in her style and fit her ideas. Andrea's Advice If you're a blogger still trying to figure out the landscape of blogging, and how to grow your blog into a business like Andrea, she suggests you start by focusing on providing value to your audience. Andrea feels like what has served her well is giving people exactly what they want and how they want it, without worrying about monetizing. You can focus on monetizing in the future, once you know what best serves your audience. Andrea completely focused on putting out content for two years; that was her sole focus. The money and audience grew from that. I'm so impressed with what Andrea has built with her business. She has built her audience by serving them exactly what they want and in the style they want it, which is short and sweet videos. This is Andrea's first foray into entrepreneurship and she's having a blast. Can you say the same? If you need help with your blogging journey, come join us over on Facebook where I am doing live video every Monday! TIMESTAMP Intro 2:31 Beginnings of a Blog 6:36 Viral Video 8:35 Utilizing Social Media 10:27 Monetizing Social Media 17:15 Running a Business from Your Phone 24:15 Andrea's Team 26:45 YouTube 31:47 Burnout 33:55 Andrea's Book 37:01 Andrea's Advice TOP 4 TAKEAWAYS Build an audience with what you know and continue to serve them the content they want in the style they want it. Don't sweat social media algorithm changes; stay true to your content creation and trust your audience to follow you. Simplify by using less to accomplish more. (Andrea runs her entire business from her phone!) Focus on providing tremendous value to your audience and the money will come naturally from that. Read the podcast transcript for "How to Build Enormous Instagram and Facebook Pages in Two Years" Imagine a world where growing your social media followers and email list was easy… It can be with MiloTree! Try the MiloTree pop-up app on your blog for 30 days risk-free! Let your MiloTree pop-ups help you get to that next level by turning your visitors into email subscribers and social media followers on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and YouTube. Sign up today! Install your MiloTree pop-ups on your site in under two minutes. Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!