A little over one year ago, I published my first Ask Me Anything here on Making Sense of Cents. That went super well, so I decided to make it more of a regular thing!
Ask Me Anything is literally that – you can ask me anything. If you’re struggling to figure out what to ask, here are a few of the topics you may want to know more about:
- Personal finance
- Blogging
- My life
- Travel
- RVing
- Sailing
- Being location independent
- Business
- Making extra money
- Questions about my dogs
And so on, and so on.
Seriously, ask me anything in the comments below, and I will take the time to answer every single one. Of course, please nothing inappropriate or creepy. I’ll let you be the judge of what is creepy, I guess, haha!
All right, go for it, ask away!
P.S. If you’re looking to see all of the comments and questions, make sure to hit “Older Comments” or “Newer Comments” below. The comments break apart in pages once there are over 50 comments.
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Hi Michelle,
Well, I feel as though I have fallen down the rabbit hole since last year. I know you were blogging before EBA but was wondering…. How much traffic did you have before EBA and how much do you feel it gained you after following the course. I am one year out but had to figure out all of the technical ins and outs and everything from how to set up WordPress to nearing the end with SEO. Per your affiliate marketing course which is pretty amazing, I should have been monetizing a year ago. But with what I am blogging about I felt I needed to have my ducks in a row first. So at this point, I feel I can finally start moving forward on that whole part. I have limited numbers of subscribers about 50 at the moment and have done a complete redesign of the site. I did a test run on Pinterest not even knowing what I was doing and had a few thousand impressions. So I feel like I am finally ready to “rock and roll.” Product within days of being completely done. Physical classes set up and running for the year. Live streams in place. Testimonials in editing. I am actually a little in shock I am finally here. I have never worked so hard on anything in my life. What do you feel is the best course of action from here? How long do you see it taking to see results(as I am basically starting from ground zero?) Should I start affiliate advertising now and where do you think is a good place to start since I am not eligible for any of the high-end platforms yet? You said ask anything. For those of you reading Michelle is the reason my business is up and running. She is truly a patient wonderful lady. Thanks Deanna
I was already a full-time blogger when I took EBA. I originally bought EBA so that I could learn more about Pinterest. I can’t remember how much my Pinterest traffic jumped, but I believe I went from very, very little, to several hundred thousand monthly Pinterest visitors due to the course.
For affiliate marketing, I definitely recommend taking my course – http://makingsenseofaffiliatemarketing.com
Hey Michelle!
When did you first get a dog, what made you decide to get more than one dog, and do you have any plans on how you will handle their end-of-life care?
I know the last question is a bummer subject, but my dog I’ve had for 12 years (a lab) is getting older. I’m not sure how much money I will keep on hand for various problems that may develop in the next few years. I hate to even think about it!
We got our first dog when we were just 18 – her name is Sailor. She’s the big white dog we still have today.
We got a second right after we bought our house. We also had a third but she past away due to health issues.
Both of our dogs are senior dogs so I totally get what you’re talking about. We don’t really have plans, though – we will simply take care of them in the way that they need to be taken care of.
Hi Michelle,
I just started blogging and have purchased both of your courses. Haven’t started the courses yet as I need to get more content out there first! I am currently on wordpress.com, business plan. After researching too long, I decided I just needed to get going! With that option I did not have to worry about all the stuff, all at once.
At the end of my year I will probably switch to self hosted. What host do you use and what email provider? Pros and cons? I haven’t searched your site thoroughly, if you have posts about them just point the way please!
Although it would not be a choice I would make, too scared of water, I admire you guys for living on the boat (correct term?) and sailing around! Look forward to any posts about living in small quarters, and without all the amenities! Enjoy!
And thanks for the info!
I use BigScoots, but it’s really not needed for a brand new blog as it is quite expensive. You can start for much cheaper on Bluehost, for example (https://fund-rise.live/2014/08/how-to-start-a-wordpress-blog-on-bluehost.html%3C/a%3E%29.%3C/p%3E
Hi Michelle,
I’m real new to blogging. You wholeheartedly recommend a word press blog. However, blogs are available in websites also. Under what circumstances would you begin a website with a blog versus a blog only.
Thanks for your valuable help.
Sandy
Not sure if I understand? All blogs are websites.
I really love this Michelle. Been a fan of your blog for 3 years now, however I just signed up. Keep the great work going.
I’d love to know something about being a bluehost affiliate. I’d like to know why some affiliate links like yours have a special WordPress offer of $2.75/month but when I check my own link as an affiliate, it shows $3.95/month. Please what’s the reason for the difference?
Thank you.
I negotiated special pricing for my readers 🙂
I teach tips like this here – http://makingsenseofaffiliatemarketing.com
Do you think blogging has any sort of inherent financial advantage over other media- YouTube, Instagram, etc? And if so, how?
You own your blog, but you don’t own your social media accounts. I think that’s the biggest advantage.
Hi Michelle,
I am new here. I am currently working a 9-5 job, but it would be great if I could make even an extra $1000 a month. However, I am usually worn out after my job and I volunteer for most of my free time. Any advice or suggestions on ways I can make that extra 1000 dollars without burning out? I dont have many skills outside of my job. I need the extra money so I can pay off student loans faster and save more.
Perhaps take a course in an area you are interested in and start a business of your own?
Brand new to blogging, but you and many others inspire me! I’ve subscribed to for emails but I’m gonna be honest, I have 3 kids my life is crazy so I haven’t red everyone of them… My question is what do I need to do to get to where you are today! I don’t even have to make a huge income, I would just love to inspire this many people and have a successful blog!
Whitney
Learning as much as you can about blogging is the best thing you can do – taking courses, reading blogs, attending webinars (even the free ones!), etc.
I see the bulk of your income comes from affiliate stuff…did it take you an extreme amount of hours to get going with these programs and/or spend quite a bit in advertising the affiliate items?
I don’t spend much on advertising.
Yes, it took hours to get it going – it’s not a get rich quick scheme 🙂
Hey Michelle, love these AMAs – thanks for your openness!
My question is… do you ever get sick of traveling and want to feel more grounded (literally since you’re sailing lol) in one destination? I’ve heard of some travel bloggers getting tired of the nomad lifestyle after a while.
And – how do you guys deal with needing space from each other?
Jules
I actually am writing a blog post on this subject soon.
Honestly, I have not felt tired until recently. Sailing is a lot more work than RVing ever was!
We’ve never really needed space from each other, but we do have our own activities that we do so that does help.
How do you avoid Shiny Object Syndrome? as an online entrepreneur? That’s been one of my most difficult challenges!
Ha, honestly, the boat has completely prevented me from having that syndrome. I feel like I have no time lately!
Two related questions:
1. Do you think starting a blog or an email course is as feasible as it was when you started yours, given changes / saturation? Anecdotally, it seems like everyone, and many of their dogs, have started blogs focused on lifestyle businesses, financial independence, etc.
2. What do you think the “next frontiers” are (e.g., video, in-browser messaging, social media marketing, etc.)?
Hello!
1) Yes, I definitely still think that it is possible.
2) I think video will just become more and more popular!
Hey Michelle,
1. How does one improve a Google speed score?
2. Can you recommended good landing pages? I have a product to sell and but I do not have a blog.
3. How do you setup your sales funnel for your Master Your Money Super Bundle?
4. Who do you use for hosting? I need a company that will protect against brute force attacks and remove malware without downtime.?
Thanks!
Hey Leslie!
1) Evaluating plugins is a good step. Other than that, I really haven’t thought much about it (although, I should).
2) I just use Convertkit.
3) Ultimate Bundles set that up (I’m an affiliate).
4) Bigscoots.
Hello, I am working on the making money aspect of blogging. I have a food/baking blog that is starting to gain a bit of momentum but not seeing huge growth. I have signed up with ShareASale and am with Amazon Affiliates, but seriously I can only stuff so many items into a food blog.
What I would like to do as well is do sponsored posts, however, in reality, many places like Sway, Brand Meets Blog, Aspire, Linquia etc will only take influencers with large numbers. Seriously, I get under 5000 pageview per month. Do you know of companies that take small bloggers like me?
After reading a lot of the above questions and everyone’s struggles it does seem like a lot of hype and investment to make small change in blogging.
Oh, and to top everything my blog has been hacked and now leads to a Russian site. I had been using Social Warfare so this is costing me to get it fixed.
I have a long list in my course – https://makingsenseofsponsoredposts.com
But, I also recommend reaching out to companies (which I also teach in my course).
I’ve been following you for a year now and admire not only your success, but also your personal philosophy to not take on too much. You’ve mentioned you only have a small team and don’t really have a desire to expand greatly. Right now I say to myself I’d be happy if I could just replace my full-time income (and maybe a little more) so that I could quit my 9-5, but I wonder if I had your success I would be tempted to want more and “expand the empire”. Have you ever struggled with those thoughts and what is your personal take on it?
I like my small team and I don’t think that will ever change! 🙂