Hey,
It has been almost one year since my last Ask Me Anything here on Making Sense of Cents.
Since then a lot has changed, such as I had a baby and she is 4 months old now!
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
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.
All right, go for it, ask away!
If you haven’t yet, please follow me on Instagram.
Here are links to common questions I’ve received in past Ask Me Anythings:
- How To Start A Blog Free Course – With this free email course, I will show you exactly how to create a blog, from the technical side all the way to earning your first income and attracting followers. Each day for seven days, you will receive an email in your inbox that will help you create a successful and profitable blog.
- 29 Best Stay At Home Jobs (#1 Is My Full Time Job!) – Do you want to work at home or work while traveling? Here’s a list to get you started.
- What It’s Like Living In An RV? – We lived in an RV full-time for several years. Here’s what I loved about it!
- Living On A Boat – The Good, The Bad, And The Beautiful – We have now lived on our sailboat for 4 years. Here’s what we like and don’t like about boat life.
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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What is your number 1 spruce of traffic to your blog? How many monthly viewers are you currently at? How do you maintain your monthly views. I find that my views fluctuate a bit and it can be frustrating.
My traffic is pretty well diversified between Google, direct/email, and Pinterest. I am currently working towards getting more Google/SEO traffic, though. I find that being diversified really helps to lower drastic fluctuations, and, of course, once you have higher page views you won’t see as many drastic fluctuations because it usually averages out.
Since you are location independent what do you guys do for health insurance? You have to worry about in-network providers with so many insurances I was wondering if you have coverage (if you have health ins) all over the U.S.? Thanks! Congrats on your newborn.
It’s not perfect, but we use Liberty Healthshare – https://fund-rise.live/2016/08/liberty-healthshare-review.html%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
What is the number one and maybe number the number 2 most important pieces of advice you would give to seniors who have not saved enough for retirement and retirement and are looking for ways to supplement their income quickly. Thank you and cute cute cute baby daughter!
This is a hard question for me as it’s not in my area of expertise nor do I have any first hand knowledge with it. So, I’d hate to give an answer that people find rude. But, I would look for ways to still save, as it’s never too late. Trying to find ways to perhaps make extra money without running yourself too ragged would probably be key, as well as evaluating your current expenses.
I’m just starting a blogging website and learning all the tools building a websit as a beginner with your advice, creating it myself. My yoga teaching shifted during Covid and now I feel the need for online presence & classes etc. It all is a little overwhelming, not sure best way to adapt my social media for my site best. What do you feel the most important area I should concentrate on!? Perhaps a silly question!? Any advice would be appreciated!
Thank you
I’m just starting a blogging website and learning all the tools building a websit as a beginner with your advice, creating it myself. My yoga teaching shifted during Covid and now I feel the need for online presence & classes etc. It all is a little overwhelming, not sure best way to adapt my social media for my site best. What do you feel the most important area I should concentrate on!? Perhaps a silly question!? Any advice would be appreciated!
Thank you
how do you find the motivation to stay consistent with your blog? As someone who has been blogging for 3 years ( just started over ) so technically 4 months with my new blog, I find that consistency is one of my biggest challenges.
I have so many questions! Just a few:
When starting fresh with no traffic how many posts should I aim for a day?
Besides Pinterest and SEO is there any other platforms that will help propel my growth?
What is the best ad management company for blogs with <50k sessions (excluding google Adsense)?
I'm self taught through a lot of courses and research, how do I overcome my doubt and truly believe that this business model is possible?
Thank you for being an inspiration!
You can apply for Ezoic ads! They do not have a page view requirement
1) Writing content in advance really, really helps to stay consistent. I like to be a few months ahead with blog posts so that I don’t fall behind.
2) I’m not sure if you mean publishing or writing?
3) TikTok, Youtube, email lists, guest posting, etc.
4) I’ve heard good things about Monumetric.
5) You just have to start. Pretty much everyone feels this way and I hear this question multiple times a day. You just have to make the leap and push past it!
Michelle,
I currently have a blog – http://www.worklifeid.com and am a published author with Hatherleigh Press – look up Exercises for Perfect Posture (as an example). My wife and I started a side business making soap and we are in 16 locations now (www.lincroftsoapco.com).
I’d like to continue growing my publishing/writing footprint via the blog but it’s time consuming with the new soap business. I enjoy both and am at a little bit of a crossroads on how to spend the time. We both work and have 3 kids…so the current pace is probably unstainable!
Thanks in advance for any feedback. Congrats on the new little one! William Smith, New Jersey
Hello! Have you tried writing content in advance? I find that batch writing content really helps me to manage my time better.
Another idea would be to outsource certain tasks on your blog, such as writing and social media.
Congrats on your new baby girl! Lots of fun adventures ahead!
I, too, have a new baby at home. My son is now 7 months old. My husband works a lot of hours, so it’s just me and our 3 boys most of the time. How do you manage your work schedule with a new baby at home? I’m struggling to get any work done most days.
I am lucky that my husband is at home with me, but it is still difficult to find the time since he does have to manage our boat full-time (and is constantly fixing things, checking weather, being our captain, etc by himself).
This is an area that I am struggling with still and I have hardly worked since last year before the baby came. Writing a bunch of content before the baby came really helped me. I also have a virtual assistant and an editor.
Is it a good idea to cover many different topics on a blog, or stick with the same topics and new story lines?
I’m leaning to casting out a net of different story types but sort of related to the same theme.
Page is under construction at the moment. FYI
I think having a central topic is usually better. Then, finding ways to connect your blog posts to that topic.
For example, I write about many different things here on Making Sense of Cents (travel, lifestyle, household), but I always try to find a way to connect the topic to personal finance.
Hi Michelle,
How would you recommend adding affiliate programs to our current website http://www.petstovets.ca for pet products, pet services and pet insurance?
Pets To Vets is a pet transportation service operating in Vancouver BC for 8 years.
Thank you
David
Do you have a blog? That’s a great way to add affiliate links.
I would like to start a lifestyle blog, but I’m worried I won’t make enough income from it. How do you prepare and organize the affiliate marketing so it isn’t overwhelming?
Also, what did a the best digital or downloadable product for a lifestyle blog featuring fitness, food and self care?
For your first question, I recommend taking my affiliate marketing course for bloggers – https://makingsenseofaffiliatemarketing.com/. I recommend starting with less than 10 affiliate programs so that you don’t get overwhelmed with the many different options.
2) Are you wondering about what you could sell or give away as a freebie optin? I’m not in any of those niches so it would be hard for me to say. Seeing what others sell in that niche already would probably be your best bet.
I’m looking for a selling option for a form of passive income. Do ebooks sell as well as a course? I’m not ready to be selling a course yet
I think ebooks sell well, yes.
Any advice on using your real name or fictitious name for blogging? I want to blog but am not fond of my real name so public. How do you keep people from finding you in the real world is a concern for me.
I started out using a pen name and eventually switched to using my real name. I prefer that I’m more “public” now, as it’s simply easier. But, yes, you can hide your name. You can do things such as use domain privacy, don’t use pictures of yourself, start new social media accounts just for your website, and so on.
When starting to network with other bloggers, do you have to stay in your own niche or is it advantageous to seek bloggers that are in other niches?
Starting with your own niche is great because more of the advice that you receive will be applicable to you. Plus, you’ll more likely secure guest posts, interviews, and so on from those in your niche because they will be writing about the same topic.
What steps did you take to start earing an income from your blog? I have a blog and feel so scattered from information overload for the steps that actually work to generating an income that could replace my day job.
I recommend reading this to see how I first started making money blogging – https://fund-rise.live/2017/04/how-to-make-money-blogging-online.html%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
For me, I started differently than most – it was just a hobby. So, I didn’t start my blog with the intention of making money. If I were to start again, I would work on page views, growing an email list, and affiliate marketing right from the very beginning.
What are your top tips for eliminating school debt fast?
Do you have to have a lawyer write out disclaimers and privacy policies so you know they’re legitimate?
Is there a template that should be used for making a legible and easy-to-read blog post?
How do you respond / react to anyone who leaves negative or inappropriate comments? How do you not let it get to you personally?
1) My top tip would be to find ways to make extra money. That’s what I did to pay off mine. You can learn more here – https://fund-rise.live/2017/01/how-to-pay-off-student-loans-repayment.html%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
2) Yes, you will want to make sure they are legitimate. For legal templates, I recommend reading this – https://fund-rise.live/2019/07/3-super-common-legal-mistakes-bloggers-make-and-how-to-fix-them.html%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
3) Hmm I don’t know of any templates. Everyone has a different style.
4) I either delete them (if they are especially negative, inappropriate or creepy), or respond to them. If it starts to get to me, I will simply delete and move on because I don’t need crazy people in my life, haha.
What do you recommend for resources on how to make a good income from a blog?
There are so many out there and it’s overwhelming especially when some contradict one another
Here are my favorite blogging resources – https://fund-rise.live/2021/07/best-blogging-courses.html%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Hi Michelle!
I’m wondering, how long did it take you to see an income with your blog and how did you stick it through? How do you know what readers want to learn most about?
And as a Canadian blogger, there isn’t much around about paying taxes, declaring your blog as a business or sole proprietorship, etc. Any advice there?
Thank you!!
It took me 6 months to make my first $100. But, I could have made money sooner. I didn’t know that blogs could make money when I started mine so it was not a goal.
I have a long list of blog topics to write about. I gathered this list from topics that I’m personally interested in or have come across, as well as things like reader questions.
I recommend reading this to learn more about how I started – https://fund-rise.live/2017/04/how-to-make-money-blogging-online.html%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
I don’t feel comfortable giving legal or tax advice for Canadian blogs as it’s not my expertise. You may want to reach out to a Canadian blogger and seeing what or who they recommend, or doing a Google search.
How are you guys adjusting to parenthood?! Has anything surprised you with it’s ease or difficulty? Lol
We have found it easier than expected! Marlowe is quite easy so far 🙂 There are definitely things that are harder now, such as going anywhere, and things take a lot more planning haha.