I Wanna Know...{Week 14}

I wrote a post a few months back.
I basically opened the floor and gave you guys a chance to ask me ANYTHING.When I say anything, I mean anything! Blogging, marriage, army, crafting, shopping...

I'd love for you to submit a question for me to answer & for you to be featured next week!!!Click Here

Here we go with Week #14! I always try to include both blogging & personal questions.

Elora

Question #1: I was wondering what worked for you in the beginning to build your blog? Did you advertise or guest post on other blogs? I think it's incredible how many followers you have. I'm doing my best to learn what I can and find as many friends as possible! I think the blogging community is a wonderful opportunity for people to make friends from all over the world and I'm eager to meet people!

Hi Elora! If you go back on older "I Wanna Know" posts, you can read in detail all of my thoughts and advice for Ads. I am a huge believer in Ad swaps, which is a great way to get your name out there. In the beginning, every time someone asked me to guest post, I jumped at the opportunity! It's wonderful to get your content and writing in front of a new set of readers and possible friends (: Most of all, create true relationships with bloggers you talk to. If someone emails you or leaves you a heartfelt comment, be sure to respond. Some of the girls I met in my first two months of blogging are to this day my closest bloggy friends.

Kate

Question #2: What do you think of programs such as Google AdSense? Have you ever used one? I'd love to get that extra little income, but do readers find it annoying? Is it worth it?

Hey Kate! Yes, I have/do use Google AdSense. I only have one Ad though. I thought I wasn't making any money from it, but about a month ago I checked and over 5 months I made about $80. That isn't much, but I made it from doing nothing, so I leave that Ad there. The only time I hate AdSense or think it's annoying is when the blogger puts 3 or 4 Ads on their sidebar or the WORST is when they put them between each post. I think that personally looks tacky. As far as affiliate programs like Julep, Amazon, Shabby Apple...I tell girls that they should check to see how much they make over 3 months. If it's only $1 I don't think it's worth it to have all those buttons on your sidebar. I had both Shabby Apple & Julep up for months and never made a penny. Of course it is up to you, but I removed all of those buttons because it just clogs up your sidebar. I make more money from sponsorships, so I made the decision to only host those buttons on my sidebar. That is just what I have found works best (:

Kristyn

Question #3: I think I am ready to reach out to companies to review products. How do you create a Media Kit? How often do you update your stats and which stats do you use?

Hello Kristyn! So making a Media Kit is really easy. I know it looks scary or is daunting, but if you just sit down and do it, you'll see it's pretty simple. I always used Microsoft Word to make my Media Kit up until about a month ago. Word is really easy to use and I loved that you could easily edit the stats and re-print it as a PDF. I now have been using Pixelmator (Mac's version of Photoshop). The basic things you should include is a brief summary of your blog, statistics and a part about advertising if you offer that on your blog. Feel free to go look at mine if you want. For statistics, I've found that companies usually want to know your monthly pageviews, follower count and numbers on social media (ie, Twitter, Facebook, etc). Any other info is completely up to you! I update my statistics every month or so and I update the advertisement information if anything on there changes. A Media Kit is such a great tool to have! It makes you look much more professional to companies and also saves you time from having to type your statistics in reply to every company that asks.

Shana

Question #4: You look like you have a wonderful marriage. How do you keep the happiness, especially being an Army wife?

Hey Girl! I am not going to lie, I love being married to Ryan. We have an awesome marriage, but it definitely takes some work. Ryan and I are really silly and love going on random adventures. We are laid back, so we have tons of fun just staying at home and cooking or watching movies together. The thing that probably causes the most stress in our marriage is the Army. Ryan doesn't have a typical job. He leaves between 4-5am in the mornings and doesn't come home until 8pm some nights. He usually wants to go to bed by 9 or 9:30pm. If it's not bad enough that we barely see each other during the weeks, the Army can make him come into work or take phone calls whenever they want. There hasn't been one weekend since he started his current job that they haven't called or texted him on the weekends to deal with something. Then on top of that, there have been weekend trips or vacations we have planned that have to be cancelled last minute because the Army suddenly decides they need Ryan to do something. Being in the military isn't 9-5...as we say all the time, the Army basically owns Ryan. He works 24 hours a day. Accepting this lifestyle was really hard for me at first. I was used to working in corporate America where your weekends are YOURS and if you schedule a vacation you always get to go on vacation. It sucks to feel like you aren't really in control of a lot of situations. But the Army has given us a lot of great opportunities. It pays well and we aren't faced with Ryan being unemployed. I know that I won't be an Army wife forever, so I try to make the most of the situation I find myself in now. Some weeks by Friday, Ryan is a total grump. He can be running on minimal sleep. Those nights we stay in and go to bed early. As long as I am flexible to what is going on and how Ryan feels, everything is usually ok. I also have to make sure to never take out my frustrations with Ryan's job on him. I know he hates being away from me just as much as I hate not seeing him, so nagging on him and complaining would only make it worse.

I hope you guys enjoyed seeing some of your questions answered! I'll be back next Tuesday with more!

I'd love for you to submit a question for me to answer & for you to be featured next week!!!Click Here

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