I am moving this post back to the top (it was originally posted last year), because I find that being distracted is a time-grabber and it seems to be one that are causing all of us to fall behind on our blogs.  It will take all of your extra energy and just pull it away.  If you saw my challenge earlier this week, reading this post is a must…  

If you are wondering how to write without being distracted – first let me run a scenario past you and see if it sounds familiar:

You hop online to write a post.  You open up your blog… while it is loading, you jump onto Facebook.   Three messages?  You try to write back and you end up spending 30 minutes on Facebook.
Seeing your friends on Facebook reminds you that you need to e-mail someone back.  You just do a quick jump-over to your email and find that you have ten messages waiting for you.   You respond to those and then remember that you forgot to schedule your updates last night on Twitter, so you want to get that in really quickly.

Before you know it- you have spent over an hour online and you haven’t even written a post!

This was me.   I was getting distracted easily and I really didn’t have the time to get distracted.  I was only spending a couple of hours a day on my blog, so I really needed to use my time wisely.   I found a solution that has been working WONDERFULLY!

I take my computer with me when I go anywhere.   I have it in the car.   When I have a few minutes, I write in my “notes” section (you could do microsoft note or wherever you can keep notes).  The key to this is to be OFFLINE.  When I need to use a link, I just bold those words to remind myself later.

I have found this to be a ‘life-saver’, so to say.  It has saved me from spending too much time online or from feeling stressed about the time that comes along with blogging.  I have about 15 posts ready to go for my Your Modern Family blog.   (We took a trip to Disney and I wrote on the way there and on the way home- 18 hours in the car, roundtrip.)

It has really been the best thing that I’ve been able to do lately, because I can write while I am waiting for preschool to let out (waiting in the parking lot) or while I am just at home, watching TV with my husband.  The distractions are gone, because I am not on the internet.  I can write when the mood strikes me and not feel torn away or pulled in different directions from the ‘online world’.   It is just me, my thoughts and my words.

TRY IT & let me know if it works for you.

PS- Remember this tip if you ever write an E-book! 

The post How to write without being distracted appeared first on Becky & Paula.

Here is how to make a full-time income blogging, with a break-down:

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• I have 2 million- 3 million page views a month on yourmodernfamily.com
• I have been blogging for about four years.
• This income does not include what I make on my other websites or from teaching other people how to blog, it’s strictly from my parenting site!
• I work from home, with four kids, so my hours a day vary greatly from 1 hour to 8 hours, depending on what kind of day it is (preschool day or home day, sports practice or not, early bedtime or late bedtime).
• My husband works from home, too, on his blog and mine, so he helps me to take care of the house, meals & kids.  We work as a team in everything we do!
• I write a lot of books and I give a 50% affiliate fee to anyone that sells them.  This helps a lot.

Here is how I earn money:

• I started a blog.  Yep.  That’s what I did.  You can jump right into starting a blog here (in 2 minutes).  If you want more details, you can buy our book about starting a blog here. 
• I write books that sell a lot.  It varies.   I self-published all of my books and that allows me to keep a bigger profit.   I highly suggest everyone write a book.  Find your very best post (highest page views) and turn it into a book.  Here is a post that covers everything about writing a book.  Here are our blogging books that you can sell (you get a % of the sales) and here are my books that you can sell for a 50% affiliate fee.
  Here is a course about reaching your publishing dreams. (Paula took this course before she published her first book and LOVED it. We highly recommend it or this ebook to get you started!)
• I swaps guest posts for book shares.  I will ask someone with more Facebook fans than me to promote my book (using their affiliate link) in exchange for guest posts on their page.
• For my blog, I often have posts that go viral.  I write what I would want to read and then I share that post.  Most of my posts do well because people want to read it, too.  That helpful hint that you do at home?  Share it.   That wonderful parenting Ah-Ha moment?  Share it.
• I take pictures that bring readers to my posts.  This book is perfect to learn how to take pictures of food (but I use the techniques to for all of my photos)
• I write sponsored posts.   This means that companies reach out to me and ask me to talk about their product.  They send me the product and they pay me money to write about it.  I used to make $50/post my first few months.  Now I make $1800 or more for my posts.
• I have ads on my website.
• I am an affiliate of many companies, like Etsy.  I make a lot on affiliate sales.  I sell on Facebook and in my posts, by showing my favorite things. and I do a lot with Craftsy because they offer freebies for my readers.
• I pin a lot.  I use Board Booster to pin.  It is a game-changer for me!   I spent about 4 hours one day setting Board Booster up & I never had to do it again.   Well- once a day I go in & pin my new pin for the day.
• I send out e-mails.  Every week.  These e-mails have links to a lot of different books and products that my readers can buy.  They have links to posts that they can read.  I use Convert Kit and I love it.If you combine the women of Bloggers Tell All, they are making millions of dollars in revenue each year, with around 25-30 million page views a month.  It can be done.   They are the proof. 
  Related:  SIGN UP FOR OUR BLOG TIPS WITH OUR NEWSLETTER HERE. 
• Try to include an affiliate link in every post (not sponsored posts).
• I use my Facebook page to promote those affiliate links, too.
• You can pin your affiliate links by doing a roundup of them & pinning from there.  Example:  20 best birthday gifts for your one-year-old   Link each one to an affiliate link & you can pin all of them.   It will bring the Pinterest readers to you & they can go to the store from there.

Here a few of my top posts, if you want to see an example: 
1- When Elf on the Shelf forgot to move
2- Why I still carry my kids
3- Potty Train in 3 days
4- Mommy, will you lay with me? 
5- Stocking Stuffers

MORE POSTS YOU MIGHT LIKE: 

• Check out our income reports here.
• How to get your first million readers.

The post How to make money blogging appeared first on Becky & Paula.

How do I start a blog?  This is the question that I asked myself and many others when I decided to give this a real shot.
I have always been the type of person that shares ideas of things that work and don’t work in our home.  If I think that I can help you, I will share an idea with you.   I think that God made us to help each other.

So, if you are thinking of starting a blog…

1- First you will want to just decide what you are going to blog about.  I started out blogging about finances and then moved to organization and family.  I like to cover it all.  It keeps me from feeling tied to one thing.

2- Pick a name.  Check to be sure that it is available.

3- Next, you need to set up a blog.  You can do two things: Use a self-hosted blog or a blogger type of blog.   I go with self-hosted, where you have a hosting company hold your site. (it costs money, but its worth it) You will want to watch a lot of youtube videos to figure it out at first.   Or you can do a free on on blogger.  If you do the paid, it will just be beckyandpaula.com (your name there).  If you use blogger or something it will say beckyandpaula.blogger.com.    I am not going to lie… it is a lot of work at the beginning.  I spent probably 4 hours a night at first, until I got things up and running correctly.  (Going back, I probably would have paid for a designer to set up my site for me, (or bought a cheap Wordpress theme on etsy for $20 just so that it would look nicer and not have taken me hours upon hours to set it up).  The other side is that because I did it myself,  I know so much more about setting things up and I can do it myself, so my lessons have been invaluable).

Back to the hosting thing- What am I talking about? 
Think of it like this:  The hosting company is the MALL and you are putting your STORE (your blog) there.  You own the store, but they help with all of the details and maintenance of it.  Is someone breaking in? They will handle it.  You have too many people there at one time?  They will move you to a ‘bigger’ server.  They handle all of the “behind the scenes” things.

So, I would get a self-hosted blog with WordPress.  I use a self-hosted blog for my blog, Your Modern Family. 
I have heard horror stories about people using blogger and getting on to find that their website has been shut down.  If you plan on making money on your blog, you will not want to use Blogger.  They look down upon selling things on their page, so they often shut down pages for this.

What do you want to know next?  How to make money on your blog even if you are new?  How to use Pinterest to grow your blog?  How to double your page views? How to tell your husband about WHY blogging is taking so long at first?

OR… DIVE RIGHT IN!!! We created a book to walk you through exactly how to start & grow a blog!!!

The post How do I start a blog? appeared first on Becky & Paula.

About a week ago, a friend of mine came at me with the question “What is your blogging goal?”   
I had to stop for a second before  I gave her my answer…

“I don’t really have one, except to do BETTER this month than I did LAST month.”  

I want to reach MORE people.
I want to inspire/help MORE parents.
I want to help MORE kids get the time that they need from their parents.
I want to help my family by making MORE money on my blog (my income report).
I want to help other bloggers by giving them MORE info on how to be successful.

I just want to do MORE this month than I did last month. 

I know that most bloggers have specific goals like “I want to be at 500,000 FB fans by December 2015” but my goal has never been specific, because honestly, I don’t think that our goals can keep up with us, as bloggers.  Yes, I just said that.

I never dreamt that my blog would become the success that it has become.  If I had set my goals, I would have far under reached them and maybe I wouldn’t have my dreams set so high (yes, I have DREAMS… lots of those!)   

I don’t set specific goals because I try hard EVERY DAY at blogging.

I don’t try to reach one goal, just to reach it.  No.
Every.Single.Day I work my hardest at blogging (well- minus the weekends… that time is for my family).

For my blog, I just don’t let up.  If I had goals, would I stop when I got there?  Would you?  Probably not…  So- I don’t set them.

The truth is that I really can’t set goals because blogging doesn’t really allow for that.

Some days my FB page is fantastic, other days, I hear crickets.

Some days I get so many page views that my overage costs are hundreds of dollars, other days, I’m under my normal view amount.

Blogging is like a roller coaster.  There are up days and down days, but I can’t tell someone where I want to be in a certain number of days, months, years… because I don’t know myself.  The sky is the limit!

I can just say that I want to do better tomorrow than I did today (just like being a Mom, I guess).   I want to do better next month than I did this month.  I take it day by day (well month by month!) and enjoy the fact that I am spending time at home with my family, making money, and making other people happy with my words.

More posts you might like: 
How to write without distraction. 
What blogging really entails. 
When FB is driving you crazy. 

The post My ONLY blogging goal appeared first on Becky & Paula.

” Do you want to build a snowman?”   oh- wait… wrong audience!   The four kiddos behind me are singing that one!   haha!

How about this:
“Do you want to win on hundred dollars?”    Better, right?

We are giving away a $100 gift card to Staples.  You can use it to organize your blogging things (or to fix up a room.. they have really great furniture items & baskets.)

Ok- enter below.  Good luck!!

PS- we will be adding ONE MORE way to enter (for 10 points!) so stay tuned… its coming in a few days, along with a freebie!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The post Do you want to win $100? GIVEAWAY! appeared first on Becky & Paula.

I love bright colors!   I also love black & white.    Alas, a blog is different than picking out what to wear, so I wanted to share with you what I have learned about color choices and design for your blog.  Welcome to Color 101: Best colors for a blog

You probably read the post last week about designing your blog to make it easier to read.  This week we are diving into color choice.

You already saw that you should have a white background with black text, in order to make it easier to read.

Think of your blog as your home- the colors carry throughout every room (every page/post).  The rules of design for your home: You choose two main colors and one accent color.  In our house, it is blues and a sandy beach color as the main colors, with a few bursts of black or dark brown throughout, to “hold down” the color.   I am a nautical girl at heart!

So- about your blog:

Lets start with the header:
A header should have 1-2 colors (I’m not counting black & white here).
Remember that this is only if it works for you.  This is simply what is EASIEST to look at and most interesting to readers (to keep readers coming back again), when surveyors asked readers.    I am not saying it is the best way.  The best way is YOUR way.   

Your Blog: 
Your blog should try to basically stick with those two colors.   Lets call them Color A and Color B. 
Color A will be used in your headlines, titles (important things)
Color B will be used for other things (date, comments, “next” and “older” buttons)

Advertising: 
You want your advertising to stand out, so you want a color that POPS!  Pick something bright like orange or yellow.   Even a bright pink or blue, if it stands out among the other colors on your blog.

If you aren’t sure which colors work together, try testing them out on a site, like DesignSeeds.  (PS- those beautiful images with the different colors were found on Design Seeds.)

Another tip:  If I find a color that I love, but can’t seem to re-create it, I will copy the image, upload it into PicMonkey and then add text over the photo.  I will then take the text and match it to the color using that little color dropper.   It brings up the color code for me and there you go…
Here is what I mean: (I am editing a screenshot to try to find out the color of her shirt)

You can also go to a site like Colorzilla to find any color codes.  (it is a CSS generator, too!)

I hope that was helpful!  Your blog is exactly that… YOURS!   Make it what you want it to be!

The post Color 101: Best colors on a blog appeared first on Becky & Paula.

Today’s post is from my husband.  I am a blogger here at Blogging on the Side and on my own personal blog, Your Modern Family.

This is from the side of my husband (blogging can be annoying to them when they don’t understand, so I wanted to share our story for you, so that hopefully you will feel encouraged by it and maybe show your husband- he can see why you do what you do! haha!)

Our story: He is the love of my life!  We started dating in high school when I was 14 and he was 15.  We went to opposite high schools in the same home town and opposite colleges, three hours apart.  We were married the year that we graduated and we moved from PA to NC together. We now have four kids (7, 5, 3 and 1) together and we have a strong marriage (10 years now), because we keep God and family first in our lives.  We are best friends, without a doubt.

Blogging was hard for him to understand, at first, so I asked him to write a post to the husband’s of blogging wives.   Ps- he actually came up with the name of my personal blog, Your Modern Family.   He has been a part of this from the get-go!

Here is his post…  (he was talking to me, while I typed what he wrote.  Those typing classes that I took in high school have made blogging so much faster, by the way!)

I am going to ask him questions and you will see his answers: 

1. WHAT DID YOU THINK WHEN I SAID THAT I WAS GOING TO START A BLOG?

“When you said you were going to start a blog, I thought it would be “I’ll spend an hour a night here, an hour a night there, just writing a little.”   I didn’t realize that blogging would be so time consuming.

I didn’t realize that it isn’t just writing.  Writing is the small part of it- that part only takes you about 20 minutes.  It is all of the other stuff that you do that takes up your time, like pictures, and technical stuff and “social media stuff”, as you call it.

For a while there, you were staying up until 2:00 in the morning, which you still do a lot of nights, trying to blog while the kids are asleep because you don’t want it to take away time from them, which I admire.  You were still waking up at 7:00 in the morning, so you weren’t getting nearly enough sleep, but you wanted to succeed at blogging and being a wife & mom, but that’s how you are.  You are a go-getter.  (its becky here- this actually drives him crazy because he says that I always have a project, but that’s just my personality).

2. IF YOU HAD TO GIVE ONE PIECE OF ADVICE TO OTHER HUSBANDS, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

If I had to tell husbands of bloggers something, I would tell them, especially those with kids, you have to expect that as the father, you have to step it up  a little bit when your wife starts blogging, like starting any job.  You have to keep the kids busy if she works, but it brings you closer to your kids and builds your bond.  Take them to the park or something.

3. WHAT WAS THE HARDEST PART FOR YOU AT FIRST?  YOU SEEMED FRUSTRATED. 

It was frustrating at first.  I was working late hours, not getting home until 6:30 or 7:00 and when I’d get home, we would get the kids to bed and you would start working on your blog, instead of hanging out to watch our shows.  It was a lot of time at first.  I didn’t get it and it was annoying to see you online again.

It was a lot of time and when you are used to having your wife spend time with you, that is really tough at first, but it gets easier once she gets her blog going. You’ve been blogging for what, a year now?   Its so much better now that you have it going.   I feel like we spend a lot of time together again.    Now I know why you wanted to do it right at first so that you could have it moving how you wanted and now you don’t have to do nearly as much and it has been paying off now.  

4. WHAT WOULD YOU TELL HUSBANDS ABOUT WHEN IT GETS EASIER? 

As the husband, you just have to buckle down for six months, because its just like having a newborn.  You don’t realize, when you have an infant, how much time it will take- how much they (a baby) will need you.  That’s just like your blog- it has to be  nurtured before you can ‘let it fly’ and know that ‘it will land on two feet’, you know?  A lot of hours go into taking care of it to get it going and starting out right.

5.  WHEN DID YOU START TO REALIZE THIS WAS WORTH IT?  

I remember for a while, that you (Becky) had to point things out to me.
You would say: “Mic, look at this coding.  This is what I am doing right now.   I have to do all of this just to add a link to my post.  The point of adding a link in here is to bring more page views to my post.  The more views that I get, the better off my blog will be.”

 Seeing it like that helped because I saw that you weren’t just “playing online”, you were doing things that I didn’t understand.  Once you showed me what you were doing & I understood, I realized that you were starting a buisness and that you weren’t just  “playing online”.   I appreciated that.

Now that you have been blogging for a year, you have found that you can do it in just two hours a night.  You aren’t doing it all evening long anymore.  You don’t blog when the kids are up and if you do, you find ways to entertain them.  You have found a good balance, that it doesn’t take up family time.

6.  WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN I BLOG? 

The way I look at it is if I wanted to watch the football game for a couple of hours, you used to say “Oh, really?  Ugh.  Ok.” but now you always say “Yeah, go ahead and do that.  I’ll write up a post.”
 Plus, it frees up time for me to do some of my own things because if I want to do something that you don’t want to do, like watch Gold Rush, or football or if I want to work on the car,  you can work on your blog while I do my thing.  It gives us our own hobbies.

7.  DO YOU THINK ITS BEEN WORTH IT, FINANCIALLY?

YES, it has been a huge benefit to our family.  The supplemental income part…  is huge.   They say money doesn’t buy you happiness, but it helps to alleviates worry.  Your blog makes a lot and it makes things a lot easier.   It is like a self-starting job.  The more you put into it, the more you get out of it.

 Plus, you are helping other people.    That’s what you love to do.   You get e-mails from people needing help or advice and you can give them what they need, which is big.   That’s who you are anyways- someone that helps.  Like your new blog, Blogging on the Side, you are helping other bloggers because you always want other people to do well.   Plus, you have gotten to be good friends with the girls you blog with, so that’s been nice for you, too.

8.   WHAT WOULD YOU TELL A HUSBAND OF A WIFE JUST STARTING HER BLOG?

If I had to give one piece of advice to the husband of a blogging wife, I would say “Rather than discourage, encourage.”
The biggest thing: Be a patient partner.   When you started, Beck, you couldn’t figure out the technical side of it, but you got it because you stuck with it and figured it out on your own by doing research.

9.    WHAT ABOUT IF THEY FEEL LIKE THEY NEED TO SPEND MONEY ON THEIR BLOG TO MAKE MONEY?
Yes- do it.  For the husbands… let your wife spend money on a nice computer, once you see that she is sticking to it for 6 months (he laughs).  It will cut down on her blogging time by a lot!   (Becky’s little note: I have a macbook pro.  My old laptop was very slow and would freeze often.  This has made it so much better.  Plus, its a tax write-off!)

I really wanted her to quit blogging when I was working a lot and coming home and had to do more around the house because you were trying to start up your blog and it was taking up a lot of your ‘free’ time- the time when the kids weren’t up.  You were getting discouraged and so was I, but you figured it out and got a good flow and balance.

 10.    WHAT ABOUT CHANGING SCHEDULES OR GIVING UP CERTAIN THINGS?  
You aren’t really giving anything up, just rescheduling things.  You still spend time with the kids, but now you have figured out how to blog when they aren’t there, like during nap time or quiet time.  You write down ideas when the kids are up, but save the writing for night.   You preschedule social posts in the morning, before the kids get ready for school.  You are always thinking about it, but blogging about it later.  You don’t have the down time that you used to have.

Expect crock pot meals.
Expect take out or pasta night once a week.
Expect that she won’t get the laundry done every day or the house spotless every day. 

11.   WHAT ABOUT HOUSEWORK?   DID IT BOTHER YOU THAT I DIDN’T PUT IN THE TIME THAT I USED TO?  BE HONEST! 

Beck, it bothered me, at first, that you weren’t doing as much housework.  I know, I know (he says this because I rolled my eyes)  It just that it was always done before.  Dinner cooked.  The house cleaned & everything picked up.  Everything in its place.  Toys put away. Laundry done.  Everything swept & dusted… just really clean.  Now it might be a few days where the laundry isn’t done every day or dinner is just a quick meal or crock pot meal.

Well, now that you are using that emeals thing, its better again, you seem to enjoy cooking when its planned for you (he laughs), but now that I see all that you have to do, I don’t expect you to do it all.  You had spoiled me and the kids  (he laughs).  You still do.  (now I laugh)

12.    DO YOU THINK ITS WORTH IT NOW THAT YOU SEE WHAT COMES FROM IT?

Yes. I definitely think if you are in this to make money,  or to be a success, you have to put your hard work into it.

When I see those very profitable months, I see how much your hard work pays off.

It is like a commission only job.  If you put 50% into it, you get 50% out of it.  If you put 100% into it, you get 100% out of it.   

13.    WHEN DID THINGS CHANGE FOR YOU THAT YOU FELT LIKE YOU STARTED SEEING THE REAL BENEFITS?   

The fact that you get free things in the mail every day helps, or when you get over 150 e-mails a day… that still shocks me!

I still remember the exact day that I saw how great your blogging was for our family.
When they delivered a vacuum cleaner to our house and I saw a $300 vacuum and I said “Oh- did you buy a new vacuum?” and you said “No, I got this, plus I am being paid to write about it”

I realized, Ok- she’s making real money on this.   This is a job.  I need to take it seriously.
Now, if you got a car, I would know you’ve really made it. ”   (We both start laughing at this one, but he goes on to tell me “Not a fancy one.  Just a regular car, you know?  Maybe you can e-mail…”   Ok, then, Mic… I think this interview is about done.).  haha!! 

So there you have it!  From the mouth of a blogger’s husband.

So, tell me, how does your husband handle being a blogger’s spouse?

The post Advice to the husband of a blogging wife… from one husband to another appeared first on Becky & Paula.

I am so excited right now!   I am about to offer you the chance to win something amazing… are you ready for this?   How about a $50 Gift Card for ErinCondren.com?  (TWO winners will get this gift card!)

As a blogger, it is hard to keep things organized sometimes.  Between family & blogging time, sponsored posts, Facebook, Pinterest, editing the many pictures, learning SEO and more, it can get overwhelming.  ErinCondren.com has a ton of planners to get you organized.  (This is why we decided to go with this company).  After looking around, anyone will benefit from this $50 gift card because you could use it for anything!  My mind is already spinning with all of the great products on there.

Here are a few things that she offers.  

Have you found something to LOVE from that list??
In order to win, you will just enter using the Rafflecopter below.   I am so excited for you and wish you the best of luck!  This is truly an awesome prize!

Here is a video of the $50 life planner that I think is PERFECT for any blogger!!

Disclosure: Ends September 22 at 11:59pm est. The participating bloggers were not compensated for this post. We are not associated with any of the companies named above. No purchase is necessary to enter. Void where prohibited by law. Confirmed Winner(s) (by Rafflecopter) will be contacted by email. Winner(s) have 24 hours to respond before a new winner is chosen.  ErinCondren.com will be responsible for product shipment to winner(s) of this giveaway. Bloggingontheside is not responsible for product shipment/delivery. This event is in no way administered, sponsored, or endorsed by, or associated with, Facebook and/or Twitter, Google, Pinterest. This disclosure is done in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission 10 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements. Entrants must only enter with either one email address, IP address and/or Facebook account, anyone found violating these rules will be disqualified. It is at the sole discretion of the admin of the giveaway if the winner has met the rules or not.

 

 

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The post Win a $50 gift card for ErinCondren.com (a life planner is perfect for a blogger!) appeared first on Becky & Paula.