Bloggertunities: Blogging Tips, Opportunities, Leads, and Events

Grow your blog – Monetize, find new leads and blogging opportunities, and get the best tips too… Hi all! Welcome to another weekly Bloggertunities post, a round-up of the best blogging tips, tools, leads, opps, and events of the week. I hope you’ll find some helpful stuff – and if you do, be sure to share it with your networks too!

“The only thing we can control is us…our attitudes, our outlooks, our choices. Don’t stress over the rest. FOCUS on what you can control.” – Kim Garst {Found on the fab Domestic Executive Online}

Love this quote from a great blogger in my networks – Michelle, from Domestic Executive Online. {Follow her, you’ll love her.} It’s a great reminder when the stress of blogging, homemaking, social media management, parenting, and all the rest get to you – You can NEVER control much of what happens TO you. But you can control how you react to IT. A positive attitude can take you a long way, baby. And, if you want a little more amazing inspiration, read this story I came across this week that rocks like crazy: Channing Tatum and Blogger Success. It amazes me, every single day, the type of opportunities that open up to us, as bloggers. I love it! And, speaking of opportunities – I hope you find some helpful stuff her, and as always – be sure to leave your own goodies in the comment section! Any linkys, hops, cool affiliates, tips, anything helpful you have to share, I’d love to check it out too….

Sweet event to join now: I’m helping to host the online portion of the NYC Activision Family Game Night Summit! Register before October 31 to be eligible for a swag bag valued at over $200 bucks!!

Make money blogging

• Type-A Parent: This is an awesome site, and they’re looking for YOUR great content to share. If featured, they’ll pay you $25 bucks for your blog post. Learn more and submit your ideas on their site today.
• Social Spark: If you’re already using this site, make sure that your Google Analytics is set up on your Social Spark account – the higher your traffic, the higher payouts you’ll get on offers. Once you get to about 30,000 page views a month, you’ll bump up from an average of $15 a post, to $65-$100 per post. And during the holidays, most of the opps go up quite a bit, even for lower traffic sites. So it’s definitely a great one to get into now.
• SITS Girls: Great opp from the Honest Company {by Jessica Alba} for health minded moms – $50 compensation, and possible products to try. Get the details {and join the SITS Girls network if you haven’t already} here: Honest Company Blogger Opportunity. And be sure to fill out their general blogger outreach form too, to be connected with opps that are a good fit for you.
• Shoe Dazzle: Earn $10 when you refer new affiliates, $20 for every sale through your affiliate link, and a $1 every time someone simply registers their info on the Shoe Dazzle site. Join the ShoeDazzle Affiliate Program on ShareASale. I’ve already earned almost $100, and it’s been really popular with my readers. Win-win, right?
• Logical Media: This is an easy affiliate network to use – one thing that I like is that the offers don’t expire quickly, so that if someone comes across a post I wrote 6 months ago that has an affiliate ad or link in there, it’s still valid and I still earn. Sweet, right? There are quite a few cute offers to share – one that’s doing well for me is My Lil’ Pie Maker.
• Integrate: These guys are so helpful anytime I need them, I love it. If you’re not in their Facebook group yet, and are an affiliate, request an invite, it’ll help you a TON! You can sign up here. Need suggestions on good-converting offers? Here are my faves: I have 5 older {like, last holiday season!} posts featuring Bake Pops, and still earn commissions from them, $15.75 with every purchase.  Free Baby Sling, $3.15 for each customer, and I got one of these myself when I was pregnant – they’re really great quality, no spam, great offer. And get a $1.30 everytime someone signs up for my all-time fave newsletter and free online bootcamp site: LearnVest!

Product Opps & Leads

• Casting Call: If you’re a member of any Izea sites like Sponsored Tweets or Social Spark, sign up for these email updates to know whenever there are new Casting Call opportunities, opps with cool product samples or fun stuff.
• Twitter Leads: I always love this post each week – Twitter Lead Tuesday. Filled with great leads found on Twitter, for you to respond to and follow up with. I’ve made some great connections this way, definitely worth checking out!
• P&G: I’m not sure what this one is all about – It’s a sign-up form for P&G Online Influencers. It just mentions getting mentions of news, promotions, coupons, etc – but it’s not on their basic consumer site, and it does ask for a blog link, so maybe it’ll include other cooler stuff? Worth a shot…

Freelance Writing Opportunities

• Examiner: I’m the Yakima Frugal Living Examiner – meaning I get to post anything related to my life as a mom trying to stay on a budget, as long as I can tie it to something local. Here’s an example of a post on my column that’s very locally focused: Fall Fun in Yakima for Under $10, or another that’s easy to promote to any audience: Frugal Grocery Tips for Busy Moms. Once you’re writing for awhile, you’ll earn “Local Credentials” – meaning you can request passes to local events and cool happenings. This has been an awesome way for me to connect with more local businesses, and after writing steadily and building my subscribers, I’m seeing a great residual income. Learn more – Join Examiner.com.
• Skyword: This is another way that I get freelance writing jobs. I write for DailyGlow, Lowes, and Word of Mom news. The pay ranges from $5-$50 per post, with additional payment depending on page views. Again, the more you write, the more residual income you’ll have rolling in from those page views. You can then link to your own articles from blog posts too, to help drive additional traffic, or start a new Facebook page devoted to a topic, to help get readers. Learn more – Join Skyword.
• Blogger LinkUp: Want to get started doing guest posts, to get more incoming links to your site? Or are you sometimes in need of targeted guest posts to use on your own site – when you’re going to be out on vacation, for example? Well, you’ll find help for both on Blogger LinkUp. You can’t charge for guest posts on this site, and no one can charge you either. It’s just a great exchange network to find new ways to get quality inbound links and new content to share on your site. I love it.

Cool tools and tips

• Website Review: This sounds very cool – fill out the application, and she picks people that she thinks she can help effectively, and offers FREE website reviews to help you maximize your online efforts.
• Rocks & Roses: This is another cool way to get your site evaluated – Sign up for the Rocks & Roses evaluation. You add your name to a linky, and you’ll get randomly matched to another blog. You’ll also get a blog anonymously assigned to you, too. You give feedback on their site – 2 “rocks” {things they can improve} and 2 “roses” {things they are doing great} – and you get the same feedback sent to you!
• Coupons: Are you using the Shopper’s Haul coupon plug-in yet? This is an amazing way to “auto-magically” earn money from coupons, with no effort at all on your part. Do it on your own blog, or start a second one just to share coupons! Anyone who uses the coupon code SPOOKY at checkout will get 20% off this month, check it out.
• Instagram: Are you on Instagram? Well, if you’d like an easy way to get new followers, and share your photos, check out Followgram. You can set up a free profile, like mine – Meagan Paullin – and get a button for your blog, a link to share, and more.
• Book: Have you ever thought of making your blog into a book? Blurb has professional, bookstore-quality printing, binding and covers. You could take some of your favorite blog posts and photos, and create a book to feature your best work. I’m starting a little collection of these, very fun. Or make a cookbook, featuring your favorite blog recipes. Use code BLURBBOOK15OFF to save 15% off your order.
• Author hReview: This is a super cool plugin. I’m adding it soon, putting together some fun plans for it. It’s perfect if you do a lot of recipes, reviews, or crafts on your blog – it gives you an additional way to make your search results look awesome, it can give you a cool new way to format reviews, drive reader engagement, and more. There’s a free version, or the pro which is what I’m going to be using. Check it out, and if you start using it, let me know – I’d love to see how you put it to work on your site!
• Content Marketing: Ok, so content marketing is what we’re all about – and most brands know that this is the future of online marketing. What do people believe and pay attention to – a sidebar ad, a pop up, a text link – or a great article featuring a brand written by a trusted blogger? Exactly. Learn some great info: Learn what will be covered in the Free Webinar: How to Make Content Marketing Effective and Efficient, and then Register Here for the Scribe 4 Content Marketing Webinar.

Linkys, Hops, and Events

• Twitter: Join us for the Ladies Night Out Twitter Party! RSVP here to be eligible to win great mom-solution style “Treats”, while sharing and learning some smart-solution “Tricks” from other moms.
• Giveaway Hop: Join me and some of my best bloggy buddies for our first giveaway hop together – The #JingleJubilee event is going to ROCK! We’ll be promoting this heavily across all 5 of our blogs, and all of our social media followings. It’s gonna be awesome. Get details and sign up here.
• Blogtober: Join this great linky on The Sits Girls: Blogtober Pinterest Link Up, this week’s linky. Just add your Pinterest link, then follow at least two other lovely ladies on this list. Or thirty two. {Like you need an excuse to spend a few more hours on Pinterest today….}
• AT&T: Join me at the Mobile Safety Twitter party on October 30 at 2p ET! The hashtag is #ATTMobileSafety, and you can RSVP today to join the fun! I did a webinar with them earlier this week, and seriously, they have some awesome info to help you keep your kids safe with their cell phones.
• Cloth Diaper Giveaway: Get a free link just for sharing the event sign up! Referral prize for the blogger who sends the most traffic. I haven’t done a cloth diaper giveaway in a long time – my readers love ’em, so I joined in!
• Mommy Solutions: Link up your mommy solutions each week on Crystal & Co in The Mommy Club linky. This is one of my all-time favorite linkys, and I get quite a bit of traffic when I link up here. {Plus, you’ll find SO much cool stuff to check out when you visit it. Seriously.}
• Handbag Heaven: Who doesn’t freakin’ love a new bag, am I right? So join in on this super fun giveaway – Handbag Heaven Giveaway Hop – and give your readers a chance to win some fab new accessories. It’s free to join, you have to find your own bag sponsor {it’s not until February, so you have plenty of time} – and Jen at Makobi Scribe will help promote it like crazy, which she rocks at!
• Giveaways: Link up all of your awesome giveaways – and find some new ones to enter! – on the Win It Wednesday giveaway linky from Koupon Krazed!

Browse all of the good stuff in past Bloggertunities posts, and check out my big Blogging & Social Media board on Pinterest for more tips too!

{Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. But all opps and leads listed are things that I trust, and have used myself. I only share what I love with ya’all! Photo Credit.}