Blogging Resource

Your Blogging Business: Tax Time Tips are Here!

Blogging + Taxes = Confusion!

I know that when I started blogging last year – {can you believe it’s been almost a year already that I’ve had this site? Craaaazy….} – I didn’t realize all of the things that I should be keeping records of. I tracked my income {which of course wasn’t much at first} and I have a kind-of/sort-of list of the products I reviewed. I kept a list of some of my expenses, but don’t have receipts for so many other things because I had no idea I could write them off on my taxes! I’ve always done my own taxes, but was getting a little bit nervous this year, and contemplating seeing a professional {meaning = expensive} tax helper. Well, if you’ve been stressing over taxes too, this book can totally come to your rescue!

Who should NOT buy this book

This book can’t answer every tax question – there are so many different pieces, that sometimes you really do need expert advice. So if you made a ton of money from your blog, or if you paid employees to help you, or if you have a really unique question or problem – You might still need to talk to a pro. And if you made less than $400, your taxes are really pretty simple, and you may not need any extra help at all.

Who WILL be helped by this book

All the rest of us! Lol – But seriously. This book covers all of the core things that you need to know, in a fun, totally easy to read way. From how to track your expenses all year, to what can be written off at tax time – She can help you learn to maximize all of those business deductions that we’re entitled to get. And she has tons of great ideas to help you keep your info organized during the coming year – so that next tax season is a breeze!

Want to check it out too?

Click here to visit Your Blogging Business

The ebook is called Your Blogging Business – Tax Talk and Tips from a Bookkeeper turned Blogger. It’s only $4.99 for the book – and I tell ya, it’s well worth the few bucks!!

Posted by Meagan Paullin on February 17, 2012 Filed Under: Blogging Resources, Blogging Tools | 6 Comments

Weekly Bloggertunities – 2/16

New Weekly Blogging Opportunities

New weekly round-up of opportunities for bloggers – Fun events and linkys to join, review opps, sponsored post companies to partner with, and more. If you have any great events that are open for sign ups, be sure to leave a link in the comments! And feel free to share this post in any of your own networks or groups too – The more we support each other, the more successful all of our blogs will be!

Writing Jobs

Women’s Website: Freelance bloggers needed to write content for a women in business focused magazine. Pay runs from $15-$100, based on quality, experience, and length of article. Apply here – Freelance Bloggers Wanted.
Examiner: Choose a local topic that you are an expert in – I’m the Frugal Living Examiner in my city – and apply to be a writer for Examiner.com with your very own column. It’s a great way to connect with local businesses, and you can earn a steady income from a successful column too!

Reviews & Giveaways

Bright Starts: Calling all thrifty mom bloggers! Do you have an infant and want to review our newest value gear collection? Email brightstarts@kidsii.com. You can also see and respond to tweet if interested.
Social Moms: Recruiting for African American and Hispanic/Latina bloggers. If this is you, or you have someone you’d like to refer – Fill out the form to be considered for new fun campaigns!
Brad’s Deals: Sign up for new blogging and review opportunities with Brad’s Deals. It requires you to enter full referral info – If you’d like to use mine, it’s Meagan Paullin, sunshineandsippycups@gmail.com… Website I think you can figure out on your own, lol.
Shaklee: Sign up to be a part of their blogger product review team – You have to commit to their privacy standards, but those are easy and things you should be doing anyway. Great products!
Mompact: I’m still looking for some really great new bloggers to join our review team at Mompact.com! Check out the products – and if you think that your blog would be a good fit, email me {Meagan at sunshineandsippycups@gmail.com} to let me know a little about you and your site, and why you would like to partner with us. All products are mom-invented, and we would love to add some really professional bloggers to our team!

Great Tips & Resources

Improve Your Blog: This is my new favorite article, and I’ve been referring to it all week – 103 Ways to Improve Your Blog in 15 Minutes or Less – All easy peasy updates you can do. Love it.
Link Medic: This is a huge list of 120 links to free blogging resources. From keyword tools to Twitter tools, it’s got some amazing info.
Pinterest: Check out my Blogging Tips board on Pinterest for tons of great stuff – All of the articles I find that I think are super helpful. Do you have a blogging board on Pinterest too? Leave me a link and I’d love to follow you!

Events to Join

Stumble Tumble Tuesday: Join us each week, link up your favorite post, and learn how Stumble Upon helps drive traffic for bloggers.
Click, Color, Capture: Another fun weekly link up – Learn new photography tips and share your own favorite photo in each weeks color theme!
Reviewer’s Retreat: I am SO excited to hear that so many of my bloggy friends are going to be at this event – If you haven’t bought tickets yet, learn more about this awesome conference for review bloggers and get yours today!

Build a Better Blog

I hope that some of these tips, resources, and sites help you find some great new opportunities to grow your blog, improve your traffic, and earn an income! If you have any favorite tips or opps that you’ve come across this week – Please feel free to share in the comments below!

Posted by Meagan Paullin on February 16, 2012 Filed Under: Blogging Resources, Weekly Opp's | 8 Comments

Improve Photography Skills, Share Your Best Pics: Color, Click, Capture Challenge!

This Week’s Color is Yellow

Welcome to Week 3 of the Color, Click, Capture photography challenge hosted by East9thStreet, A Helicopter Mom, Nap Time Is My Time and Sunshine and Sippy Cups. This week our color is YELLOW! Yellow reminds me of sunshine – so this week is my favorite so far! The photo below is from the garden at my old house – I love the way the lighting is so incredibly bright and cheerful! I sometimes miss that garden – But we’re working on the one here at the new house, and in a couple of years it will be just as pretty as our old one.

This Weeks Photography Tip

This week’s photography tip is from Faith Massey. Faith owns and operate Images by Faith Portrait Art, a boutique studio nestled in the Lake Norman area, just outside Charlotte, NC. Her passion for art started early and she explored many different mediums but found her true love in photography after having my first child in 1994. After moving from California in 2004 she opened her studio in Huntersville. As a mother of 5 beautiful children, she is very comfortable working with babies and new parents alike. Her style has been described as natural, refined and unpretentious and she loves to highlight every sweet detail of children,using primarily natural light to capture the soft sweet beauty found in children.

When photographing small children, get out from behind the camera….

Children, particularly young children, react to your facial expressions. If they can’t see your face, they are less likely to make eye contact with the camera or have the expressions you are looking for. Try to engage with the child and move the camera up quickly, take your shot and then move it again quickly so you keep your subjects engaged.

Want to Join the Challenge?

Want to participate in our challenge? It’s super easy! Here’s how It Works:

Take a picture the represents the color of the week.
Write a blog post that features your picture and link it up.
Visit other people’s posts and hopefully find some inspiration!
You can put the button and link code on your blog if you wish but it’s not a requirement.

Our color for next week is GREEN! – So get started taking some new photos this week, so you’re ready to share your best next Wednesday!

Join the Party – Share your best Yellow photo

Linky code –

Posted by Meagan Paullin on February 16, 2012 Filed Under: Blogging Resources, Blog Hops | 3 Comments

Weekly Bloggertunities – 2/8

“If you want to accomplish anything in life, you can’t sit back and hope it will happen. You’ve got to make it happen.” – Chuck Norris

Yes, I really did just start this post with a quote from Chuck Norris, lol. I totally agree with this thinking – Do you ever sit and think, “Why don’t I get more sponsored post opportunities? Why don’t I get more traffic? Why don’t I… {insert whatever complaint you currently have about your blog here}” – Well, no one ever got ahead by sitting still, right? I’ve worked my tush off over the course of this past year to build my site – I’ve done a million free guest posts, I’ve worked for really low pay, and I spend hours reading and learning about social media, blogging tips, technology and coding – There’s always something new to learn. So – If you want to grow your blog, visit successful blogs that you would like your site to be more like – and make a list of what they’re doing right. Don’t copy – But learn. If you don’t have any sponsored posts or reviews – Start writing anyway. Write guest posts. Start an Examiner.com column {see mine here – Yakima Frugal Living Examiner}. Post about your own favorite products, sites, and services – then send a link to that company letting them know. The more you get yourself out there, the more opportunities will start flowing your way!

Weekly Bloggertunities

There aren’t that many paid opps this week, but I linked up to some other resources that I’ve found helpful. And as always – If you have an event coming up that’s open for sign ups, a cool opp or blogging network, or anything you’ve found helpful this week – share it in the comments!

Giving Back

Project Earth Day: If you’re a community do-gooder – and if you are, big high-five! – you can apply for a $1,000 grant to help you ramp up the great things you’re doing, or start a super cool new project! Get details and apply – Project Earth Day.
Social Good Moms: This is a wonderful new group to join – Help spread the word about amazing campaigns from the best non profits and charitable groups. Learn more here – Mom Bloggers for Social Good.

Free Business Booster Resources

Timeline Facebook Cards: These are the coolest business cards – Check out all of the cool examples turning your Facebook Timeline into business cards – And go here to get a set for free, you just pay shipping. Super fun.
Tax Tips: This article is filled with some really helpful and easy to understand info on how bloggers can manage their taxes, with links to other really great resources. Tax Tips for Bloggers.
Work at Home Tips: A great post with tips on how to work from home – How Mompreneurs Can Get Work Done with Kids at Home.
Blogger LinkUp: Get guest posts, offer guest posts, connect with sources for interviews, and more. Very cool, and I’m really liking it so far – Join Blogger LinkUp.
Mom Central: Sign up to get their Trend Report and Weekly Insights Round-Up of great info on marketing, trends, and social media in the mom space.

Non-Giveaway Events to Join

Photography: Learn a new tip each week to help you improve your photo skills, and then link up your favorite picture in that weeks color. It’s a fun way to learn some new tips and techniques, while showing off your great photos.
StumbleUpon: Want to learn how to use StumbleUpon for your blog, and benefit from the {sometimes uh-MAY-zing!} increases in traffic that it can bring? Join our weekly Stumble Tumble Tuesday link up!
Pinterest: Link up a favorite “Pin-able” post, and then browse and pin from the other fun posts too! Find pretty new things, meet new bloggy friends, and see more traffic from YOUR pics that get pinned too! Pinterest Blogger Linky.

Giveaway Events to Join

Spring Fever Event: This sounds like a very cool giveaway event… Only a limited number of bloggers will be accepted, to ensure a great event. You can find details and sign up here – Spring Fever Blogger Giveaway Event.
The Great Swag Swap: This is a really fun idea – If you have a ton of extra “swag” around – Giveaway items you’ve won and never opened, extra promo goodies, whatever – Join The Great Swag Swap Giveaway event! Get the details and sign up info on her post.

Writing & Social Media

She Speaks: They are looking for a Marketing Intern, for their New York office. If you have the skills needed, and are located near them, you can apply here –She Speaks is Hiring!

Product Review Opportunity

We’re looking for some awesome new mom bloggers to join our Mompact team. You’re blog needs to be professional – Pretty layout, good spelling and grammar, and focused on great content for moms. If this describes you, check out the great mom-invented products on Mompact.com to see if they’re a good fit for you and your site. These are not paid reviews – but you’ll get to try out and keep some of the best products invented by other moms. If you’re interested, send me an email letting me know a little bit about your site and why you’d be a good fit – Meagan, at sunshineandsippycups@gmail.com.

Help a Blogger Out!

We’ve all been there – You have a chance at a super-duper amazing opportunity, but it’s based on comments/clicks/votes/etc, and you’re struggling to get your numbers up, since you hate to keep bugging your same friends and fans each day. Well, here’s your chance to get some good blogging-karma by helping out Tiffany over at Sweet Phenomena! She is in a campaign where the blogger with the MOST giveaway entries will WIN a sponsorship to Blissdom! It’s so easy to help – Just enter her great giveaway! You get a chance to win prizes, and you’re helping her have a chance at a great prize too. Enter here – Supplementing Your Way to Great Health Giveaway.

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” – Colin Powell

Posted by Meagan Paullin on February 10, 2012 Filed Under: Blogging Resources, Weekly Opp's | 4 Comments

Click, Color, Capture Photo Challenge: Week 2 – Orange

CLICK, COLOR, CAPTURE PHOTO CHALLENGE!

Welcome to Week 1 of the Color, Click, Capture photography challenge hosted byEast9thStreet, A Helicopter Mom, Nap Time Is My Time and Sunshine and Sippy Cups! Our color this week is Orange – And here’s my favorite Orange photo…

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” – Lao Tzu

We moved into our new home in November of 2010 – leaving behind a beautifully landscaped home. My mother spent most afternoons at this new home working on building a new garden – She is a completely amazing Master Gardner. This is one of her beauties, taken at the end of the summer. I love the way that the light shines through the petals – Makes me feel warmer and brighter just looking at it. Oh, how I’m longing for summer to come back again!

This Week’s Photo Tip

Emily Anderson of Emily Anderson Photography has been photographing children and families in the Northeast Arkansas area for several years. She has the patience of a Saint and an impeccable ability to capture the most innocent moments.

When photographing children, have realistic expectations. If your 2 year old can’t sit still to watch his or her favorite 15-minute television show, a 40-minute session with props and specific poses is probably out of the question. (Even for a professional this can be hard to accept when it involves my own children. J ) Arrange to have another person there to chase a runaway toddler, wipe noses, and pull dresses down to cover diapers. Pick a time that the kids are usually at their best. I find that in the morning, right after breakfast is a great time for most kids. Have everything ready and easily accessible. You don’t want to have to go searching for a specific toy or book when you are 10 minutes in to their 20 minute attention span. If the kids are going to working on a project, think about what angle you will be photographing from when you set up the workspace. Take a few test shots of the area as you set up. Keep it fun, and never underestimate the power of candy or gummy fruit snacks.

Now – It’s YOUR turn to join the fun!

Each week we’ll feature a new color, and link up our favorite photos in that color. Whether your a pro at photography, or a total beginner – I’d love to have you join the fun! We’ll have a new photo tip each week, so we can all work on improving our photo skills together. So – Write up a quick blog post featuring your own favorite color, tell your readers about the Color, Click, Capture challenge, and link up with us!

Link Up Your Orange Photo for the Color, Click, Capture Photo Challenge

Posted by Meagan Paullin on February 8, 2012 Filed Under: Blog Hops | 4 Comments

Stumble Tumble Tuesday – 2/7 – #BloggingTips

Stumble Tumble Tuesday

This fun weekly event is hosted by Acting Balanced, Sunshine and Sippy Cups and Wyoming Girl Turned Coastie Wife! The goal of this hop is to use Stumble Upon to help you promote your blog posts and get more traffic. It’s fun, it’s a big boost to your best posts, and you can find new great friends to follow too!

Even if you think you are stumbling correctly, please read this post on how to check and see if your stumble was successful. Some stumbles aren’t showing up, thanks!

TO TAKE PART IS SIMPLE

Add a link to a blog post that you would like people to stumble to the linky below. It *must* be a link to an actual post and NOT your main site. Please do not list giveaways.
Stumble as many other posts as you care to, check to make sure that your stumble went through by clicking on the “Info” icon. If you’d like to, you can leave a comment on their post saying something like, “I’m stopping by from Stumble Tumble Tuesday and just stumbled you – great post! My post is _____(add link)”. That makes it easier for them to return the love! The great thing about Stumble Upon is that it is fast and easy to do with the Stumble Upon toolbar.
PLEASE DO NOT ADD YOUR LINK IF YOU AREN’T GOING TO STUMBLE ANY POSTS.
Remember, link directly to the actual post, not your home page.
PLEASE – Don’t list any giveaways. StumbleUpon is for Evergreen posts.
PLEASE – Only one link per blog.

Feel free to post about Stumble Tumble Tuesday on your blog and help us spread the word – The more people are stumbling, the more traffic we’ll all get, and, hey – the more, the merrier, right?

HAVE FUN WITH IT AND LET’S DISCOVER AND STUMBLE SOME POSTS!

The first person to “like” a post on StumbleUpon assigns it a category. If your post has not been discovered yet, please leave the category you would like, in your link to help the discoverer assign it correctly. Example: Strawberry Shortcake Recipe (food).

If you have ANY questions on how this works – remember to read the post above, which covers some great basics. If that doesn’t answer it, leave me a comment here or on my Facebook wall – and I’ll get back to your right away. StumbleUpon can be an uh-MAY-zing new way to increase traffic to your site – and this is a fun way to use it!

STUMBLE TUMBLE TUESDAY LINKY

Posted by Meagan Paullin on February 8, 2012 Filed Under: Blog Hops | No Comments

Weekly Bloggertunities – 2/1

New Weekly Blogging Opportunities

I’ve had {another!} crazy week around here. My dad had emergency surgery, my dog went to the vet for surgery too, and I’ve had a million out-of-the-house appointments. But like I always say – Better too busy than too slow! I haven’t come across too many specific opps this week, so I’m sharing some great sites, resources, and networks that I use to find fun opportunities and earn my own income. I hope they’re helpful! And as always – If you have a fun event that’s open for sign-ups, or know of a great opp to share, please leave a comment with the info!

If you’re a brand that would like to reach more bloggers, please email Meagan at sunshineandsippycups@gmail.com to have your campaign shared in next weeks post!

Writing Jobs & Sponsored Posts

Blogger Link Up: Sign up for an account, to connect with writers and PR reps, find guest posting opps, and more. Blogger Link Up Sign Up.
Constant Content: I find a lot of great opps on here. Sign up for the newsletter, and they’ll send you a list of new things to apply for each week. The topics have a huge range, and the pay runs from $20 bucks for a short post, up to $200 for longer articles. Writing Job Sign Up.
Sponsored Posts: One of my favorite sites is doing very limited recruiting – Collective Bias is searching for African American bloggers from the Charlotte, NC are. They are also recruiting bloggers in Mexico, specifically Guadalajara and Mexico City. If you fit either of these, email me at sunshineandsippycups@gmail.com, and I can send over your info!
Examiner: Get your own column, and get paid to post local content. {See mine – Yakima Frugal Living Examiner}. Get started by applying to be an Examiner today.

Blogger Newsletters

Mommy PR: She sends out a great email newsletter with new opps that you don’t want to miss! Visit Mommy PR, and click on the Blogger Connections tab in her navigation bar to sign up.
Eli Rose: Great weekly newsletter with tips on blogging and social media. You can also get a free template to build your own Media Kit, or a pitch letter template, by emailing them. Find that info here – Free Blogger Media Kit & PitchTemplates.

Events to Join

KitchenAid Mixer Giveaway: 30-35 bloggers can join this big event – should be super popular! Sign up here.
Birthday Bash Giveaway: You can join by paying a cash fee, or by having your own giveaway item. Additional links can be purchased too! Find details and sign up here.
Netbook Giveaway: Event starts February 15th, and they’ll be giving away a Netbook PC and accessories. Find details and sign up form here.
Kindle Fire Giveaway: There are 3 different levels you can join, to get your blog maximum exposure! Sign up here.
Extreme Cash Giveaway: This was a big success last time – and February’s event should be awesome too! $1 admin fee, $2 per link you want to add! Learn more and Sign Up Here.

Fun Blogging Linkys

Stumble Tumble Tuesday: Each week we link up our favorite posts to Stumble – This can be an amazing way to drive new traffic to your site. Just make sure to write content your readers will love – Don’t write posts just for StumbleUpon. Join the party here!
Click, Color, Capture: This is a brand new event – Each week will feature a different color, plus some helpful photography tips. Take a great pic that captures that color, share it in a post, and link it up with us! This week is Red, and you can join the Photography Challenge Here!

My Favorite Affiliates:

Social Spark: The longer I’ve worked with them, the better opportunities I have been getting! It takes a little bit for each post to credit to your account – But once it does, and you hit $50 – when you cash out to PayPal it credits there right away! Love that. Social Spark Sign Up.
Escalate Media: Another of my favorites. Great support staff, easy to use, quick payouts. Join Escalate Media.
Integrate: Love this site! I really love the way that they track offers – I seem to get more accurate results with them. Integrate Sign Up. Already signed up, but having trouble getting started? Read – How To Get Started with Integrate.com.

Recent Favorite Resource:

ProBloggers 31 Days to Build a Better Blog: This is the most helpful book I’ve had in a long time! Click here to view more details.

Wrapping it up

I hope that some of these sites, resources, and networks can help YOU grow your blog, reach your goals, and find more success as a blogger! Remember – Feel free to share this post with your own bloggy buddies and networks. And please add your fun event sign ups or other opps in the comments! Thanks for reading – I hope you’re all having a great start to a new month!