[ day / night ]

This week has been exhausting. Work all day, rehearse all night, and somewhere in there I fit in teaching class and a dentist appointment. I’ve been driving to rehearsal, getting blasted with black light paint and then passing out on one of the big comfy couches in the theater while I wait for our scene.

Our latest show opens tomorrow night – an alien abduction, B movie-style production. We play the alien queen triumvirate and are debuting our new, custom-made apparatus. I’m so excited to share video with you guys – it is so cool! (For you Michigan peeps: It Came from Planet B at the Emerald Theater, 9pm, May 18, June 1 & 2)

This week also culminates with something I’ve been working toward for the past year…I officially quit my corporate day job to (literally) run away with the circus. Just had a meeting with my boss and while he wasn’t stoked to see me go, he was really happy for me. I have a whole post on how I was able to make it happen coming up soon. But for now I’m going to try and make it through the day without crying of happiness at my desk or letting out a maniacal laugh :D

If you write 20 percent of your posts on cake decorating, make sure the cake decorating category and your best Hunger Games-themed cake are easy to locate in your sidebar!

Here are six well organized sidebars from six of my favorite bloggers…

Allison features links to four series she regularly posts about with simple, bright buttons.

Katie uses post titles with photos that link to four recent posts. Not the most recent posts on her blog though, she picks four specific posts to be featured.

Becka lists the top three categories, which helps readers know exactly what her blog is about. She also has three photo buttons that link to blog features and important posts.

Virginie added eye-catching photos with titles for her most-used labels.

 Zoetica adds the most recent post from three categories (latest art, latest photo and latest outfit) with a photo and title.

Kathleen links to three regular series, posts from her trek to Everest, and info on her business all in the same style with a little description of each.

+ Choose only a few items to feature. Posts/categories/series that get the most traffic, searching engine hits, comments and shares, or posts that you just straight up LOVE.

+ Keep a consistent style. Categories, series and favorite posts could all look the same, but each with its own color.

+ If you don’t have automatically rotating content, update your sidebar on a regular basis. I try to tweak mine every two or three months.

< <  Last Post: Using your blog to promote your business + Next Post: Shooting a DIY project  > >

This weekend was stressful, muddy, silly, sleepy, relaxing, wet and FUN! Essentially all seven dwarves mixed into one. It started on Friday when I left work early to pack, pick up Jenna and drive the 2.5 hours north for a show (with troupe #2) at a home-grown electronic music festival. When we pulled up and the girl handing out laminates asked what she should write on ours I knew we were in trouble.

It turned out to be a very unorganized raver camp out. We set up the rig, not on the stage as was promised, but in front of it…in the MUD. We performed for a group of high/drunk/whoknowswhatelse kids who couldn’t have been over 22. And found out the next morning (after we’d paid for a hotel) that our second performance was canceled because they couldn’t pay us our full rate. I think most of us were pretty relieved to just go home after that wreck of a show.

Anny, Jenna and I took advantage of the day off to shop Eastern Market – I bought eggs, flowers for mom, hen & chicks, and a tiny basil plant for my herb garden. Then I spent the rest of the day on the couch, watching Weeds and napping with the pup.

At night Irina and I unloaded the rig and then walked a few blocks through the rain to dance our buns off with Cheryl for her 30th birthday. I figured it was the perfect occasion for a kooky side-bun and blue liner.

(Maybelline Color Tattoo shadow gets the dance party approval :)

Hello SillyGrrl friends, I’m Sandi, and I’m thrilled to be here today joining in for the 6 weeks to a Better Blog Series, thanks so much Sarah for having me. I’m a blogger and a handmade artist and I run a little shop called Benandi over on Etsy. I’m here today to share how I’ve used my blog to help promote my little shop.

Firstly, I never want to force or push people to buy my products; that’s just not me. If they do care to purchase something, I am so appreciative of their support. In a round about way I do however use my blog to help promote my shops. My blog is my creative space where I already share with the world what I’m up to or what inspires me on a daily basis, so featuring my products only makes sense. For me it’s more of a shameless promotion tool where I don’t feel the need to say “buy this” but more or less “hey this is what I’m up to, I hope you enjoy it, and if you want to know more you can find about it here”. There’s no hiding it that blogs are used as a tool in one way or another, but it’s truly how you use your space and what you chose to share which can make all the difference.

My biggest pieces of advice would be “Don’t abuse your blog!”. People (and myself included) hate seeing sites filled with “buy this, buy that” stamped all over the pages. It’s annoying and hard on your eyes to look at. From time to time if you do this in moderations it may fly but overdoing it will surely call for sour faces for everyone involved. People are so sweet and usually very supportive of your creative side and as long as you don’t make them feel pressured into always buying things.

Offering giveaways of your products though, this puts a smile on everyones face. We all love to win something, I know I do. Being able to offer items up for a giveaway, helps me to express to my readers that I am so appreciative of all their continued support and thank you so much for this. With free giveaways, in the end, everyone seems so much more happy. I love knowing someone wanted the item I was offering up. And it’s a great feeling knowing your work is appreciated and the winner is usually over ecstatic with their free goodies. Well I hope some of this advice helps you move forth in a positive manor with promoting your small business via your blog. Thanks, Good Luck & Happy Blogging. :)

Thanks for your advice Sandi!!

< <  Last Post: Susannah on promoting your shop online + Next Post: Blog design tip  > >

Hello everyone! I’m excited to share a few tips with you for Sarah’s 6 Weeks series, and I’d like to send a big thank you to her for including me! My name is Susannah, and I blog over at SusannahBean.com. I also have an Etsy shop where I sell crocheted accessories that I make in my free time. I’m a huge advocate of using your blog to promote your shop, so here are some awesome things I like about doing that!

One thing that’s awesome about using your blog to promote your shop is that it forges a personal connection between your readers (and potential customers) and you, the blogger (and seller). I personally enjoy knowing something about the person I’m buying from, I don’t like feeling like I’m buying from some faceless internet shop, and I’d rather know the seller’s name and a little bit of who they are. So if people find your blog first, they’ll get to know you on a personal level and will feel connected to you, which usually means you’ll be on the top of their list if they need what you sell. No one ever says “Hey! I need to buy such and such product, I’m gonna shop at internetdrone404′s shop!” No, they say “Hey! That rad blogger sells such and such, I like her and feel like supporting her craft!”

Another great thing about using your blog to promote your shop is that it gives you the opportunity to reach a wider audience than you would solely through Etsy. Say you’re doing a giveaway of one of your items from your shop. Your blog readers can enter, and maybe they blog about it or tweet a link to it, then more people will come check it out. Some of those people may not have heard of you before, or they may not have even known a product like yours existed! But by utilizing the ripple effect of the blogging world, you are giving more people the opportunity to fall in love with your product and become potential customers! You should also utilize the friendships you make with other bloggers. Have you encountered someone who might have a different audience than you? Politely ask them if they’d like to review one of your products! It never hurts to send away something for free if it could mean a new crop of customers who didn’t know about you before.

It can be tricky to not overwhelm your readers with shop announcements and the like. You don’t want your blog to become a billboard for your shop, because your readers will pick up on that in a millisecond and no one likes that. You wouldn’t want to only watch commercials on TV, right? But it’s cool if there’s a few during your fave show. Your blog should be the same way! Don’t flood your followers with shop stuff on your blog (or Twitter, Facebook, etc.). If you’re jazzed about a new design you came up with, or if you’re offering a coupon code, feel free to share it in moderation, but don’t go all “SALE!!! SALE!!! SALE!!!” on every social media site a hundred times a day. It can get annoying, and I personally avoid buying from people who do that!

I hope you can find something useful in my tips! I’ve really found that these things are helpful, and I learn something new about this little world every day! Be patient and personable, and it’ll make all the difference!

Thank you Susannah!

< <  Last Post: Adding a sponsorship program + Next Post: Sandi talks about promoting your shop > >

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 Today’s post is about a recent trend in the blog world. I’ve been writing online in some form or another since middle school (a very long time ago!) and only in the past few year have sponsors become something that bloggers strive to have. Today Kate is here from Scathingly Brilliant to talk about when to add sponsors and how to figure out pricing.

1. Make sure your prices are fair. Check other blogs with the same followers & traffic that you have to make sure you aren’t underselling them or overpricing.

2. Don’t start accepting sponsors until you have enough of a readership that your sponsors will actually benefit from the deal. I didn’t accept them until I had I think 500 followers and even then I felt uneasy charging any more than $5. If you want to have sponsors but don’t have a sufficient amount of readers to charge for it, offer trade space! The payment for an ad on your blog is that the other person puts your ad on their blog in exchange.

3. Keep a spreadsheet with all of your sponsor information in one place. It took me months to finally start doing this but it’s made a huge difference. I have columns for name, business/blog name, email address, URL, image URL (I keep all of my sponsor images on Photobucket), expiration date and size. I also have columns to check off whether they paid, whether they sent their ad, and whether I have the ad up and running. It makes the whole process run so much smoother for me now! And I just use Google docs, which is free and I love that I can access it from my home computer or my laptop :)

Thanks Kate! I second the recommendation on keeping a spreadsheet – Google docs makes it very easy to keep track of everything :)

< <  Last Post: Kyla on adding sponsors + Next Post: Using your blog to promote your business > >

I’m Kyla Roma, a twenty something web designer, friendly introvert, thrifting addict and vegetarian foodie. I’m the co-owner and managing director of Freckled Nest Design, and I blog weekly about my life, good food, and handmade that makes me swoon at KylaRoma.com.

Adding sponsors to your blog is a big trend online right now and if you want to jump in it can be hard to know where to start. I’ve had an advertising program on my blog for over two years (that I just decided to end) and in my work with Freckled Nest I’m part of the team that manages advertising for the successful parenting and handmade blogs, Smile and Wave and Prudent Baby. I also spent the last few years of my nine to five life in marketing and have managed six figure media buys in print, radio, television and online for national theatre tours and high profile bands.

And for the record, bloggers are way more fun to work for with than radio stations and musicians!

I’m here to share some of my tips and thoughts on adding sponsorship to your blog, and I would love to hear your thoughts, questions and experiences in the comments below!

What’s Right for You?

Before you add sponsorship to your blog, it’s important to take a step back and ask if it’s right for you. While sponsored blogs are a hot trend and might help your blog feel official, running a sponsorship program requires your time, energy and usually some basic graphic design skills for those sponsors without a perfectly sized ad.

As well, with sponsorship comes responsibility: you need to be committed to blogging frequently, should avoid topics that conflict with the interests of your sponsors, and will have to watch your statistics more carefully. That being said, if you have the time, a blog that aligns with small or medium businesses, and consistent high quality content, sponsorship could be a great move for you!

Choosing a Your Program & Being a Fair Blogger

It’s important to understand the trends in your corner of the internet, and with blogger run programs growing there are lots of options available to you. You could join a large program that matches you with sponsors based on your statistics and content, like Blog Her, Federated Media or Six Apart. For a more hands on approach, you can run your own program by accepting payment through Paypal or use a new hybrid service like PassionFruit. Most small bloggers are choosing the latter options because it lets them capture more profit than a traditional ad service. Woo Hoo! There’s nothing wrong with getting paid :)

What can be a problem is that because sponsorship is a trend and the deals happen behind closed doors, things aren’t always what they seem. Bloggers without the audience to naturally support a program will add excessive trades in slow months, and may only have a handful of paying participants. Without statistics and an engaged community it’s hard to get value for your advertising dollars- which is usually scarce for small business owners.

On the other side of the same coin, many companies have seen the impact of social media but created huge cookie cutter programs that don’t allow for individuality or personality. After seeing the same sponsor run the same promotion on dozens of blogs, it’s no wonder that readers get burned out on sponsored posts.

Both of these approaches give blog sponsorship a reputation for being tolerable at best and impersonal at worst- and it can lead to cynical readers who can’t wait for everyone’s end of the month sponsorship drives to pass. But for all our creativity, why not imagine ways that sponsorship could be impactful for businesses and fun for your readers?

Imagine Your Possibilities

Before you create a sidebar advertising program and blend in with the crowd, it’s worth considering if that’s the best way for you to work with sponsors in the first place. After all, your blog is a unique place filled with people who you’ve drawn in with your creativity and personality- why shouldn’t your sponsorship be tailor made too?

Consider these alternatives:

- What if you held an annual sponsorship drive to cover the cost of your hosting, domain name, and paid accounts associated with your blog to make your blog cost neutral? (This is what my program started out as!)

- What if your blog just had one featured sponsor per month, and they offered an exclusive giveaway that benefited your readers?

- What if you decided that you wanted to have featured handmade sellers or bloggers ever month that you hand picked and gifted ad space to?

- What if you had no sidebar ads but offered a newsletter that was specifically for people who wanted to get amazing discounts or free product from high quality sponsors you personally approve?

- What if you only had a product sponsor for important aspects of your content, like a fashion blogger working with one watch company for a year or a crafty blogger who has a dedicated fabric sponsor?

The right decision depends on why you’re exploring working with sponsors, but by thinking about your site as the unique space that it is you can create creating customized opportunities that sponsors will love and readers can look forward to.

By taking that extra time and care you’ll send out a strong message: that your audience can trust you, sponsors can count on you, and that your creativity & fabulousness extends way beyond your post ideas :)

Thank you Kyla for your insight and advice!

So now the question is, to add sponsors or not to add sponsors? If you already have a sponsorship program – how do you run things and is there anything you’d do differently after reading Kyla’s advice? Are any of you thinking of adding sponsors or, like me, are you opting out?

< <  Last Post: How to remove the Blogger navbar + Next Post: Kate shares her advice for adding sponsors  > >

one . two . three . four

One of the quickest, most simple ways to clean up your Blogger layout is to get rid of that ugly blue navbar at the top. It matches almost no one’s design and isn’t terribly functional. Here are two options for fixing that eyesore…

1. If you use the navbar on a regular basis, you can change the color. Click into the layout tab and then look for the little navbar edit link at the top. Choose a color that  matches your design. I like to make it transparent, so it goes with everything.

2. If you never use it, then you can remove the navbar all together. Click into the HTML editor under Template and paste the following code right above the variable definitions:

#navbar-iframe { display: none !important;}

Easy peasy!

< <  Last Post: Dealing with haters + Next Post: Setting up sponsors  > >