I'm a dot com!!

I am super excited to announce that I have gone DOT COM!

A few months ago I wrote a blog series about my experience called blogging for fun and profit. In order to make money blogging, you have to get your name out there. Sometimes that can be hard when you have to tell people the name of your blog is __________.blogspot.com. If you aren't a blogger, don't regularly read blogs, or don't read every URL when you click on a link - blogspot isn't always an easy thing to remember. I also read Mommy Snack's series Begin to Blog where she suggest to buy a domain name. I'm so glad I did that - first of all It was only $10.00 for a whole year through google - and it was super easy!

If you are a blogger - I highly recommend becoming a "dot com." If you aren't a blogger - please bookmark my new "dot com" address - www.savingsomegreen.com. If you are already a follower or have my blog bookmarked, my former address - www.savingsomegreen.blogspot.com will still take you here.

Now it is much easier to say - check out my blog saving some green DOT COM!
-Michelle

Makin' some dough...

I was super excited to open the mail today and find my very first commission check!!!!

This is a terrible picture, I know, but you get the point!

I have been blogging for just under a year now and belong to several affiliate programs, but my earnings have never reached the threshold to actually get paid...until now!

So my plan is to put it into my car fund (my sad little car fund) - this check for $50.06 will almost double it! Maybe I can buy a door handle with that... :).

Anyway, the point of this post is that you are probably NOT going to get rich using affiliate programs, but if you use several - your earnings may just add up to something. Here are the affiliate programs I use:

My Savings Media - this is the company that sent me the $50.06. I love being an affiliate with them. They provide HTML and links for me to post on my blog that show ads and provide FREEbies for my readers. You don't usually get commission if readers *click* on the link or ad, but usually they have to sign up for something like a FREE sample, a newsletter, a subscription, etc. You get a certain amount for each "lead." The threshold for payout for My Savings Media is $50.00 and you get it about two-ish months after you earned it - so the commission I received is because I reached my threshold in March. I highly recommend this affiliate program for bloggers! It is very easy to use and heck - it made me a few bucks too! Sign up here if you are interested.



Logical Media - this is very similar to My Savings Media...even down to the look of their websites and they sometimes even have the same offers. I just look to see which one has a larger payout if I am going to use a certain ad or offer (most of the time they are the same payout). The threshold is $100.00, which I reached in April so I will be receiving a check probably sometime in June. Logical Media also offers a "super affiliate" program where you can refer other bloggers with your link and you get 5% of their commissions - for life! You can also have as many as you want...so depending on referrals and your own commissions you have a great opportunity to earn some money. Sign up for Logical Media here.


I am also a user of Amazon.com affiliate program, the Coupons.com affiliate program, and Google Ads.


Even if you don't have a blog there are other ways to make some extra dough online. YouData - I am in love with YouData. Seriously, I sign in once a week, click on a few ads, and get some money in my PayPal account on Friday. It is so easy and I love that they pay right away. NO THRESHOLDS! I could go on and on about YouData. In fact, I already have :) - read my original post here. Basically you earn $.05-$.20 for every ad you read. Based on your profile, ads are made available for you to view. View it, it accumulates all week then they deposit what you have earned into your PayPal account. You can also refer others to sing up for YouData and earn $.01 for every ad they view up to 100. Sign up for YouData here using my link, then tell all your friends and start earning some cash. Again, you aren't going to get rich...but every little bit helps. Just think, if you refer 1,000 people, you could potentially make $1,000 off of them! Now that would put a dent in my car savings!

Then there is my favorite...

Swagbucks - This is a search engine (like Google) where you can earn "bucks" for your searches. Reach 45 "Swagbucks" and get a $5.00 Amazon.com gift card. That takes about a month. Get your friends to sign up and you get rewarded with a Swagbuck for every Swagbuck they earn up to 100. Right now I have 10 friends who signed up under me and are regular Swagbucks users. With my searches and their searches, I earn about 45 Swagbucks per week instead of 45 per month. So I earn a $5.00 Amazon gift card every week! Read more details and see how I use my Swagbucks - click here. And...pretty please...if I convinced you to sign up for Swagbucks...please click here and sign up then get your own referral link and share it with all your friends. You WILL NOT be disappointed!

What are you waiting for? Go start making a few bucks - and let it add up!

I know this can be a lot of information all at once, especially if you are not familiar with affiliate programs and/or you are new to blogging. I'd be happy to help explain the programs further and the benefits. Please feel free to e-mail me - saving some green @ gmail . com! I'd love to help!

-Michelle

Starting Your Own Blog

Maybe one of your New Year's resolutions is to start your own blog. That's a great one! Trust me, you'll love it. I have had so much fun sharing my ideas, "meeting" new people, and learning from others blogs.

How do you get started?

Here are just a few tips to get started on your own blog:

1. Find a topic for your blog. It can be anything you enjoy - cooking, sewing, crafts, politics, family - it is your blog!


2. Design your blog. Use one of the blogger templates, or do a Swagbucks search for FREE blog templates, there are tons of them out there.


3. Make a decision about how often you want to post - daily, weekly, twice a week - it is up to you. I have found that the more often I post, the more readers that I have.


4. Set aside time to write your posts. I usually write several posts at once and set them up to post at a later date, so if I have a ton of ideas all at once, I can spread them out over time on my blog.


5. Decide if you want to try to make a little bit of money while blogging. Read my post here about making money blogging.


6. Have fun! Don't get to serious about your blog or let it become stressful or a source of frustration, this is supposed to be fun!

Once you have started your blog, read my post here about increasing your traffic! Good luck, have fun, and e-mail me if you need any help!

200th Post!

Hey everyone! It is my 200th post! Woo hoo! I can't believe I have posted so much, yet I still have so many ideas brimming that I want to share. This blogging thing has been so much fun for me. I have learned so much from all of your e-mails and comments. Please keep them coming!

I would love for you to take this opportunity to share some of your thoughts and insights about how I can make Saving Some Green better for you and keep you coming back!:

What would you like to see more of on Saving Some Green?

What are the features/articles that you have enjoyed the most?

Are there any posts that you don't agree with (share why! I can take it!)?

15000th Visitor!!

I can't believe I have had 15,000 hits on Saving Some Green! Yay! Thanks so much to everyone who reads, comments, and shares. I appreciate the opportunity and have enjoyed the camraderie!

After my 9,000th visit just over a month ago I wrote a series I called "Blogging for Fun and Profit" to share some ways that you can increase your blog traffic, find time to blog, and how to make a little bit of money.

For me, blogging has been a great way to have a creative outlet now that I have decreased my hours at work from full-time to part-time. I love to share my ideas and have been thrilled to meet some e-friends in the process. I love to help others begin or improve their frugal lifestyle - and I love all the ideas about how to improve mine!

If you are considering starting a blog, I highly recommend it. It is fun and blogger is FREE to use, so you have nothing to lose!

Once you start, read these posts to help get your blog off the ground:

Increasing your Blog Traffic

Finding Time to Blog

Making Money Blogging


I know that once you get started, you will get addicted as I did! Good luck, and feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions or ideas!

Making Money Blogging

I have shared some posts over the last few weeks about how to make your blog a success.

Read about increasing your blog traffic here.

Read about finding the time to blog here.

Blogging for me has just been a fun outlet for sharing my successes and failures and helping others find deals. I am not doing it to make money, but there are some ways that you can make some money while blogging. You will not likely get rich from these sources, but the more people reading your blog, the more opportunity that you have to make a few bucks! Here are some of the ways I make money with Saving Some Green.

1. Logical Media - I love this affiliate program. When you sign up for Logical Media (and are approved) you can choose from many different ads to add to your blog. I prefer to stick to the FREE samples and things I really believe in. When people sign up for something you advertise, you get a few cents up to a few dollars. What's more, if you get others to sign up for Logical Media (hint, hint) you get 5% of the commission from those who sign up! That can really add up. Once you reach $100.00 in commission, you will receive a check. I have not reached $100 yet, but I am looking forward to it! Sign up for Logical Media here.

2. My Savings Media - this is basically the same as Logical Media, and even has some of the same offers. I have been happy with them as well. Sign up for My Savings Media here.

You can also use your blog as a way to share great services where you get rewarded for telling a friend:

Ebates - Ebates is a website where you go when you want to shop online. If you go there first and choose a store you can get a percentage of your purchase back. Once you reach $5.00, Ebates will credit your paypal account. If you sign up you get $5.00, if you refer a friend and they sign up you get $5.00 when they make their first purchase. This is an amazing way to potentially make a lot of money. The trick is, the sign up bonus and referral bonus isn't included in the $5.00 minimum, so you do have to make several purchases before you can get paid out on your bonuses. To sign up for Ebates, click here.

Swagbucks - Swagbucks is a search engine like Google or Ask.com. You can randomly receive Swagbucks for searching the web. You can redeem Swagbucks for some great prizes. Read my prior post here. Another cool feature I wasn't aware of is that when someone signs up with your referral link, you receive all the Swagbucks they receive up to the first 100 Swagbucks. They can add up quickly. I am hoping for a $20.00 Target Gift Card which is 220 Swagbucks - so it isn't impossible to reach the threshold. Sign up for Swagbucks here.

Inbox Dollars - this is a service where you get paid $.02 to read e-mails and $.50 for surveys and more if you sign up for the services they are advertising in the e-mails. Some of these are good things and some are not. You have to reach $30.00 before you can "cash out," so it can take awhile at $.02 per e-mail! You get a $5.00 bonus for signing up, so that will get you closer to the $30.00. If you refer a friend, you get a 10% from the offers they sign up for (not the e-mails or paid surveys). Sign up for Inbox Dollars here.

Send Earnings - this is exactly the same as Inbox Dollars - their websites even look exactly alike. All the same rules apply. Sign up for Send Earnings here.

The important thing to remember about earning money blogging is that you aren't going to get rich quick! Blog because you like it and keep at it for awhile. Your reader base can only grow, the more your grow, the more opportunities that you have to share the offers that will help you earn a little here and a little there on your blog.

I have been at this for about 3 1/2 months, so I am no expert. I haven't made enough to even earn a payout! I can see, though, how the income can slowly build. With all of these sites, you can see how much you have earned so far and see what has been the most successful. Don't give up!

10,000th visit!

I LOVE YOU GUYS!

I have 10,000 hits on my blog!

Do you have a blog? Do you want to get more traffic? Check out my post here about increasing your blog traffic.

I am a busy mom with a part time job outside the home and a full time job inside the home (my husband and kids), so how to I find time to blog? I'd like to share a few ways that I have found to fit my blogging into my schedule.

1. Blog during your kid's naptime (if they have one). This is my quiet time to unwind. My house is small, so it only take about an hour to clean the whole thing. My kids take a 3 hour afternoon nap. Ahhhh!


2. Write several posts and set them up to post at a later date/time. I love this feature of blogger. I like to have at least one post per day, but on the days that I work I am gone from 8:30-5:30 and when I get home, my family is a priority. On the days I don't work, I write several posts and using "Post Options" at the bottom of the posting page in blogger, I set a time that I want my item to post. Again, LOVE this feature!


3. Make notes/write posts on a notebook that you keep with you (in your purse, diaperbag, back pocket, etc.). Do this while you are in the waiting room at the doctor's office, waiting to pick up your kids from school or soccer, or at night before you go to bed, etc. This is assuming that you don't have your kids with you at the doctor's office!


4. Get up early/Stay up late to blog. This is up to you and/or may not work for you. I usually stay up late. I am a night owl and I don't seem to need much sleep!

These are just a few ideas...how about my fellow blogging buddies? Any other great ideas?

Stay tuned for a future post about making money blogging!

Increasing Traffic on your Blog

In honor of the 9,000th visitor to Saving Some Green today (woo hoo!), I decided to share some ideas with my fellow newbie bloggers about how to get visits your blog. While this blogging thing is mainly just a fun outlet for me, there is a bit of money to be made with it (notice the ads in the margins)! Chances are you won't get rich, but it helps to actually have people visiting your blog. The networking part of blogging is so fun too!

Getting visits to your blog isn't like Field of Dreams (if you build it they will come) (am I showing my age here?). It's more like my version - if you build it and share it they will come! Here are just a few of the things I do/have done to increase my blog traffic:

Tell your friends! Tell everyone you know about your blog. They will look at it out of obligation, but will hopefully stay because they like to read it. If they really like it they will tell their friends, who will tell their friends, etc., etc., etc!

Leave comments on other blogs! Don't lurk! Make yourself known. Chances are the readers of the other blog and the blog owner will check out your profile, then check out your blog. If they like it, they will visit again - maybe bookmark it - maybe subscribe. You never know!

Participate in other blog's Mr. Linky post events. This is where another blog hosts a weekly event such as The Centsible Sawyer's Drugstore Divas where they post something then offer readers to post something similar IF they leave a link on their blog back to the original event post. This is a win-win for both the host and the blogger. I regularly participate in The Grocery Cart Challenge's Recipe Swap and Rocks in my Dryer's Works for me Wednesday.

Host a giveaway! Everyone loves FREE stuff and everyone loves winning stuff. Why not host a giveaway on your blog? Money Saving Mom has a weekly post called Giveaways Galore where you can post a giveaway. She has a lot of regular readers (myself included!) and they all love a giveaway (myself included!). There are other blogs out there that also host giveaway Mr. Linky's. One thing that has also been successful for me is to offer a 2nd entry in the giveaway if the person posts about my giveaway on their blog - this ensures traffic from their readers as well.

I'm sure there are many more things that you can do to increase the traffic on your blog, but these are the things that have really helped me since I started Saving Some Green at the end of July. The important thing is to do what works for you!

Look for some upcoming posts about how to earn some money while blogging and how to find time for blogging in your busy schedule!