8 Reasons Bloggers Need to Make Friends With Google Analytics

As a blogger, I thrive on the creative aspect of things – creating awesome content and coming up with new ideas.

While I make use of more technical things like Google Analytics sometimes, it has definitely not been a top priority of mine.

I figured if I kept creating awesome content and faithfully shared to social media, I would be fine and my site would keep growing.  I figured I was doing all I reasonably could and that the biggest results of my traffic were kind of up to fate.

I never realized the amazing power I held to control my results to a much greater extent!

That power was found inside of Google Analytics.  For so long I've thought I was doing pretty well by checking which posts did well at this time last year and re-sharing them.  Or checking which Pinterest pins were bringing me the most traffic and re-pinning them regularly.

But there was so much more than that.

I just got this new book called “Skyrocket Your Blog's Pageviews with Google Analytics” and I have been voraciously reading and implementing all of the advice.  My mind has been blown with how many treasures I was overlooking within Google Analytics.

For instance, just in a few short days of putting into practice the things I've learned, I came up with 8 ways I've benefited from making better friends with Google Analytics:

1. Increase new visitors

I'm finding clever yet authentic ways to target new audiences that I have not been able to harness.

I'm also finding out how to increase the audience demographic that I already have.

2. Keep visitors on site longer

I am no longer guessing which content I should be featuring to entice visitors to read more.  I know exactly which content they want to see.

3. Know where to spend advertising dollars

Again, I don't have to guess here.  I already know which sources are sending me quality traffic and I can invest into what is already working.

4. Increase affiliate earnings

Instead of simply including affiliate links in my posts (which is a good idea, by the way), I can tell exactly which topics will perform well and that I need to get busy creating an affiliate post for.

5. Increase SEO

I never realized that a big part of my SEO strategy was hiding in plain sight in Google Analytics.  I'm on it now.

6. Improve Social Media Strategy

I can tell what to post on social media and when to post it.  No more struggling to guess which of my posts I should share at a given time.

7. Provide new content ideas

I can see what content people are already liking a lot or what they're hoping to find that's not there.  This provides me with an endless supply of content ideas that are guaranteed to work.

8. Find potential blogging buddies and tribemates

I can see which other bloggers' content meshes with mine and take notice of which sites traffic flows smoothly to and from.  These blogs are the perfect candidates for recruiting as tribemates.

I wish I could just tell you everything I've learned, but that wouldn't be fair to the ladies who wrote the book.  They've done the dirty work to really dig hard and mine for the hard-to-find treasures within Google Analytics.

And what I love most is that the book is broken down into small bite-sized challenges so that you can just focus on learning one small thing at a time.  There are 33 challenges total that will walk you through all the nitty-gritty details of Google Analytics and then offer brilliant strategies on what to do with the information you've found.

At $14.99, it's a steal in my opinion.  I have already had fantastic results and I have not even had a chance to work at it much.

My pageviews, unique visitors, and time on site are all increasing, and my bounce rate is decreasing.  And based on which posts are improving and where the traffic is coming from, I can tell this is a direct result of strategies that were shared in the book.

If you want someone to walk you step-by-step through the process of becoming best buds with Google Analytics, you can grab the eBook below.

Click here for lots more information on how to make money blogging!

How Can I Be Successful at Affiliate Marketing When My Audience is Small?

The first step to affiliate marketing is to have a product to promote.

But after that you need an to whom you are going to promote that product.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking. “I don't have an audience! My blog is tiny right now! Don't I need to concentrate on growing my blog before I can make money with it?”

I agree that you need to work on growing your blog, but I disagree that you do not have an audience. Bigger does not necessarily mean better. Would you rather have 10 followers who are truly interested in everything you say or 1000 followers who are just there because they entered a random giveaway, signed up for a freebie, or accidentally clicked the like button on your Facebook page? Having 10 people who know you and care about what you have to say can be just as profitable as having 1000 who don't even know how they got on your email list.

If you have 1 follower, make that relationship worthwhile to that person and you will find that they will be more than willing to buy through your links when you offer a helpful resource.

(Likewise, if you have a million followers, strive to view each person as an individual with needs that you can help meet rather than just as a random mass of people.)

Your audience is not limited to just your blog either. Here are some other places you can find your audience:

1. Your personal Facebook account

Please, please don't be the person who posts 10 times a day about whatever miracle product, oil, makeup, nails, etc. that has changed your life! That is not how you make sales. That is how you annoy people and make them never want to see you again. Be a true friend. Never make your conversations about how you can make more money. I understand that you might honestly and truly love the product, but other people do not understand that, so please don't talk about it all the time.

However, if you are involved in other people's lives because you truly care about them, there will be plenty of times that it will be appropriate to suggest a product as the solution to a problem they are having. Sometimes they will flat out ask for suggestions and if you are involved in their life in an ongoing basis, it is not tacky to use your affiliate link when you give your own suggestion for a product that would help them with their problem.

Additionally, you can occasionally put out an affiliate link on your status update if you are truly trying to help others by recommending the product. This is especially true if the product is on sale and you want to make sure people who were thinking about getting it know about the sale price.

2. Facebook groups

The same principles apply for Facebook groups as apply for your personal profile. Be genuinely involved in people's lives; don't just look for every opportunity to drop an affiliate link. But when you are involved in the conversation, those opportunities will occasionally come up. Don't ignore them when they do. (Please be aware of the rules of the group, though. Some groups do not allow affiliate links at any time.)

3. Your blog's Facebook page

Use your page to either link to articles on your blog that have affiliate links included, or use your affiliate link directly on your Facebook page.

Understandably, your reach is limited sometimes on your Facebook page. Take a look at the Facebook crash course in the Facebook group for help improving your page. We also recently had a discussion about PostPlanner, which I have been using for a couple weeks now and absolutely love.

4. Forums

The same ideas would apply here as apply to Facebook groups. Be genuinely involved in the conversation and follow the rules.

5. Your email list

If you are not actively building your email list, you are making a big mistake.

What are more people going to see? A billboard on one specific road or a flyer that lands in every mailbox in the city?

What are more people going to see? An ad on Facebook that may or may not get shown to followers or a letter from you that lands directly in every single follower's inbox?

There is no faster, easier, and lucrative way to do affiliate marketing than through your email list. There's just not. If you are not finding time to build your list, you need to make some time.

Again, the same principles apply. Always be genuine. Don't make every email a sales pitch. Just be helpful and involved and opportunities to share your favorite products will naturally arise.

6. Twitter

Think Twitter is dead? I know for certain it's not! Every single time I get myself over there, I get clicks on what I post. Sometimes LOTS and LOTS of clicks. It truly baffles me. But it doesn't have to make sense. If it works, do it!

7.Pinterest

The beauty of Pinterest is that you don't have to have a ton of followers to get seen. Pinterest is a search engine. Use the right keywords, and people will find your content.

When you create evergreen posts that include affiliate links and pin them to Pinterest, anyone and everyone can find those posts. What's great is that sometimes people are searching for a certain keyword because they're shopping for it. If they're shopping for something, what do you think they're going to do when they find it? That's right, they're going to buy it.

8. Instagram

Instagram is a great way to show your authenticity to your followers. You get to show them a little of the behind-the-scenes life at your house. If you get a new product in the mail, post it to Instagram with the affiliate link in your profile. Show people the things you use and love and then tell them where they can get it for themselves.

9. Other social media

I haven't personally dabbled in too many other platforms, but if you're on other social media platforms, use them! Don't be afraid to use your affiliate links when you're following the principles of authenticity that I've mentioned over and over.

10. SEO

Don't overwhelm yourself with this at the moment if it's not your strong point. Just take one step at a time. But if you do understand a little bit about SEO, write optimized posts about products. You don't have to have “followers” for people to find your posts via search engines. And just like on Pinterest, when they're searching for a product it's because they're shopping for it. And when they find it they're planning on buying it.

10. Real life relationships

Now you're not going to make millions using affiliate links this way, but regardless, when you take the time to recommend a product to someone, I think it's fair for you to get paid for it. Say your friend tells you she loves your lip gloss and you tell her where you found it and how ridiculously low-priced it is. You can tell she's planning on hopping online to order some for herself. It's not at all inappropriate to say “You can order it at such-and-such, but if you wait until I get home, I'll email you a link and I'll get a little credit if you order through that link.” Chances are your friend will be tickled that she's getting some lip gloss and that you're getting something out of it too.

See? Your blog doesn't have to be huge for you to have an audience. Your audience is in lots of different places. Just focus on cultivating relationships and using affiliate links where it makes sense. Keep practicing and it will be more and natural to know when it's appropriate and when it's overkill. (Hint: less is better if you're not sure!)

I've got lots more ideas that I'd like to share when it comes to affiliate marketing, but this is really long already so I'll stop for today.

If you have any questions, though, feel free to shoot me an email or ask in the Facebook group!

Bloggers: Take Better Photos With Your Phone Using SHOTBOX!

I'm definitely not a photography expert. Not by a long shot. (No pun intended.) But I do know this – lighting is everything.
You've probably seen the bloggers who DIY some sort of lighting setup for themselves. But I write to bloggers who are BUSY homemakers trying to blog in their spare time.  We just don't have time for fancy setups (and we might not know how either!) We also don't have space to store it. Hence, our photos are not great or we fore-go photos altogether, which we really shouldn't.
Enter SHOTBOX.
I was recently at a conference where the inventor was demonstrating it and I bought it immediately. It's EXACTLY what we bloggers need for our busy selves. We get the right lighting for our photos, any time of the day or night, and then we can collapse the thing in a second and store it out of the way when we're done.

They are on KickStarter right now, trying to get funding. But that's a good thing for you because it means the prices are discounted until they are fully funded. So basically if you buy now through the KickStarter it's quite a bit cheaper than if you wait.
I called my husband to tell him about it and ask what he thought and he said right away, “I think you should get it!”
Even though I don't take a ton of photos, in the long run it's going to save me a lot of time and a lot of trouble as well as help this very poor photographer get some decent pictures for her blog. The fact that I can snap awesome pictures just using my phone is going to be fantastic. These are just a few samples of stuff that was taken on a phone camera:

I signed up to be an affiliate because I knew I had to come home and tell you all about it, (see…there's my affiliate disclosure) but I would have told you about it affiliate or not. It's going to be a game changer for so many of us.
(Although, their affiliate program is rather problematic right now, and it will only track if you actually click through the link and buy at that exact time. If you'd pretty please come back and go through my link again if you decide to snatch one up [you should while they're discounted so much] I would love you.)

Brainstorm with me:  What would you use the SHOTBOX for?

(One cool thing people are doing with them is stop motion videos with Legos.  Can you imagine how much your kids would love using it to start their own YouTube channel?)

If you're a busy homemaker trying to keep up with a blog, you'll definitely want to join our Facebook group, The Busy Homemaker's Guide to Blogging for Profit.

How I More than Quadrupled My Blog Income Last Year

In 2013, I made a halfway decent amount of money from my blog, considering the small amount of time I spent on it.  I was happy with that, but I knew I could do better. I set a goal for 2014 that was more than 4 times as much as I had earned the previous year.

In the fall of that year, I was doing fairly well income-wise, but I wasn't sure I would reach my goal before the end of the year. I decided to take a financial plunge and sign up for the Elite Blog Academy.  I immediately started on the course and started working through the assignments.  Honestly, a lot of what I learned was not new information, but something about having it all laid out in step-by-step assignments helped me focus and gain some traction instead of just learning without doing anything about it.

Also, I really appreciated the fact that Ruth kept in regular communication with the class, providing Q&A sessions and sending out extra handouts when a particular issue came up (like her super-crazy Pinterest spreadsheet!  She really spared no details about her strategy!)

I wish I had something like this class a LOT sooner in my blogging career.  Learning new things often feels so overwhelming, and I don't know where to start.  So I end up not doing anything at all.  Having a step-by-step action plan was EXACTLY what I needed to get me going!

Once I started on the class assignments last fall, I not only reached my income goal, I surpassed it by 25 percent!

So, what were the key elements that made the difference in my income?

1. Improved content and graphics
Makes my blog posts much more likely to be shared, and gives a more professional (and in most readers' minds trustworthy) appearance.

2. Increased traffic
The improved content increased traffic on it's own, but I also stepped up my game big time on social media and have made huge strides in increasing my page views.  Increased traffic means more revenue from advertisers and more opportunities for sponsorships.

3. Implemented more income streams
I focused even more heavily on affiliate marketing, got my ad networks optimized, and worked on marketing my own products better.

Continuing to improve in all of these areas is showing lots of promise for quadrupling my income again this year!

If you're ready to stop collecting pennies from your blog and bring in some serious income, it's time to get serious about how you play the game. I can promise that the Elite Blog Academy will give you the push you need.  Whether you learn new things like a successful Pinterest strategy or just benefit from having a step-by-step action plan, you will earn your money back many times over when you go through the course.  (And if for some reason you don't?  No worries!  Ruth is so confident in her course that she offers a 100% money back guarantee!  There's absolutely nothing to lose and thousands of dollars to gain.) Just a few of the things in the course syllabus:

• Content is King
• Presentation is Everything
• Grow Your Platform
• Social Media and Viral Growth
• Show me the Money
• Work Smarter, Not Harder

There's more – lots more, and I guarantee you won't regret the decision to take this course!

But hurry!  Course registration ends soon and will not open again for a full year!

P.S.  Order today, April 21, and take an additional $50 off with the coupon LASTDAY!

Pssttt… one more exciting thing to note:

Exclusive Bonus! If you decide to purchase the course through my link, I will provide you with a free professional blog evaluation (reg. $99!)  Take the course to a more in-depth level by having another professional blogger critique your blog and offer personalized suggestions for specific areas of improvement.  To receive the free evaluation, simply forward a copy of your receipt to imperfecthomemaker@gmail.com once you've enrolled.  *NOTE: To be eligible for this exclusive bonus, you must clear your cookies first, then purchase directly through one of the links on this page.  If your name is not on my affiliate ledger I will be unable to provide the bonus for you.

Ready to quadruple your income?

Sign up for Elite Blog Academy here. (Don't forget to clear your cookies first if you want the free professional blog evaluation!)

How to Get Your Blog Posts Shared (And What To Do When They Are)

How to Get Your Blog Posts Shared – it's something every blogger wants to know.

Every time you publish a new blog post, you hope this will be “the one”. This will be the one that really takes off. Everyone will share it and your traffic will increase to numbers you've never seen before.

And when that doesn't happen you wonder why in the world not.

If you're wishing for that share by the blogger with the huge following or for your own followers to spread your latest post like wildfire, here is what you need to know.

Note: this is not meant to be a tutorial on how to make your blog posts go viral. No one can make that happen. But you can definitely make it more likely by making sure every blog post is share-worthy.

1. Content, content, content

First, your content must be awesome. I didn't say good. I didn't say great. I said awesome.

What makes a blog post qualify as awesome?

Content will resonate with people for a number of different reasons including:

• “Why didn't I think of that?  That was so clever!”
• “That really moved me emotionally.”
• “I wish everyone else knew this.  It's so important.”

There are literally millions of blog posts out there.  Make yours the best; otherwise it will get lost in the endless sea of blog content.

2. Headline

After the main content of your post, your headline also needs to be amazing.  Which is going to more likely to compel people to click if they see your post come across their Facebook feed: “Frugal Living Tips” or “The Secret to Debt-Free Living”?  What about “Pumpkin Recipes” as opposed to “25 Mouth-Watering Pumpkin Recipes”

If you need help coming up with compelling blog headlines, you can try out HubSpot's Blog Topic Generator.  It won't necessarily always work perfectly for your topic, but it will at least give you some great ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

3. Blog Design

If you want people to take what you say seriously, your blog needs to look professional.  Even though every content creator is just a normal person, people naturally give more credence to a blog that looks professional.  If you can't yet afford a professional design, at least keep your blog clean, without a lot of gizmos and gadgets.

4. Share buttons

When people see your awesome content and have one of those “Other people need to know this!” reactions, make it easy for them to share it!  Your blog needs to have obvious sharing buttons available for people to share your posts.

5. Call to Action

Okay, so someone shared your post and you're getting a lot of traffic!  Instead of just enjoying the nice little spike and then going right back to where you started when those visitors leave, make sure you have a clear call-to-action on that post so you can keep those visitors around for the long-haul.

Make it obvious what you want people to do – and don't give them too many options or they will not do any of them.

You may want people to:

• Sign up for your newsletter
• Like your page on Facebook or follow you on Pinterest. (I actually talked how you can decide which of these to do in this post.)
• Click around to related content
• Buy something

Whatever it is, make it clear and obvious.

If you're hoping to get your blog shared and read by thousands, make sure you have all these things in place!  They're all crucial elements to growing your blog!

Is there anything you would add to this list?

If you're looking for more blogging help, be sure to sign up for my email list and/or join my Facebook group, The Busy Homemaker's Guide to Blogging for Profit.  I offer regular tips to help busy bloggers earn some income while keeping their families first.

One Easy Way to Get More Facebook and Pinterest Followers

What is happening to your posts?

Are people sharing them on Facebook or pinning them? Many times – not always – but many times the way a post is shared goes strongly in favor of one or the other.

(And if you don't have sharing tools on your blog – get some ASAP.)

Go analyze several of your top posts and see if they're a “Facebook post” or a “Pinterest post”. Many times you think you know what a post is going to do but your readers will ultimately tell you.

In other words, if people are mainly sharing it on Facebook, and it's not doing much on Pinterest, it's a “Facebook post”. So now it's time to optimize it for Facebook. If most of your traffic is coming from Facebook users, you don't want to try to direct them to Pinterest. They're already in Facebook mode. So what do you do? You embed a Facebook like box in your post and give them a clear call-to-action. “Follow on Facebook for more mom-to-mom encouragement.”

If your post is a “Pinterest post”, you can embed your Pinterest board into your post and ask them to follow you on Pinterest.
Start with your highest trafficked posts and embed the appropriate call-to-action. Over time, you will gain relevant followers who are interested in your content.

It's wonderful to gain Facebook and Pinterest followers on the actual platform, but we might as well gain them from every source we can! Can you think of other ways to gain social media followers directly from your blog?