The mission of all bloggers is to help people live their lives to the fullest by sharing their expertise and this definitely extends to the business of blogging.
The generosity and openness of our influencers never ceases to amaze us. From our private Facebook group to blog posts, Mediavine publishers are always willing to share tips and tricks with their fellow bloggers to help them succeed.
One place we collect all their nuggets of wisdom is in our Publisher Interview series. Expert tips from influencers in all content creation niches from travel (like Amanda Williams from A Dangerous Business) to finance (like RJ Weiss from The Ways To Wealth) fill the Mediavine blog.
Today we’re pleased to quiz a Mediavine publisher who blogs about how to blog and earn money online. Say hello to Tiffany Griffin of the site Beautiful Dawn!
I live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with my husband and my 10-year-old Rat Terrier, Buddy.
When I’m not working, I love spending time with my family, reading, and working on crochet projects. I also love watching horror movies!
I got started in the blogging business because I was looking for a way to drive traffic to my website and promote my product. I was selling feminine WordPress themes at the time.
Within one year of blogging, my traffic and my income more than doubled! Now, it is my goal to help other bloggers grow their online business too.
I’ve been a proud Mediavine publisher since November 2016. I was looking for ways to increase my income, and I noticed a lot of people were mentioning the Mediavine ad network. Initially, I was hesitant to place ads on my blog, but after hearing so many great things about Mediavine, I decided to apply to the Mediavine family. Joining Mediavine was one of the best things I did for my business.
I have absolutely loved working with Mediavine. I’m making more money than ever before and the customer service is top notch! Plus, I’m sure a lot of bloggers get me when I say that the ads are actually attractive. I think a lot of us are afraid that having ads on our blog will make it look ugly. But somehow, Mediavine manages to make them look good. 🙂
My Mediavine ad revenue has changed my life in many ways! Of course, it has helped me pay the bills, which is amazing, but my Mediavine income has also helped put me on the path towards financial freedom, which is something that’s very important to me.
The blogging industry has changed a lot since I first started blogging. I actually had a personal blog before I began blogging for a living. Back then you could write posts about your everyday life, and people would actually read them. LOL! Blogging definitely isn’t as light-hearted as it used to be, but it’s still something I enjoy immensely.
The best parts of blogging are definitely being able to share my knowledge with others, and connect with the people that I’ve helped in some way. To be able to make a living doing what I love is the cherry on top.
The worst part of blogging for me has been experiencing burnout. I had heard the term burnout before, but I never truly knew what it meant until I experienced it myself. I found myself unable to work. Just walking into my office gave me a lot of anxiety. The only way for me to heal was to take a big step back from my business. Over time, I was able to recover, but to this day, I try to be gentle with myself and avoid stretching myself too thin.
I don’t know if I have a “biggest success.” I would say that all of my successes are my biggest success. I’m so proud of everything I’ve been able to accomplish with my business.
My favorite bloggers are:
Alexis from FITnancials: Alexis is just a really great person, and it’s been great connecting with her. I think she’s a great example of how if you work hard, you can achieve success. (Check out our Publisher Interview with Alexis!)
Denise Duffield-Thomas from Lucky B*tch: Denise has been a huge inspiration for me when it comes to growing my business. Her book Get Rich Lucky B*tch is similar to “The Secret.” It’s all about getting rid of your money blocks and manifesting the life you deserve and the money you desire. I partially credit this book for the success that I have experienced with my business.
Brandon Gaille: I like Brandon because he provides really in-depth advice for growing your blog. His 2018 Blog Income Report Research Study is really amazing, and every blogger should read it.
My top 3 most popular posts are:
The Ugly Side of Blogging That Bloggers Don’t Share
Earn Money With These Affiliate Programs for Bloggers
SEO For Beginners: How to SEO Your Blog Posts
My top 3 favorite posts are definitely:
The Ugly Side of Blogging That Bloggers Don’t Share
The First Blog Posts You Should Write as a New Blogger
7 Things to Do In Your First 3 Months of Starting a Blog
When you start off blogging, you think you need to buy all the blogging tools. What I’ve learned over the years is that you actually don’t need a ton of stuff to blog successfully. A few tools I could not live without are:
Tailwind and Buffer
Scheduling tools are a great way for me to stay active on social media without manually posting multiple times per day. I use Tailwind to schedule my pins on Pinterest, and I use Buffer for Facebook and Twitter.
Convertkit
You don’t have to use Convertkit, but I highly recommend signing up for an email newsletter provider. MailChimp is a good option for new bloggers because it’s free for your first 2,000 subscribers. Having an email list is an excellent way to keep in contact with your
audience. And you don’t have to be selling anything to have an email list. Simply sending them a link to your latest blog post is a great way to stay in touch and give yourself a quick traffic boost.
Bookkeeping Software
Keeping track of your money is rarely talked about in the blogging community. As you begin to make money with your blog, it’s really important that you keep track of your income and expenses. I use GoDaddy Bookkeeping.
Social Pug
I can’t tell you how many new bloggers don’t have social media share buttons on their blog. Social Pug makes it easy for your readers to share your content on platforms such as Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook.
Pinterest. Pinning my content to Pinterest consistently is the best thing I’ve done for increasing my traffic with Pinterest. A lot of new bloggers think Pinterest is the answer to overnight success, but it’s not. I had to pin consistently for about a year before I started to see real results with the platform.
First and foremost, stay patient. I think when people get into blogging, they expect to build a blog that quickly gains a lot of traffic, and that’s just not the way it works for most of us.
I think it’s really important to go into this blogging thing with realistic expectations, otherwise, you’ll end up quitting prematurely.
To grow your traffic, the best things you can do are to consistently write quality content, make sure your content is SEO friendly, utilize Pinterest, and give it time.
Remember, there is no shortcut to success. Boy, wouldn’t it be nice if there was? But if you believe in what you’re doing (this part is important), and work hard, you will get there! It is possible to make a living with your blog. You just have to believe in yourself and be willing to put in the work.
Gabrielle Union. Mostly because people have told me we look alike. 🙂
A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. — John A. Shedd
This quote reminds me to keep putting myself out there and step outside of my comfort zone. As they say, nothing really great happens within the walls of your comfort zone.
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Amber Bracegirdle
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