What happens when you become a blogger

Ever wonder what life is like when you become a blogger?
Really you don't think much will change.
But it does.

Social Media - becomes your bff. Literally you are all over it. Keeping up with the people you follow and posting your own things. Conversations that make you laugh and ones that make you cry {good way people}.

Comments & e-mails - happen quite often. You are commenting on other blogs. Your readers are leaving comments for you. E-mails start rolling in and before you know it your inbox looks like a disaster. But it's fun. ;)

Pictures - oh lord. You take pictures of everything right down to snapping a picture of yourself before you go to bed and posting it. You start learning how to take "proper" pictures and edit them. Your significant other and/or children start looking at you like your crazy because you just took a picture of a burger and fries. Well, your instagram peeps had to see it of course.

You blog - You write your own blog posts how ever often you like and guest post for others. Scheduling posts ahead of time and writing down post ideas.

Inspiration - Your inspiration goes into over drive because now you have to make this and share it with your lovely followers because well they just have to see it and possibly make it themselves.

Caught up - you can get caught up in the land of blogging so us bloggers try and keep this in check. it's a hard line to walk but we somehow manage.

Really - you find yourself doing things or noticing things you normally wouldn't and you want to share it, blog about it, snap a picture of it.

What has changed sense YOU became a blogger?

Tutorial Thursday - blog layout

So you have this super cute header {This tutorial can be used for a blog header as well} but want the rest of your blog to match the colors. I'm about to show you a super quick and easy way to do this.

Login & click on your blog name. {this is using the new blogger interface}

Then proceed to click on Template. {On the left side bar}

One the template you have pops up click on customize.

Then click on advanced & wa - la start changing colors.

Just go through all of the links between the two blue lines I have put in the next picture and change the colors however you want them and to your liking. One your done click apply to blog in the top right corner.

That's it! Now you have pretty colors to match your pretty header! :)

How to use passionfruit ads

I highly recommend if you are going to offer ads on your blogs to use passionfruit ads. It is so much more organized! It is also super easy to set up & I'm about to show you how. For the record I don't use passionfruit on here right now because I don't have ad spots yet but I use it on my other blog and that is the blog name you are seeing in the pictures below {Live.Laugh.L0ve.}

Sign up if you haven't already and then go ahead and sign in.

Click on my sites & add a new site. Then proceed to fill in the info!

You will then have a dashboard where it shows your basic things. Click on your site name on the right.

You will be directed to another page where you will see more things in detail and be able to start putting your ad spots together and accept ad spots.

To create an ad size. Click on site setup and the top of the screen and then click on define ad spot.

Click on ad a spot. Then fill out all of the information and save ad spot. Do this for each ad space you would like to offer.

Then click on your ad shop at the top of the page and copy the code and place it on your sponsor page so people can purchase and ad.

Then click on Displaying ads and copy each code and put the codes in your sidebar.

You can create promo codes by clicking on site setup - promo codes. Ad promo code.

You can view all ad details by clicking on ads at the top of the page and you can view all payment history by clicking on Cash Money.

And not only is it super easy. Jason is super helpful, so if you get lost or need help still don't be afraid to ask him! Now - go set up your passionfruit ads and start selling! :)

Blogging 101 - Sponsors part 2

Okay - so you know what you want to offer.
You have sponsors weather you asked or the flocked to you.
Now what do you do?

Do everything you say you're going to. If you say your going to give social media shoutouts - do it. If you are allowing your sponsors to guest post - let them. Don't say you are giving your sponsors something and then not following through with it. No one likes that at all.

Sponsor other blogs. I am definitely not going to tell you that the other blogs you sponsor need to be bigger bloggers because that's not always true. This is what I can tell you.

• Some of the most traffic I have gotten comes from blogs that are barely bigger than mine. They are smaller so they have more time to promote you, show you off and truly get to know you! So just because you see smaller size numbers, see what they have to offer first it may surprise you.
• Bigger blogs are always great but can be expensive. But I won a giveaway and won a small ad space on Casey's blog and I was apart of her group giveaway & I gained 28 new followers in 2 days. That's not included the followers I gained on twitter from that. So sponsoring big blogs does have it's perks too!

Promote, promote, promote. Show your sponsors off. Blog posts, social media. Let your readers know about them! After all they are paying you to do just that.

Stay in touch. E-mail your sponsors. Get to know them. I have found that I can promote my sponsors much better when I e-mail them and find out things about them. When I follow their blogs and social media sites. It gives me a feel for who they are and in turn I help promote them better!

What advice do you have for sponsoring? Share with me!

Blog 101 - Sponsors Part 1

So, you want to start accepting sponsors on your blog huh?
But you're not sure how or when to start.
Today. I'm here to help you.

There really is no "perfect" time to start accepting sponsors. I would recommend swapping with other blogs that are similar in size first. Just so you get the feel for it. Now if you have already done that but you are ready to upgrade to more than just swapping, I have a few tips for you today.

1. Offer Variety. On my other blog - I have a wide variety of sponsor packages, that way sponsors can pick which size they would like to have out of the options I have instead of just saying "this is the size deal with it." Don't get that confused - if you are strictly a swapper - one size is perfect!

2. Let your sponsors know what they are paying for. This is very important. If I'm spending money on sponsoring a blog - I want to know what they are going to do for me.

3. Be realistic. If you don't have time to promote your sponsors with shoutouts on social media sites, blog posts, or anything else. Don't let them believe you can. Do what you can do - not what other bloggers are doing.

4. Don't be afraid to ask. Asking other bloggers to sponsor you is just part of it. I learned this a little late - but better late than never right?! Last month was the first month I asked other wonderful bloggers to sponsor my little blog & the result was wonderful! I think it's really they just aren't sure or they don't know that you offer sponsorship. It might be awkward but it works.

5. Offer a few free ad spaces to bigger bloggers. This is something I have learned. Having those big bloggers on your sidebar actually works. I haven't figured out why yet, but every few months I will offer a big blogger free sponsorship. Keep in mind these are bloggers I have regular contact with and I want to show them off and in return they can see how I do with sponsoring.

Blogging 101 - How to submit a guest post in HTML form

Today I am going to show you how to submit a guest post to someone in HTML form.
It came to my attention that not everyone knows how to do this.
I request posts in HTML form because it is way easier that way & I know alot
of other bloggers do too.

So here is the quick and easy steps on how to do that! :)

One. Write your post as your normally would.

Two. Click on edit HTML After you have your post typed up click on the edit HTML tab found right next to compose.

You will see all of this scary code stuff that is in your post. Don't be alarmed - it's normal. :)

Four. Copy Text

Five. Compose message Go to your e-mail and compose a message.

Six. Paste Paste everything you just copied to the e-mail and put start HTML at the beginning. It helps the person you are sending it to know where it starts.

and to know where it ends. :)

& there you have. That is how you submit a guest post or any post for that matter in HTML form!
Happy Friday!