Strange & Charmed

My Caudalie Skin Care Favorites

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I don’t consider myself a beauty guru by any means, but those of you who have been following me for a while or perhaps are familiar with my YouTube channel know that I am more into skin care than makeup. My philosophy on the matter is that taking care of your skin means your makeup will always look better no matter what brands you use. To me, its more important to invest in my skin care products than to invest in great makeup and luckily for me, I have been blessed with pretty decent skin for most of my life. Like everyone, I went through a rough patch in middle and high school, but I was able to clear up my skin and it has stayed relatively clear for years now. As I have gotten older, I have made deliberate choices with my skin care products and have chosen to purchase higher end moisturizers, serums and skin care products because to me, that’s where my money is best served in the beauty department and one of my favorite skin care brands is Caudalie.

I discovered Caudalie a few years back after watching multiple YouTube Beauty Guru’s sing their praises. One of the first products in their line I was introduced to was their Beauty Elixir, which is toted as being replicated off of Queen Isabelle of Hungary’s elixir of youth. It’s all very romantic marketing, but the truth is, elixirs like this have been made and used for hundreds, if not thousands of years and for good reason- they work very well at clearing skin of blemishes and healing wounds! Why? A blend of natural herbs, oils and extracts that each serve a specific purpose to help heal and sooth the skin. For some reason, however, this long known knowledge has eluded most of the beauty industry and instead of using soothing natural remedies for our skin, we have turned to chemicals and harsh irritants.

So, I began to research more of Caudalie’s products and found that they really seem to be at the cutting edge of skin care science. What make’s Caudalie so unique to me, is their reliance on grape vines as a basis for their products. Did you know grape vines can live to be over 100 years old? Yes, they can! They survive season after season, resisting all types of weather and harsh conditions because they produce unique substances that help keep the plant alive and rejuvenated. It’s from this scientific research that Caudalie was born, developing products that derive from nature and keep cells living long, healthy lives (I guess this also gives us an excuse to drink an extra glass or two of wine.) So, after learning about all this, I began to geek out over the Caudalie line because something told me they were doing things right in the beauty industry. I began experimenting with their products and I really do believe my skin shows marked improvements when I use their products. So, here are my favorites, in no particular order:

Beauty Elixir: This is an amazing product that I like to spray over my face after I have washed and cleansed. You can use it everyday or during breakouts to help calm the inflammation and aid in the healing process.

Vinoperfect Radiance Serum: This serum is great for evening skin tone and correcting dark spots. You can use it everyday (after the Beauty Elixir) or during or after breakouts to ensure the skin returns to its normal tone.

Grapeseed Water: This is an awesome daily toner, also a staple in my beach or gym bag!

Hand & Nail Cream: My number one hand lotion, period.

Lip Conditioner: I use this at night and wake up with moisturized, plump lips (also the taste/scent is amazing).

Vinoperfect Day & Night Cream: These are awesome daily moisturizers that really help my complexion and create glowing skin.

Premier Cru The Creme: This luxurious moisturizer is a day/night cream duo and I think it gives instant results. It is not your typical day/night moisturizer like the Vinoperfect Day & Night Creams, its more of a restorative anti-aging cream, so if you are dealing with wrinkles or trying to prevent signs of aging, this is probably the one cream you want to have!

So, you are probably wondering why I chose this exact moment to share my love for Caudalie. No, they didn’t call me up and ask me to talk about them, although I would totally be open to a sponsorship with them, so feel free to email me, Caudalie, if you would like to work with me! Actually, this entire blog post was a spur of the moment idea because I woke up this morning to an email from Caudalie (I’m subscribed to their email newsletters) announcing their Friends & Family Sale! I have been holding off on repurchasing some of my Caudalie favorites that I am running low on, so when I saw the 20% off online coupon code I immediately ran over to my computer and placed an order for the items I needed! Like I said, Caudalie is a bit pricey, but I do consider it money well spent, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like to save money! So, I thought I would go ahead and share the coupon code with you guys and let you know some of my favorite Caudalie items and my experience with the brand. I coupon code is SHARETHIS and is active on the Caudalie website through Tuesday May 20th! I have made purchases through the Caudalie online store before, so I can attest that they provide great service and timely shipping (which is free if you spend over $50).

So, if you have been curious about the brand or if I have perhaps piqued your interest, I highly suggest trying out an item or two from their line. I have gone ahead and added a little carousel below filled with my favorite items from Caudalie, and the image above also has clickable links to their site where you can learn more about the products!

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lifestyle

What’s in my Bag? 3.1 Phillip Lim Pashli

In case you don’t follow me on YouTube, I wanted to let you know that I recently posted a What’s in my Bag video for my new 3.1 Phillip Lim Pashli! I will link the video below, but I know that I am going to get a lot of questions asking me where I purchased certain items and if they are still available, so I will also be linking below a carousel to any items I mention that may be difficult to find, or similar items if those are not available! I hope you enjoy the video and be sure to leave me a comment linking your own What’s in my Bag video or written post so I can check it out! I know I am not the only one obsessed with these, so sharing is caring! XOXO!

Here is a roundup of some of my handbag favorites seen in the video!

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lifestyle Solutions

Seeing the Future

I am certainly not the only one who wishes they could see the future, but there are moments where I really wish I had a magic ball that could show me what was right around the bend. Usually, I feel this way when I am stuck in some sort of limbo, which could pretty much sum up my current state of mind. Do I move forward through my issues and take a risk or do I avoid them and stick to the familiar and safe. This has been on my mind as of late. I usually pride myself on being a person who can see the big picture, make hard decisions quickly and then make the best of what’s to come, but right now I feel paralyzed and unable to make any choices. When I get like this, I often think of these lyrics from one of my favorite songs.

“Well, something’s lost, but something’s gained, in living everyday.” – Joni Mitchell, Both Side’s Now

Joni Mitchell is right, everyday we have new experiences, learn and grow and because of that we loose that old part of ourselves. What’s done is done and can never be undone. We can’t move backwards, we can’t stand still, even if we wanted to. Everyday we have to make choices, some easy and some hard, but we can’t just stand still. I know this. But sometimes I want to skip through the hard parts to get to the end just where all the tough choices have been made and everything is resolved. I want instant gratification and its not always possible. I want things to happen without having to do the dirty work. It’s ironic because I read a lot of metaphysical books and they always tell you to think positively and let the universe guide you, and I really really wish I could let go of the reins and let someone or something else take over trusting that everything will turn out right, but I’m deathly afraid that if I loose control I will end up someplace I don’t want to be. I want control and I want to give up control both at the same time, how’s that for messed up paradoxes.

As I’m writing this I am getting that sense that I am supposed to wrap up this rant with some sort of lesson so that my readers aren’t left with an uneasy feeling, but honestly, I have no clue how to wrap this up because I too am uneasy. I don’t have the answers yet and maybe that is the answer. Maybe the lesson is you never know until you know. I have a gut feeling thats leading me and that’s about it. Perhaps, one day, if I ever resolve this matter in my mind, I will go ahead and write a follow up to this rather cryptic piece. But for now, you’re left in limbo, with me.

I apologize if this post seems weird or out of place here. I’m sorry if I am coming off vague and not being specific, but the problem is, there isn’t just one specific thing going on that is the catalyst for this, its like multiple different things mushed together to add complexity on top of complexity so its not something I feel comfortable discussing publicly on my blog right now. I would ask, however, that if you could, please send positive vibes my way. Thoughts, prayers, chants, whatever you do to get the positive mojo flowing, send it in my general direction please.

lifestyle Productivity

25 Things to Do when You are Bored

I am so accustomed to being busy and having a never ending to do list that when I do get down time, my mind blanks on how I should be spending it. Inevitably, I end up wasting time planning out what I should do and then, there goes half my free time down the drain! Does this ever happen to you? Well, if it does, I think this post could be a helpful reference when you have nothing to do or find that your struck with boredom but still want to do something productive. I suggest printing this out or book marking this page and rereading it whenever you have extra time that you don’t want to waste!

Choose a room or small area of your house to clean and organize
Create a new playlist from your existing music collection
Take pictures of all the valuable items in your home and save them in a file in case you one day need to file an insurance claim
Go through your makeup and throw out any expired products
Lie in bed and do stretches and meditation
Start a gratitude journal
Pin a simple workout routine and give it a shot (then schedule yourself time a few days a week to repeat)
Look up YouTube videos on how to give yourself a new hairdo like a fishtail braid or sock bun
Write yourself a todo list of all the fun things you want to do or try in the next few months
Take an online class from iTunes U
Find a healthy recipe for your favorite comfort food and add the ingredients to your grocery list
Break out your tool kit and tackle a minor home repair yourself
Plan out some long term or short term goals for yourself
Write someone a letter
Send a thank you note
Unsubscribe yourself from random email subscriptions or mailing lists that annoy you
Subscribe to a free inspirational email service
Clean our your handbag or switch to a different purse
Say a prayer for someone who needs it
Write down your favorite quotes on sticky notes and put them all around your workspace or planner
Develop a cleaning schedule for your place
Think of a topic you have always wanted to learn about and google the heck out of it
Collect all the loose change around your home and start a change jar
Read the entire front page of a news website or newspaper
Find things around your house that you are no longer using and take them to be donated

Okay, now go forth and be productive! Did you like this list? If you would like me to do lists like these more often, leave me a comment and tell me what sort of list you would like?

Filofax lifestyle

5 Things I ♥ about the Filofax Community

If you have been reading my blog for a while, as in before March, you have probably been wondering what the heck is up with me and being obsessed with Filofax planners and stationery! Seriously guys, I am feeling you if you have been a little confused about this whole new world I have decided to incorporate into my life and into the blog. I know it’s hard to explain personal obsessions to those looking in from the outside, but being organized is sort of my thing, or at least it used to be my thing back in college, high school, middle school and beyond! Life after college changed the way I organized myself. I stopped being hyper organized and became more strategically organized, spending time on the things that mattered and not everything as a whole. But as life progresses, I find that more and more things become important enough to need a specific place in my life and I need to keep track of it! So, enter Filofaxes, Kikki K planners, washi tape, etc. Once I started researching planners, I uncovered the whole online Filofax and planner community that is down right amazing! I even started using Facebook again just to be part of the groups (and that’s saying a lot because I have not used Facebook for like two years!) I know its not for everyone, but I like the sense of community and sharing of ideas because all that jazz really makes me feel supported and helpful, so I gave some serious thought to why I love the Filofax community so much as a way to give you all an understanding of my obsession. This is what I came up with!

1. RAKs: I know some people may see me use this term on my blog or on twitter/instagram, but RAK stands for Random Acts of Kindness. Within the Filo community, this term refers to people send others a small letter or package with positive words of encouragement or gifts of stationery supplies. It is also known as Happy Mail and it can be anonymous or not. There are a few groups on Facebook dedicated to this precious act of giving and it is definitely one of the big reasons I like to participate in the groups. It’s not that I am looking to receive things from others, but I am obsessed with sending out RAKs and sharing with people I have never met. I honestly think it’s a beautiful example of the human spirit and an example that the internet can really help to bring people together from all over the world.

2. Pen Pals: Another popular activity within the Filofax community is pen paling. Now, I do not have a letter writing pen pal (although I have more than a few people I message and email with) but many people in the stationery groups are involved with it and I think its amazing! The act of letter writing is such an ancient and lovely practice that I am glad to see its resurgence in these communities. You know how I feel about hand written thank you notes, and in so many ways this is again an amazing way that the internet is bringing people together.

3. Positivity: I cannot get enough of the Filofax groups, pictures and posts because they are bursting with positivity. This community is one of those few places online where I truly feel safe and protected from the dredge of the internet. That’s not to say that everyone is always happy and upbeat, but the general culture is one of inclusion, support and self-betterment. The community members are always promoting each other, sharing ideas and always have kind words to share. It has such a positive vibe!

4. No lack of content: From the multiple Facebook groups to the Instagram hasthtags to the endless blogs and websites to the YouTube videos and the Pinterest boards, there is such a wealth of content within the Filofax community that you can immerse yourself in it and always find something new. This is probably why I am so obsessed, because the more you dig the more you find and uncover and suddenly hours have passed and you walk away feeling like you have learned so much and felt all the positive energy!

5. New Friends: Out of everything I have dabbled with online, nothing has yielded so many personal connections as this community. I have made a bunch of new online friends, some bloggers, some just enthusiasts, but all of them wonderful. It really is amazing how a subject like a planner would draw people together in such a profound way, but it has and I am so glad that I discovered this little pocket of the internet where I truly feel at home!

Blogging tech

Using Analytics on your Blog

As you may know, yesterday was my final installment of the Blogging 101 series and I covered the topic of monetizing your blog in a variety of ways. So, today I thought I should spend some time talking about the importance of tracking your analytics to help you understand your blog’s audience and reach! There are two points that I would like to make on the subject, the first is that you should be tracking analytics on your site, and the second is that the tracking system you should be using is Google Analytics!

To the first point, if you have a blog, you should be using analytics tracking. These systems are incredibly helpful and can give you a variety of information about your audience, their behavior on your website and which posts are driving views and which posts are duds. If your blog is small, you may not think analytics are important to focus on while you are growing your blog, but you would be surprised by the insights you can get in your analytic reports. Let’s be honest, when we publish posts, we really have no clue how the post is going to fare. I often write this long elaborate posts that I am sure will be popular and then when I check my analytics I find that it wasn’t attracting as many eyes as I would have hoped. Sometimes as content creators, we don’t know what will be popular unless you have been blogging and writing for a decent amount of time, but heck, I have been at this for years and I still have figured out the magic formula! So, it’s important for me to check my analytics, see what is doing well and what is not so I can spend more time creating content that my readers want and not waste my time on a piece that I may find interesting, but perhaps my audience does not. That’s not to say that I think we as bloggers need to ignore what we like to write about, but when you are serious about growing your blog and your audience, you have to focus on what works and finding unique and creative ways to package your content in ways that continue to surprise and delight your readers! Analytics can tell you so much about your audience as well, not just what posts are popular. You can find out where the majority of your audience lives (this is super helpful for figuring out times when you publish your posts), you can find out their age and gender (which is sometimes a very interesting thing to know if you are attracting more male or female readers than you expected based on your content so that you can either create more for those audience members or perhaps refocus your content to attract the reader you have in mind) and of course analytics helps you track how long people spend on your site and your page views (which is a necessary piece of information if you are looking to monetize your blog).

So, now that you know why analytics are important, lets talk about which analytics service you should be using. I’ll be honest, the reason I am writing this post is because I recently needed to switch over to Google Analytics and I wanted to make sure that others were using it because it is the industry standard when it comes to analytics. For years I have been using a different site to track my analytics, but now that my blog is growing and I am thinking seriously about monetization, I am finding that sponsors, marketers and affiliate networks want to see Google Analytics information specifically. Google Analytics is free, so thats a bonus, and it does give you an array of options that didn’t exist with my previous analytics system. I really wish I had jumped on the Google Analytics bandwagon earlier and because of my situation, I wanted to let you all know that you should seriously consider using it as well if you have no current analytics tracking or if you are using a different site. Analytics are one of those things that if you pay attention to, they can help you learn and grow your site, but if you don’t pay attention to them, its still good to have a system in place in case the day ever comes when you need the information.

Blogging Career

Blogging 101: How to Monetize your Blog

Blogging 101 is a 10 part series where I share my tips and tricks for creating and growing a blog from scratch. This is the tenth installment in the series, and you can find more information on the topics of this series here.

Wow! I cannot believe this is the final installment of my Blogging 101 series. It’s been over two months since I posted my first piece and I know I have picked up a few new followers along the way specifically because of this series! I sincerely hope this series has helped you think about starting a blog or has given you new ideas or information to help make your blog the best it can be! When I started this series, I truly wanted to demystify blogging for those who may have been interested in the subject but thought the task too big or too complicated to pursue. I am by no means a professional on the subject, but I often think there is too much secrecy among bloggers about what they do, what works and what doesn’t, and I really wanted to give some real practical advice on the subject. So, thanks for reading and letting me impart my knowledge to all of you!

I have chosen the subject of monetization as the final installment of my series for a very specific purpose. First of all, I believe that blogging as we know it today was rooted in a true passion for writing and sharing as a means of creative outlet and that the monetization of blogs was something that came after. Because of this, I believe that you should first and foremost wish to run a blog for the love of it! If you don’t love what you’re doing, you shouldn’t be doing it, and people will be able to tell if your heart isn’t in it. That leads me to my second reason for publishing this topic last, because it is hard work to make money from blogging and if your heart isn’t in it, you won’t ever make it long enough to earn a decent income. So, start your blog for you, as a hobby and/or creative outlet. Put your heart into your content and feel a true passion for what you post, and then monetize strategically!

It may surprise you to hear that there are many ways for you to monetize your blog. When you think about it, however, it makes a lot of sense that there would be more than one way to earn an income from blogging, because the business of blogging is all about entrepreneurship, and any good entrepreneur will tell you that if you want to make money from a business venture, you need to diversify your income streams! I am going to break down those possible income streams into categories. Those categories are affiliate networks, sponsorships, advertising, and direct sales.

Affiliate networks are merchant revenue sharing programs where bloggers can sign up to promote products through their blogs and earn a percentage of any sales that result from their direct links. There are many different affiliate networks out there, some that promote a wide variety of products (Amazon) and some that represent merchants from specific fields like fashion (Reward Style). These networks also vary in the selectivity of their membership. Some programs are pretty lax in the requirements of their members, and some are highly selective. Since there are such a wide variety of networks, with so many different options, I highly suggest that you do some research on your own for which networks you may want to target. One of the best things about affiliate networks is that you can be a member of multiple networks in most cases and promote multiple different products within your blog if you so choose.

Sponsorships are a more targeted and labor intensive form of monetization in which bloggers work directly with companies or marketers to create content centered around specific products. I say that these opportunities are more labor intensive because usually a blogger would need to do a good amount of work in order to secure a sponsorship. This may mean the blogger would have to research companies, find contacts and then pitch a blog post idea to the company, making the case for how the sponsorship would benefit the company, its products and negotiate an appropriate amount of payment. If you have ever seen a sponsored post in a blog, you may have wondered how the blogger came to that opportunity. More prominent bloggers are often directly approached by companies to promote their products, others use agents or are members of marketing related networks where companies can pick bloggers from a pool of possible candidates to promote products, but often, bloggers need to directly contact companies or their marketing firms in order to start on the road to sponsored posts. As you may be thinking, this process can be an uphill battle, but normally once a blogger has established a reputation for working well with companies, the process can become easier as you add companies to your sponsorship resume.

The next form of monetization is selling advertising space on your blog. This one is pretty straight forward, but for some, the idea of selling ad space can be a daunting task, which is why there are platforms out there like Passionfruit Ads* that will help make the process easier. Sites like Passionfruit help bloggers manage advertisements by placing ad images, tracking and rotating ads, and automating payments. Of course, sites like these take a portion of your ad revenue for the service they provide, but if you want to leave your ad management up to a more precise platform, this could be an easy way for you to sell ad space without spending your own precious time.

The final form of monetization I am going to cover is direct sales, and by this, I mean by using your blog to promote and sell your goods and/or services. It is very common to find blogs that support a business, either a real brick and mortar company or an e-business. You can sell anything from digital products (ebooks, podcasts, learning series tutorials etc) to physical goods (products you create yourself or resell) to services (event planning, consulting, photography etc). Even if you don’t run a business, you can still find ways to use direct sales on your blog. Perhaps you write about recipes on your blog, you could put together a digital ebook and sell it through your site. Maybe you love photography and take beautiful images, you could sell digital copies of your photo’s. The possibilities are truly endless when it comes to directly selling to your blog readers and if you are truly serious about monetizing your blog, I think this is something that everyone should be thinking seriously about.

So, that’s it! Those are the four major categories of blog monetization. They are probably not the only ways you can make money through your blog, but I think they are the most common and tried and true approaches. The best part is, you can employ one or more of these methods on your own blog right now and with some ground work and planning, there is no reason why you couldn’t take advantage of all the methods I suggested. Like I said earlier, diversifying your income streams is important if you are trying to make money as an internet entrepreneur, so give each method some thought, figure out how you could apply each to your own blog and get to making some money! I am by no means an expert on this subject, so if you have any questions, which I am sure you have many if you are serious about this enterprise, I have some suggested reading for you!

Must-Read Business Books for anyone looking to monetize their blog in a smart and strategic way!

And yes! Those are affiliate links to Amazon where you can purchase the books! If my advice has been helpful and you would like to thank me for it, using my affiliate links to purchase products I recommend is an easy way to support me and my blog and it doesn’t cost you anything extra. I don’t always use affiliate links and I don’t always make product recommendations, but when I do, you can be sure that it’s for products I do recommend and honestly believe in. That’s my commitment to you as my reader and it is one I hope you bring to your own blogs with a true sense of responsibility to your readers as your pursue the path of monetization!

*This site was recommended to me by my blogging buddy Kristin from My Life as a Teacup!

books lifestyle

Oyster: The Dawn of Enlightenment 2.0?

I have been following the progression of the internet’s soon to be newest obsession, OysterBooks.com, for quite some time now. In the vein of Netflix, Spotify and Audible, Oyster is a site/app that allows users to access thousands of ebooks through a monthly subscription based service that right now costs only $9.95. Not bad, right? For the cost of about one ebook, you can access a nearly unlimited supply of reading material that the site boasts includes over 200,000 titles and growing. To be quite honest, I have been wondering how a site like Oyster would fare in our modern digital age. How would a subscription service for full length written works manage in an internet age culture where we communicate through pictures and video, skim news headlines and have a collective attention span of five seconds? We’ve replaced solid magazine articles with short blog posts, and instruction manuals with a Pinterest board. I definitely knew Oyster was something that would come around eventually, we have subscription services for everything from games to movies to TV shows to music, not to mention the hundreds of subscription boxes for toys, clothing, food and grooming supplies, so why not books? But how many of us actually read books anymore, or at least enough to make a subscription worth the money? Initially, I think many people are going to think like I did that paying the price of a book per month is a little silly when we have library’s where you can borrow all these books and more for free, and that’s essentially what you are doing with the app, renting books. Of course, these are ebooks so its much more convenient for you to download a new book than to drive to the library to pick one up physically, and even libraries with ebook selections available online still have a significant barrier to entry and in most library systems only have a few “copies” of ebooks available for lending. This does not seem to be the case with Oyster. All you need is a credit card and an iOS device which gives Oyster a reasonably low barrier to entry. I get it, not everyone has an Apple product, but think about the number of iPods, iPhones and iPads out there in the world. That’s a potentially huge market to sample from, and if anyone were going to pay $10 a month for a book, it would be an iOS user who has been conditioned over the last 7+ years to pay for their content.

So, will Oyster do for books what Netflix did for movies and TV? Will Oyster bring the good news of the written word to our attention deficit population? I think the two platforms are actually incredibly similar when you think about where Netflix was 5 years ago in comparison to where Oyster is right now. Both were flying under the radar, both had a good selection of content although void of new releases or epic blockbusters and both had a reasonable price point. Of course, we all know what happened to Netflix, even I wrote about it, but in the end Netflix made it out of all their troubles and still dominates the at home streaming market, albeit with significantly more competition. I think we could see a pretty similar situation for Oyster in the next few months and early years until the brand Oyster becomes more of a household name.

So the big question is, will you be signing up for Oyster? To help answer this question I have created something of a litmus test to decide if an Oyster subscription would work for you.

1. Do you read or begin to read at least one book a month at your leisure?

This is important because if you are not currently a reader, signing up for a subscription service for ebooks certainly isn’t going to turn you into one.

2. Browsing the main pages of the Oyster site, can you find 3 books you would be interested in reading?

Although Oyster boasts 200,000 books and counting, they promote their most popular works on their main pages. If you don’t see things you want to read while skimming their site, you probably won’t find much else better once you have full access to their collection.

3. Are you the type of person who would cancel your subscription if you were not getting use out of it?

Oyster, like Netflix and other subscription services offers a one month free trial, but you still need to sign up with a credit card, which means if you are not pleased you need to cancel before your card is charged.

If you said NO to any of those three questions above, this subscription is probably not for you, unless you also said YES to question three. I’m all for giving things a try and taking a look around, especially when their is a free trial associated with it, so if you know you will stay on top of your trial and cancel before you begin getting charged, by all means, give the app a whirl if you’re curious! If you happen to be an avid reader, or at least someone who likes to pick up a new title or two every month, perhaps Oyster would be a good way for you to save some money and get a variety of leisure time reading material, so long as you are not addicted to new releases.

Okay, moment of truth, will you be signing up for Oyster? If you have already joined, let us know what you think about the service in the comments below. I would love to hear more from those who have joined and understand more of that experience!

Blogging Career tech

10 Ways to use Video on Your Blog

Let me tell you a little story to kick off this post! Back in early 2009, I had just started a new blog with a tech focus that some of you may remember if you have been following me for a while. It was called “The Pink Mac” and it was all about my love for technology and Apple products; a total fan girl homage to my computer! One day, I was contacted by a company to review some of their gadget cases and I accepted. At that time, I had only been a traditional blogger, and didn’t even have a YouTube channel, but I loved watching tech reviews and unboxings so much that I decided that I would make the unboxing and review of these cases into a video. I’ll be honest, when I filmed that first video on the kitchen table at my dad’s house, I wasn’t even sure if I would post it. I remember feeling like a total weirdo for talking to myself about some iPod cases while my dad and step mom were watching TV on mute in the room next to me until I finished. Once I got home and reviewed the footage, I decided that although it wasn’t the best tech video, it certainly wasn’t the worst (although if you go back now and watch it, it was such poor quality, but for the time that was the norm). So, I bit the bullet, signed up for a YouTube channel and uploaded the video! Although I wasn’t as serious about my YouTube channel in those early days, it’s one of those, if I had known then what I know now, who knows how different things could have been for me, my brand and my blog! So, hopefully you learn a thing or two about video in this post and avoid my mistake!

Video has been a major trend among websites for years now, but with the major rise of YouTube, even famous video bloggers have started integrating their content to personal blogs and websites, and major bloggers have been taking a cue from the YouTube generation and adding video content to their sites as well. Video, whether you like it or not, is the future of blogging. As a blogger today, you need to treat your blog like your own little media empire. Think Martha Stewart, Oprah, Rachel Ray, and the like. Each of these women have an empire around their brand which includes written work via magazine’s and blogs, and video work via television and YouTube channels. Now, I get it, you may not want to be the next Martha Stewart, but in order to have a successful slice of the internet, we should be looking at brands like these and producing as much as we can like them. Why? Because they have whole teams dedicated to their media, studying the market trends and telling the brand where it needs to be. If you are like me, you can’t afford such a team, so the best you and I can do is just follow their lead!

For the uninitiated, video can seem like a whole new world of content, and it really is, but the good thing is, you can start slow and work your way into using it more and more as time progresses and you get used to the medium. The important thing to remember is that, in today’s world, you need to put out a pretty decent quality video to be taken seriously, which means HD video and good lighting, but I already talked about how that doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. Most decent point and shoot cameras nowadays take HD video as well. I happen to use this video camera which is reasonably priced and this studio lighting kit which is pretty affordable! So, what are some ways that you can start using video on your blog right now? I have compiled a list of 10 videos that nearly any blogger can film no matter what you blog about!

An introduction to your blog
An “About Me” video that you can leave in your bio page
Your favorite things
20 random facts about you
A desk tour (aka a tour of your workspace, the place where you sit and blog, etc)
A video show and tell to accompany a written product review
What’s in your bag video (this is super popular!)
An outfit of the day video (you don’t need to be a fashion blogger to do this!)
A “Get Ready with Me” video (aka morning routine; people also love these)
A “How To “ video related to the content of your blog (these can be super useful!)

Okay, so now you have some ideas for video content brewing in your mind! You don’t have to do all of these videos at one time, like I said, start with one and then gradually work into the others. Take your time and produce the best video you can. That’s more important than rushing to make a ton of mediocre videos! Good luck!!

Blogging Career

Blogging 101: Networking!

Blogging 101 is a 10 part series where I share my tips and tricks for creating and growing a blog from scratch. This is the ninth installment in the series, and you can find more information on the topics of this series here.

If you have been following this series since the beginning, you now know how to start a blog, how to create great content and how to use social media to get your message out to your audience! Now, its time to discuss networking! Networking with your peers as well as networking with possible sponsors, customers or clients. You may have started a blog as a means to promote a business, or just to express yourself and have fun. You may have some specific financial goals you are looking to hit or perhaps just want the validation of knowing your content is reaching a certain of number of people. The best tool you have to make these things happen, is networking!

When it comes to networking with your peers (perhaps other bloggers or business owners) the sky is the limit to the amount of networking you can do. It never hurts to have friends within your field and you can’t have too many. However, when networking with your peers, I think it’s also important to have a general idea or plan for what you would like to get out of specific relationships. Let’s say you know you want to grow your audience and you think Blogger X may have a similar audience to yours and you want to do a linkup or a guest post involving that blogger and their site. You may be able to simply send them an email or engage them on social media and see if they would be interested, or if they aren’t quite as receptive as you would hope, you may need to network your way into their sphere. Now, this sort of thing is a challenge for me, as it may be for you, but we all know or have heard about people who start from the ground up and eventually work their way into the circles of those they admire or would like to work with. I know for women, this can be a difficult skill to develop because we tend to question ourselves too much, but just use that image in your mind of that person you who or storied you have heard about others and start making connections with people one at a time. Maybe you need to make a list, like a 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon style chart of who you are trying to reach and different people you may be able to talk to that could introduce you to another person or put in a good word until one day you are in direct contact with Blogger X. Remember, networking isn’t about making friends (although you certainly can along the way) it’s about making contacts and connections with people who can help you get to where you want to go.

Now, on the alternate of this, when it comes to networking with potential sponsors or clients, you may want to tread a little lighter. In this situation, you need to know who you want to work with and why. Why, not only for yourself, but why would you working with Brand X or Company X would be beneficial to them just as much as it would you. I suggest making a list and really refining down to the companies you want to work with so that when you are networking you are building a direct bridge to the brand or company you would like to make contact with. Again, some companies may be more receptive and open to such interactions, and sometimes you need to dig to find out who can help you get in front of (or get an email to) the right person to make a connection and relationship with that company or brand. Another reason you don’t want to be networking all over the place when it comes to potential clients or sponsors, is because people within industries talk, and you don’t want to be seen as the blogger or business owner who will approach anyone with an idea. When you approach brands or companies with opportunities to create relationships, they want to feel like they are the only one or at least one of the select few you want to work with because what you have to offer is perfect for them alone, not 100 other companies.

As much as possible, no matter if you are looking for connections with peers or potential sponsors, give yourself real concrete expectations that you can execute against. Be as deliberate as possible with your choices, which means you need to put a lot of thought behind even the smallest actions. And above all, never stop networking! You never know the opportunities you may find through networking, so don’t stop just because you hit a goal, always have another goal in mind!