Shutterfly Cards and Photo Gifts {$50 Giveaway!}

Have you ordered your Christmas cards yet?

Shutterfly has some awesome new designs for 2013!

Their collection includes:

o   Classic: Traditional colors, iconic illustrations, aspirational sentiments, snowflakes, monogram

o   Contemporary: trend forward colors, texture and layering, water color techniques, shine, glitter, Instagram pictures are perfect for this style

o   Whimsy: humor and nostalgia meet, fun sentiments

o   Merry and Bright: all about color and having fun

o   Religious: metallic type treatments, incorporated story ideas

o   Photo Basics: multiple colors, vertical type, family name highlights

How fun are these tri-fold cards?!

If you like something more simple, they've got that too:

I love this one too because it can be used for Christmas and New Year's combined (especially great if you get your cards out a little late!)

One of our family's favorite gifts to give grandparents is some type of photo gift, and Shutterfly has tons of them.

We have given these blankets in the past, and they were definitely a favorite!

I think a pillow with updated pictures would be a great addition this year:

I love Shutterfly's selection of  photo gifts – they have a lot of really unique stuff that isn't available elsewhere.  Their selection of both products and designs is really above-average.  Check out all their gift selections here.

The giveaway has now ended.  Congrats to the winner Trish!

Win a $50 Shutterfly Gift Card!

Shutterfly is offering one of my readers a $50 Shutterfly Gift Card (includes free shipping)!

To enter, just leave a comment telling me which photo card or photo gift you would choose if you won.

If you'd like an extra entry, share this giveaway on Facebook or Pinterest and leave another comment telling me you did so.

This is a quick giveaway, ending Friday at noon EST, so be sure to get your entry in right away!  The winner will be contacted by email Friday evening, and will need to respond by Saturday at noon EST, or you will forfeit your prize.  Be sure to keep an eye out to see if you won!

Disclosure: I received a gift card from Shutterfly in exchange for posting this.  As always, all opinions are 100% my own.

Unique and Affordable Gift Ideas for Every Occasion

I'm so excited that the Ultimate Healthy Living Bundle is back!  Hopefully those of you who missed out last time will be able to get in on it this time.

I have been reading through all of the books and have been enjoying them so much!  The book Pain Redeemed has especially been a blessing.

If you purchase the bundle, I promise you will be getting an amazing deal.  Many of the books are worth $15 – $20 each, and you'll be getting 86 of them for $29.97!

With that said, I saw a lot of potential for some really great unique and affordable gift ideas for birthdays, Christmas, wedding showers, and more!

First, check out how to give the ebook in an attractive way.  Then read on to see some ideas for making these into gift baskets for different occasions.

Selection of Real Food Cookbooks such as The Breakfast Revolution, Much Ado About Chicken, Wholesome Comfort, Better Than A Box ($150.58 value) (wedding shower, birthday, Christmas)

• Cooking utensils (You can often find nice brands for really cheap on Zulily.)
• Apron
• Hot pads

31 Days to Great Sex ($4.99 value)(anniversary or Christmas gift for husband)

• Stocking stuffer coupons

Collection of Allergy Friendly Cookbooks such as Baking with Quinoa, Family Friendly Allergen-Free, Affordable Gluten Free Dinners, Sweet Freedom: Desserts You’ll Love without Wheat, Eggs, Dairy or Refined Sugars, Weeding Out Wheat ($58.79 value) (any occasion)

• collection of gluten free flours (I usually find the best prices at Vitacost. Get a $10 off $30 coupon when you go through this link.)
• Natural sweeteners

Collection of Gardening books like The Gardening Notebook, From Garbage to Gourmet, Apartment Gardening, How to Grow and Use Culinary Herbs, Emergency Preparedness ($40.86 value) (birthday or Christmas)

• Gardening tools
• Gloves
• Heirloom seeds

15-Minute Freezer Recipes ($5.99 value) (wedding shower or baby shower)

• Freezer Bags
• Containers for freezing

• Oats
• Quinoa
• Nuts
• Honey
• Dried fruit

Healthy Ice Pops and Frozen Treats($4.99 value) (wedding shower, birthday, Christmas)

• Ice pop molds (I see these quite frequently on Zulily for cheap.)

Real Food on a Real Budget ($18.97 value) (Any occasion)

• CSA Membership
• Recipe Cards
• Warehouse membership or food co-op membership
• Heirloom seeds and gardening supplies
• Jars and canning supplies

Easy and Healthy Slow Cooker Recipes ($5.99 value) (wedding shower)

• crockpot

Adventures With Kids! In the Kitchen (14.95 value) (kids birthday or Christmas)

• Matching aprons
• Children's cooking supplies

The {essential} Oiler’s Handbook ($9.99 value) (birthday, Christmas)

• Collection of essential oils

Confessions of a Cloth Diaper Convert ($12.50 value) (baby shower)

• Cloth diapers
• Cloth wipes

• Baby food jars
• Baby spoons
• Bibs
• Sippy Cups
• Baby bowls

My Pregnancy Journey ($10.00 value) (pregnancy announcement)

• Gift card for maternity photo session

Collection of natural cleaning books like Clean, Naturally!,  Simple & Natural Green Cleaning Guide, DIY Natural Household Cleaners: How To Make Your Own Cleaners Naturally ($17.97 value)  (Wedding Shower)

• Baking Soda
• Washing Soda
• Borax
• White Vinegar
• Essential Oils
• Castile Soap
• Spray bottles
• Cleaning Cloths

Collection of herbal remedy books like A Beginner’s Guide to Assembling a Natural Medicine Cabinet, Herbal Adventures: A Pocket Guide of Seasonal Natural Remedies, Mother’s Little Herbal Helper and Home Remedie, Herbal Remedies for Children During the Cold and Flu Season ($41.98 value) (any occasion)

Natural Skincare books like Homemade Health & Beauty: 21 Simple Do-It-Yourself Recipes for Products You Use Everyday, My Buttered Life: Personal Care edition ($31.94 value) (birthdays and Christmas)

• Beeswax
• Essential Oils
• Coconut Oil
• Cocoa Butter
• Aloe Vera Gel

Nourishing Cookies for a Healthy Holiday ($4.99 value) (family Christmas gift)

• Pre-made cookies

I'm sure you can probably think of even more ideas, or if you're feeling really generous, you could just gift an entire bundle to someone!  (By the way, if you purchase 2 bundles, you get a 3rd free!)

What's your favorite gift basket idea?

How to Promote Affiliate Programs Quickly and Effectively

Now that you've signed up to some affiliate programs that you think will be a good fit for your blog, it's time to start promoting them.

But how do you promote merchants without spending forever doing it?
And how do you actually get people to buy what you're promoting?

1. Promote only what you love and use.
Don't try to sell things to your readers just to try to make money. No one likes to be “used” and you will only turn your readers off if you are constantly pushing products at them.

Just talk naturally about your real life. If you had some type of problem and were able to solve it with a particular product, let your readers know about it. They will appreciate the genuine recommendation and will have no reservations about using your affiliate link if they decide to buy that product.

2. Skip the sidebar ads.

When is the last time you clicked a sidebar ad? Exactly. You are not going to have tons of people buying stuff through your sidebar ads. Putting them up only clutters up your blog. (Use that space for ad network ads where you will get paid according to views rather than according to clicks.)

3. Post reviews of things you like and that you think your readers would want to know about. Be authentic and let your blog and social media communities truly be a community.

For example, I've posted a number of times on social media within the past few months the frustrations I'm having with trying to find a natural hair-care routine that doesn't leave my hair feeling greasy. My readers are joining in the conversation and getting involved with my life.

Soon I'll be putting up a blog post announcing that I finally figured out a routine that works. I'll be telling which products worked for me and including my affiliate links. I won't be saying “Buy this!” I'll be serving my readers, and in return they will follow my recommendations because they know I truly care about helping them.

4. Include affiliate links in your evergreen posts.

An evergreen post is a post that will always be relevant and you can re-share it over and over throughout the years.

For example, I've written a post about How I Get My Babies to Sleep Through the Night, and it gets re-shared over social media all the time. Within that post I mentioned a book that was helpful and made sure to use my affiliate link.

Notice what I did? I mentioned the book in a post that was meant to be helpful to my readers. I didn't make the post all about the book. What do you think is going to get more exposure and social shares? A post that says “Buy this!” or a post that solves a problem for people?

5. Share affiliate links over social media.

There is nothing wrong with sharing affiliate links over social media. Just like with your blog posts, be authentic. Don't share for the purpose of getting people to buy. Share for the purpose of serving your readers.

On Facebook, I have found that a “teaser” type post is effective because it gets people to click out of curiosity. The more clicks, the more people Facebook shows the post to. You are not trying to “trick” your readers to be shady, you are just trying to play Facebook's crazy game, okay?

So for example I might post on my Facebook page, “I'm so excited to have found a natural shampoo that doesn't make my hair all greasy! I've been searching for something like this for months!” Then I will leave my affiliate link with no Facebook preview so that readers will click to see what the product is. Always include proper disclosure for legal reasons. Putting (affiliate) in parentheses at the end of your post is sufficient.

6. Post sales.

People always want to save money, so mentioning sales on products you know your readers like is always effective.

7. Promote free stuff.

Remember that you get commission off ANY purchase made from Amazon within 24 hours of someone clicking your link. So you can direct them to free eBooks, which they are all too happy to grab. Then if they end up ordering something else within 24 hours you get the commission on that.

Other freebies to promote are companies that offer free trials of their product (be very upfront with your readers and make sure they know that they will need to cancel their trial or they will be charged).

If it fits your niche you can also promote things like survey companies where your readers can sign up to take surveys and earn money. It's a win-win. They earn money when they do the surveys. You earn money when they sign up.

8. Use affiliate links anywhere on the web as long as you are being authentic and as long as doesn't violate any of the rules of the community you are in.

For example, I'm in some homeschool groups on Facebook. If I am genuinely involved in the community, being helpful and engaging in discussions, the admins have no problem if I use an affiliate link as an answer to a question every now and then. So if someone asks people's opinion of the best math curriculum I could give them my honest answer and use my affiliate link for that curriculum.

9. Focus your efforts on the highest paying offers. Instead of constantly promoting a $3 item where you earn a 6% commission (18 cents), why not focus more on promoting a free Craftsy class where you earn $5 per sign up?

10. Post offers that are a tiny bit outside your niche. The more bloggers in your niche that are promoting something, the harder it is for  you  to sell to your readers. Chances are your readers have seen the same product, sale, etc. on other blogs that are similar to yours and for each blog that posts the same offer, the chances of it being purchased through  your blog goes down a little bit.

For example, I love to promote the Ultimate Homemaking Bundle when it comes around, but there are TONS of other homemaking blogs that are posting the same offer, making it harder to sell as many because the offer is spread so thinly between all the blogs. But if I were to pick up on a healthy living summit that all the big healthy living blogs are posting about, I could promote that to my readers and a great deal of them would not have heard of it because they don't follow a lot of healthy living blogs. The offer is not irrelevant to my blog, but it's not being plastered everywhere by other homemaking blogs, making me one of the only people who is promoting that offer to that particular audience. It's a whole lot easier to sell because there's not a lot of competition from other bloggers in my niche.

By following these principles, you can promote affiliate programs with hardly any additional effort. Focus on great content and serving your readers and work your affiliate links in naturally. You will be surprised how quickly your earnings can add up!

(Note: if you are a new blogger you can follow these same principles. Sure, the more traffic you have, the greater your sales will be. However, if you are authentic and are aiming to serve your readers, you will find that they will trust your recommendations and buy through your links.)

Update:  I knew I would forget something. Here's another one to add to the list. Pinterest. Pinterest is one of the MOST time-efficient ways to promote affiliate offers, especially if it's an ongoing offer. For example, when I refer people to Vitacost, they get a $10 coupon, and I get a $10 credit when they order. What I did was to write a post highlighting my favorite products to buy there and mentioning the $10 coupon they would get when they sign up through my link. Then I created a nice graphic for Pinterest and started pinning that post to as many boards as I could. I get continual traffic to that post and referrals while I sleep. Every time I place an order at Vitacost it reminds me to go back and pin my graphic again, bringing me a fresh new wave of traffic to that post and more referrals.

More Resources:

More posts on How to Make Money Blogging.

Join our Facebook group: The Busy Homemaker’s Guide to Blogging for Profit

Emails with free blogging advice from a SAHM who’s earning income while keeping her family first

Before You Start Your Blog

So you've seen my posts on how to make money blogging and you're ready to jump in and get started!

Before you go set up your blog and get to writing, it is extremely important to have a few things nailed down first.

1. What will be the main topic of your blog?

You must blog about what you are passionate about. What can you talk about for hours and never get tired of it? Could you blog about your topic every day and still find new ideas to post? Don't start a blog just to earn money. Blog because you love what you are writing about. You will NEVER make money from blogging about something you don't love. (Okay, never is probably a little strong, but it will always be an uphill battle.)

2. Supporting topics

What will be the supporting topics under your main topic? Your blog is like a house. It needs a foundation (your main topic). Then it needs some walls to give it structure.

So for example, my blog's main topic is “Christian Homemaking”

Now, let's narrow that down a little more and break it up into “Housekeeping”, “Family” “Healthy Living” and “Faith”

Okay, let's break it down one more time.

“Housekeeping” can be broken down into “Cleaning”, “Organizing” and “Home Decor”.

“Family” can be broken down into “Marriage” “Motherhood Encouragement” and “Kids Activities”

“Healthy Living” can be broken down into “Recipes” “Physical Fitness” and “Healthy Living Tips”

“Faith” can stand alone.

Are you going to have a recipe blog?

Break it down into “Main Dishes” “Side Dishes” “Desserts” etc.

Then break “Main dishes” down into “Beef” “Chicken” “Slow Cooker” etc.

You need to decide on the overall structure of your blog before you ever start. This will put you WAY ahead of the game when you do start since you can choose your blog's layout and set up the navigation correctly from the get go.

If you don't you'll end up with a disorganized mess of posts that will take you HOURS to go back and clean up.

3. Title

You need to put some thought into the title of your blog. It needs to be memorable and relevant. People should have an idea what your blog is about just by the title. People won't want to visit your organizing blog if it's named “Thoughts from Rebecca”. They have no clue who Rebecca is or what her thoughts are about. Name your blog “Organizing with Rebecca” instead.

Keep it short. The longer your title the harder it will be for people to remember.

4. Domain Name

When choosing your title, make sure it is something for which the domain name is available. Your domain is your “address”. (www.mycoolblog.com) If someone already has www.mycoolblog.com taken you don't want to name your blog My Cool Blog. You need your title and your domain name to match. If you tell someone you blog at “My Cool Blog” they are going to assume that www.mycoolblog.com is where you blog and type that in when they're looking for your great content. Only they'll have the wrong blog.

You can check to see if the name you're wanting is available here: https://www.checkdomain.com/

5. Social Media accounts.

If you are going to have a successful blog, you will need to have social media accounts. You cannot get traffic to your blog without being on social media. At minimum, that includes Facebook and Pinterest, but it would be great to be on Twitter and Instagram too.

You need to pick a blog name that is available on all the social media accounts too. You should always use the same name everywhere you go on the internet.

My blog is imperfecthomemaker.com. If you look for me on Facebook, my page is Imperfect Homemaker. If you look for me on twitter, I'm @imperfecthome. Pinterest is MaryEllen (ImperfectHomemaker) and Instagram is imperfecthomemaker.

People need to know who you are wherever you go.

So before you pick your blog title, make sure that account name is available on all the social media sites.

That will give you plenty to think on and get organized by the time I walk you through the how-to's of actually setting up your blog.

Follow these instructions and you will be way, way, WAY ahead of the game from where most bloggers start. Trust me, okay?

More Resources:

More posts on How to Make Money Blogging.

Join our Facebook group: The Busy Homemaker's Guide to Blogging for Profit

Emails with free blogging advice from a SAHM who's earning income while keeping her family first:

I’ve Got This…Wait…No I Don’t

I had big, starry-eyed ideas before our sweet little munchkin was born.

I would follow my own advice and have low expectations for my days.  Basically, I would focus on the kids'  needs, make sure dinner got made, and try to clean and keep up with laundry as much as I could and not stress about what didn't get done.

Sounds easy, right?

“I've got this.”  I thought to myself.

But God has gentle ways of reminding me that “No, you don't.”

All 3 of the older kids spent the first couple days and nights at their grandparents' house while hubby and I got to enjoy some rest and quiet time with the baby.

Last night they came home, and here's how this morning went…

8:30 am – hubby's phone rings.  It's his boss, saying that he hates to bother him, but they need his help with something at work.  No problem.  He tells me he's going to take the kids with him so I can stay in bed and sleep.  I've been up most of the night with the baby.

11 am – Did you catch the time???  2  1/2 hours later, he's finally going out the door.  The delays included wet beds, a blowout diaper, and coaxing 3 kids to finish their breakfast.  Meanwhile, I still have not made it out of the bedroom, but haven't gotten any extra sleep.  I've been dealing with projectile spit-up and more blowout diapers, changing my own clothes and the baby's a couple times, and trying to figure out what to do with all this milk that is coming in that baby's tummy can't hold.  So far I haven't even managed to find a few seconds to drink a protein shake that my husband made for me a half hour ago.  I know I'm supposed to be eating enough and resting, but it's not working out very well.  And I'm only taking care of one baby while my husband just spent 2  1/2 hours caring for the other 3 kids.

How in the world am I going to do all of this when he goes back to work?

Me and my big ideas.

I planned on keeping things simple, but it's pretty clear that even that's not going to be enough.

Right now it's 8:48 pm.  Hubby took the older kids to Walmart while I'm making dinner.  Yes, that's right.  I am making dinner at 8:48 pm.  At least we are having dinner at all.

I know not every day will be like this.  Once the baby and I get squared away with nursing, she won't take up quite so much of my time.  We'll eventually settle into a routine.  Every kid isn't going to wet their bed every day.

But I need days like this.

I need to be reminded that I can't do it.

My mom has always told me that I was a very independent child, always wanting to “do it myself”.  Apparently, I'm one of God's independent children too.  “I can do it myself,” I tell him.

“Okay, I'll let you try that and see how it works out for you.”

As a child when my mother would let me try doing things myself, I had to finally admit that I really couldn't.  I had to humbly come to her after I'd made a mess of things with my own effort and ask for her help cleaning it all up.

I'm the same way as God's child. After pridefully thinking that I've got things under control, He stands back until I humbly realize that I can't do anything apart from Him.

Yes, these rough newborn days are good for me.

Friend, are you in the same boat?  Maybe not with a newborn, but with whatever your circumstances are?  Do you think you've got things under control?  Run to your Father before you make a mess of things.

Here are three things these past couple days have taught me about what I need to do as “God's independent child” and what I believe you should do when you find yourself fighting that battle too:

Admit that you are weak, and praise Him that He is strong. John 15:5  …without me ye can do nothing.  Tell God honestly that you've been trying to do things yourself, and ask Him to help you.  If there are specific rough spots in your day, pray specifically about those particular things.    

When rough days settle down and start flowing more smoothly, don't turn back away from him.  I admit, I am very bad about doing this.  I realize that I've been depending on my own strength, so I come to him asking for help.  When he answers my prayers, instead of thanking Him, I pat myself on the back and pridefully think that I'm the one who has turned the day from chaos to peace.  Wow. I sure am a slow learner.

Give thanks in everything. Sometimes God doesn't fix all our problems; He simply gives us grace to endure them.  Thank him whether he makes your burdens lighter or simply chooses to help you bear them.

Are you an independent child?  What changes do you need to make in your life?

Birth Center Vs. Hospital Birth

It is entirely possible for a mom to have an unmedicated, natural birth in a hospital surrounding.  I know from experience that is true because my first 3 children were all natural hospital births. Yet each one was increasingly more difficult to “hang in there” and not cave to the pressures of medication or unnecessary intervention. I basically labored at home as long as I possibly could so that I could be in my own relaxed atmosphere.  I went to the hospital just in time for delivery. (My first was actually born in the car just before we got to the hospital.  Whoops!)  With my second, I was not at the hospital too terribly long before delivery, but I was miserable the whole time.  With my third I was only there a few hours, but that was long enough to make me so miserable that I wasn't sure I wanted any more children. The longer I sat there, chained to IV's and monitors, with unfamiliar faces rushing in and out of the room, the less relaxed I became.

• I got to answer what seemed like hundreds of questions for paperwork while needing desperately to concentrate on breathing through contractions.
• I got to be poked and prodded for an IV line by a nurse who acted like she was bored out of her mind and extremely inconvenienced by having to care for yet another patient.
• When I was finally left alone, I was told I could be in whatever position I wanted – sit, walk around, etc.  Really???  I have yet to figure out how I was supposed to do that while chained to all that stuff.  Trying to change positions would have been a whole lot more uncomfortable than just staying put and leaving things as they were.
• When the doctor came in to check my progress, he also broke my water before I even realized what was happening.
• When it came time to push, I was basically placed into the position which was most convenient for the doctors and nurses, even though it certainly was not the most comfortable for me.
• After delivery, my baby was whisked away to be washed and weighed, and I was not allowed to move to a recovery room until my IV line was finished. It wasn't until that point I discovered that it was loading my veins with pitocin.
• Once in the recovery room, I was not allowed to leave the hospital until 48 hours from the birth.  By that time I was thoroughly exhausted — not so much from having a newborn, but from having my sleep interrupted every few minutes by nurses coming in unannounced to check this or that or offer me some type of medication.

Now, all those things in and of themselves are not the worst thing that could happen, and I still managed to have natural births in spite of them.  I'm sure a natural birth would be even more attainable if I had a very assertive advocate along with me to make sure everything was done according to my wishes. I could have had another natural hospital birth if I had needed to, and it wouldn't have been the end of the world, but I wanted to experience giving birth at a birth center and see for myself if there was a big difference.   Here's a little about my experience:

• At every prenatal appointment, I saw the midwife who would be there for my delivery.  I wouldn't have to deliver with a doctor or nurses whom I had never met before.  I also met the other midwives just in case my midwife were to not be able to be there for some reason.
• Throughout the pregnancy, I was offered advice for natural treatments for common pregnancy complaints rather than medication.
• When labor began and I arrived at the birth center I didn't have to sit through a long process of complicated paperwork to be admitted.  I was immediately allowed to rest or move around as I wished.
• Throughout labor, I could go wherever I wanted in the birth center.  The bedroom was homey and comfortable, and I was able to relax and sleep a little.
• I did not have to be hooked up to any IV's or monitors; baby's heartbeat simply had to be checked every 30 minutes.
• My midwife had gotten to know me and what I wanted ahead of time. She was ready to help or simply leave me alone. (She knew that I just like to be left alone, and that's what she did, although she was available to support me as needed if I changed my mind.)
• When it came time to push, she encouraged me to get into whatever position felt most comfortable.  After the first push, she thought that position wasn't going to be effective, and offered her suggestion as to a better position. But she didn't make me feel like I had to do it that way.  (She was right, though, and I was glad for her suggestion!  Baby was out in one push!)
• At the birth center, I had my first water birth.  At the beginning of the pregnancy, I wasn't so sure what I thought, but I finally warmed up to the idea, and now I am glad I did!  I wouldn't exactly call it wonderful, because I don't exactly enjoy the process of giving birth no matter where I am, but it definitely felt better than delivering hospital-style!
• 2 hours after the birth, I was allowed to go home if I wished, or stay and rest as long as I wanted.  I stayed for about 5 hours and rested, then went home.  I felt more rested after the first afternoon home than I did after an entire 2 days staying at the hospital.  Sleeping in my own bed, uninterrupted by nurses barging in every time I doze off, has been absolutely wonderful!

I am thankful for the experience of using the birth center, and if we have any more children, I plan on going there again!