Ask Jenn from Frugal Upstate a question (Women of Personal Finance Spotlight)

[FrugalNYC]

Almost forgot to ask, what is your opinion on the economy and how it will the mindset of the "average" american household? Do you think more people will be "frugally" minded?

[Frugalupstate]

Originally Posted by Mags Mom

Jen your trip sounds wonderful. Have you experienced backlash from other mommy bloggers for checking out Walmart? I know there are some very strong feelings about that corporation. Are other bloggers generally very supportive of your success?

You mentioned problogging in your previous answer. Is it really possible for moms (and dads) who blog to become professionals at it? That would be a dream.

Walmart engenders some very, very strong responses in folks-doesn't it?

So far I've been lucky. I had one negative comment early on that started a healthy and interesting conversation. End result-the reader and I agreed to disagree. Otherwise I've had very kind congratulatory responses from my readers.

Now when I post about my trip to Walmart HQ I'm sure I'll get a few negative ones-you know, accusations about "drinking the kool-aide" etc.

The other concern I've gotten from other bloggers is about "working for free". Many folks feel that Walmart is being cheap by not paying us, and that we are devaluing and undermining the efforts of other bloggers to be seen as professionals and to be paid for their work. I understand the concern-I really do. But I don't work for Walmart, I can participate or not on each thing as it comes along. It allows me to be objective, and to maintain my ethical & philosophical commitments without having "signed away" anything in a contract. I actually feel it allows me to maintain my credibility.

Let me explain with an example.

I have been given the opportunity to receive some really neat items from Walmart suppliers due to my participation in this program. At first I felt an ethical dilemma. My entire blog is about being careful with your money and not spending on things you really don't need. How could I review products?

On the other hand, I've been blogging for 2 1/2 years without compensation (although I am currently monetizing my blog & working on a few projects that hopefully will lead to compensation-teaching, speaking, consulting etc). Here someone was offering to give me some items that I would like, but never spend the money on myself-the first "payment" if you will that I've been offered in any way shape or form.

I wanted to take some of it, but I straight out refuse to bend on my principles. The answer? Giveaways. In many cases the suppliers are willing to give us doubles of an item-one for us to try and one to give away, in other cases the items are nothing that I would want to keep (or else something that I might like but feel honor bound to pass on to my readers). Since I am not being paid by Walmart or the suppliers I can feel free to do what I like with the items. So I am simply describing what they are and offering to give them away in random drawings to my readers. That's a value to me, and a value to them.

I'm not encouraging the readers to spend, but the supplier is getting their name out there. And my readers are gaining a benefit-the opportunity to get something for nothing. (ps-keep your eye out and think about subscribing to my blog-I'll have a ton of toy giveaways in the weeks leading up to Christmas).

Now on to the ProBlogger question. I consider myself a professional blogger because I am considering it a business. Frugal Upstate is not just a "keep the family updated on my doings" type blog, and although it has started out as a hobby I am leveraging it into something more-instituting monetization and pursing other related activities as I mentioned above. I feel my work is good.

But very few people make tons of money blogging. Most paid blogging opportunities (ie writing for another site) make around $10 a post, with the really, really good folks making $25 or so. Folks also can run their own blogs and then monetize with ads. Ads usually pay based on either the number of folks who click on the advertisement or else on the number of page views the advertisement gets (called impressions). I am going with the latter, since I don't want people to have to spend money for me to make money, due to the same philosophical reasons listed above.

So with impressions they go with "CPM" which is the cost per thousand impressions. This varies widely depending on who you do advertising through, although I've heard a good average estimate would be $3 (although some places do up to $8). So for every 1000 page views you get, you get $3. That is not big money unless you have a HUGE audience.

Long story short-don't go into blogging expecting to make huge amounts of money fast. According to the panels I sat in at the Blog World Expo-many of the "top earners" for blogging put in an incredible amount of hours. They also monetize by lots of other things-Book deals, e-courses, speaking engagements (Chris Brogan for example told us he makes $10,000 per speaking engagement). All of these methods require that you write good content for quite some time before you can break into it.

I am by no means an expert on all of this-My goal was that when Buddy went to kindergarten this fall I would leverage my blogging into some sort of money making/business opportunity. I'm happy to have others more experienced than I chime in on this-you can also find lots of great articles at a real professional's site: ProBlogger. Darren Rowse is amazing and I've learned a lot from reading him.

Considering it's been just a little more than a month, I am very happy with the progress I have made. I was chosen as one of the 11moms which is giving me tons of contacts and opportunities. I have already arranged two local speaking gigs (not huge money!) and am talking with the local community college about teach a couple of night courses on blogging. I have considered writing a book-after all I've got over 800 posts about saving money to draw from.

Hope that addresses your questions, feel free to ask me to explain anything in more depth.

[Frugalupstate]

Originally Posted by FrugalNYC

I took a look at several posts and overview of Frugal Upstate last night and thought it to be a great resource. It seems to be attracting more female readers though, and judging by the posts, I know why

I've started a blog that has a name that could be a sister site to yours, FrugalNYC. My aim with my blog is to provide a resource to live and enjoy NYC on a frugal mindset. I really like the layout of your site. Do you have any resources on customizing blogger sites? I'm a "techie" so I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty, though I don't like to do too much Coding. Please take a look at my site and let me know what you think.

Welcome to the frugal family FrugalNYC! And thank you for your kind words about Frugal Upstate As you can tell, I follow the adage about "writing what you know". I live in a rural area and am a 36 year old mother of two, so most of my money saving tips do relate to that perspective (although anyone can save money by doing things like cooking at home, carefully considering wether something is a want or need etc). I know I don't have the perspective or resources to really talk well about how a young swinging single can save money and still have a good time, or about issues specific to retirees. I TRY to touch on those issues, but as you noted, it's obvious where my focus is. And that's ok-there are wonderful blogs out there (I hope yours will be one of them) that address those issues too.

I took a quick look at your blog and my first comment is ditch the standard blogger template. Nothing makes a person look like an amateur more than using the standard template (I used that green one myself for almost a year!!!). You can google "free blogger templates" and get a ton of great resources-almost too many to choose from. There are also great sites like ProBlogger that discuss blogging in general, and BloggerBuster which has great tips and hacks for blogger templates (that's how I figured out the tabs across the top of my blog)

Make sure whatever you do that you have a search box (the standard blogger header has one, but you can ditch that entire header). It is truly annoying when you go back to a blog because you know there is something you want to link to and there is no search box to go back and find it.

Write an "about me" post that is more than the goofy blogger profile. You can backdate it so it isn't on your front page, but make sure somewhere prominent on your sidebar is a link to it. Folks like to know who you are and what perspective you are coming from. Right now there is nowhere visible to see that stuff. Are you male? Female? Old? Young? No way to know. Plus lack of an about page makes you look a bit spammy-sort of a "what are you hiding" vibe. A picture of some sort is good too.

Make it easy for folks to subscribe to your blog. Again, nothing is visible. Go to Feedburner and look up how to set your account up and then put the widgets in place.

Use pictures. Make sure you use only creative commons copyrighted photos and give attribution. I like to use Flickr for this. I do a search on the subject, then before I even look at the pictures (no use falling in love with something I can't use) I hit advanced search (to the right of the search box) scroll all the way down and then checkmark the "creative commons copyright" option. Hit search again and it will only show you pictures that it is legal for you to use.

I download the photo to my desktop, then I upload it to my free photobucket account (I don't use flickr for this because I don't want people finding the photos and then using them and giving me attribution instead of the original owner). When I upload it to Photobucket, I give it a name and in the description book I copy the link to the photo in flickr and write a note for the attribution-for example there will be a link and then I'll type "photo by Kat276" or whatever. That way if I decide to reuse the photo months in the future I'll be able to see where I originally got it from.

Now when I upload the photo to blogger I use the "direct link" option from photobucket and upload it, instead of uploading it to Blogger's server. That way if I ever decided to migrate my blog, the photos links will all still work. I frequently will put the attribution for the photos all the way at the end of the post.

All of these things that I've mentioned are free resources. How much more frugal than that can you get?

[Frugalupstate]

Originally Posted by FrugalNYC

Almost forgot to ask, what is your opinion on the economy and how it will the mindset of the "average" american household? Do you think more people will be "frugally" minded?

I think we will see a large change as peoples budgets get tight. I've already noticed more frequent use of the word "frugal" in print and in advertising.

[Frugalupstate]

As you all can see, I usually have a lot to say on everything!

But you don't have to ask me deep philosophical questions, I'm more than happy to answer a few quick questions too.

[MrsMicah]

What do you think the top web resources/blogs/forums are for someone who doesn't have much time to spend shopping around for deals but wants to keep her eyes on them?

[Litestars]

All of you bloggers are amazing. I don't know how you come up with so many different ideas to save money. I think if I had to come up with three tips a week I would run out of posts in about a month. How do you find new ideas? I don't have time to travel to conventions this is the next best thing to attending a blogging panel.

_+_+_+ Long time fan _+_+_+

[Frugalupstate]

Originally Posted by FrugalNYC

I've started a blog that has a name that could be a sister site to yours, FrugalNYC. My aim with my blog is to provide a resource to live and enjoy NYC on a frugal mindset. I really like the layout of your site. Do you have any resources on customizing blogger sites? I'm a "techie" so I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty, though I don't like to do too much Coding. Please take a look at my site and let me know what you think.

I wrote really long answer to this a few days ago, and for some reason it said it was going to moderator and then never appeared. So sorry-I haven't been ignoring you, really!

I think that your site looks like it has great possibilities! I think that city living has so many unique challenges for frugal living, and never having lived in a city I have no personal basis to address them. So Kudos! I think you've found a good niche.

As for improving your site, the first thing to do is to get a different template. Using a standard blogger template makes a person look like an amateur. There are tons of great free templates out there-just google "free blogger template" and you'll be overwhelmed by choices, I promise!

If you want to take a template and then add to it, I recommend checking out Blogger Buster-she is awesome! There are hacks and add ons of every type you can imagine out there-that's how I learned to put the tabs across the top of my blog, and to make a separate archive section & label page etc.

A custom domain also improves the credibility of your site. Someone grabbed my .com right after I started my blog I've got the .net now and need to change my addy-so I'm not practicing what I preach.

If your new template gets rid of the blogger bar across the top of the site (which I recommend-it again makes a blog look amateur) you HAVE to install a search box. It is incredibly aggravating when I want to link back to a post I know someone wrote and can't find a search box. I usually just skip it and they lose the backlink.

Do an "about" post-then place a permanent link to it on your sidebar in a visible place. People want to know about the person who is writing. Are they male or female? young or old? Married with kids or swinging single? A little information can help them feel connected and put your writing into context for them.

Dont, whatever you do, install music that starts playing when folks visit your site. ***shudder***

Participate. That's how you will get readers. Write good content, and then go out and read other folks blogs and comment. Don't be backlinking to your own stuff-just make thoughtful relevant comments and folks will eventually come and check you out. Also make sure you answer folks who ask questions or comment on your site. Blogging is about interaction.

You should also consider participating in forums (like the one here) and always make sure you put a link to your site in your signature block. For example, on any site I participate or comment on I sign it as "Jenn @ Frugal Upstate" instead of just "Jenn". It helps to build my personal brand.

The "Festival of Frugality" is another great way to get your name and your articles out there. Every week you can enter in an article, and it will be compiled into a big sort of "best of" post by who ever the host is that week. And once you feel your blog is up to snuff you can offer to host!

Oh, one other thing. Especially in a location specific blog like yours, once folks find you let them be the experts! It's great to have a post about something like "saving money by hitting happy hours that serve free hors devours", and then end with a question: "What great places do you know that have an awesome happy hour". Then your audience can comment, making the article a better resource for everyone.

Lastly, read folks like "ProBlogger". They will teach you a ton!

Hope that helps.

[Frugalupstate]

Originally Posted by MrsMicah

What do you think the top web resources/blogs/forums are for someone who doesn't have much time to spend shopping around for deals but wants to keep her eyes on them?

You know, its weird. I don't buy a lot of stuff, so I don't have a lot of personal experience with this. In general I tend to research specific items, and then do a google search, which will bring it up from several stores. Then I can compare.

In my slightly less frugal days when I was buying more I used "My Simon" to compare across different retailers, but that's been quite a while.

Let's open this one to anyone else who happens through the forum. Ideas?

[Frugalupstate]

Originally Posted by Litestars

All of you bloggers are amazing. I don't know how you come up with so many different ideas to save money. I think if I had to come up with three tips a week I would run out of posts in about a month. How do you find new ideas? I don't have time to travel to conventions this is the next best thing to attending a blogging panel.

_+_+_+ Long time fan _+_+_+

Well thank you!

Honestly, I am coming up with ideas constantly. I have a document I leave on my desktop that I labeled "Frugal Upstate Ideas" and anytime I think of an idea I type it in there. That gives me a list to turn to when I get writers block.

But that hasn't been much of a problem. There always seems to be something in my life that I can talk about, either an idea which I have successfully tried, one that I want to try, or one that doesn't really pertain to me personally but that I think my readers might enjoy.

I add in some recipes because I feel that cooking is a great way to save money. Recently in my quest to get my writing a little more under control I have started typing in 3 or 4 recipes when I have the time, then when I need a post I can always just flesh it out with a picture* and an intro.

Similiarly I keep an eye out for neat craft ideas that I could suggest to my readers. I'll tag those, and other interesting articles, on my delicious acct so I can find them later.

I make sure my readers know that I enjoy getting comments and emails. I tell them so and then I try to answer them, either in the comments, via email, or by pulling the comment or email out into it's own post to answer. The more questions I get from readers the more ideas (and relevancy) I have.

Another technique I have used in the past was to run a giveaway, and make the entry requirement be that you had to say what info you'd like to see me cover in a post. Presto! A whole list of ideas to cover that are exactly what my audience wants to read.

Lastly, I find that running the occasional series works. Last year I did a Frugal Fashion series-I not only wrote, but solicited some guest posts and had a prize where people had to write in their best frugal fashion idea, which then because a post.

Blogging can be a lot of work. My personal opinion is that if you have a hard time coming up with things to say, then maybe you are writing on the wrong topic. Take some time and really think about what you are passionate about, what you want to learn more about, and what you have to say.

Good luck!



* (I love love love the kind folks on flickr.com who willingly mark their photos with the creative commons copyright to share)