Business Tips

28 May

3 Ick-Free Ways to Promote Affiliate Links on Social Media

Erika Madden   |   Blog Income Report, Blogging Tips, Business Tips, Classy Marketing, Social Media Marketing   |   21 Comments

How to share + promote affiliate links on social media without sounding sleazy, icky, or greedy. | olyvia.co/promote-affiliate-links-on-social-media/

As part of my blog traffic + income report this month I'm sharing some tips on a topic I hear people voice frequent worries about:

"I want to try to make some extra money as an affiliate for companies and/or people I support, but I'm scared to actually share the links on social media. I don't want to sound like I'm greedy (or a sellout)!"

This is a valid concern in affiliate marketing.

(We've all seen the scammy-looking accounts on Twitter or Facebook where their feed is overrun with "SAVE $19.42 - LilyDoo Makeup Compact, Gold Stripes $36.27" advertisements, and it's not pretty.)

But happily, it doesn't have to be this way -- and you CAN promote affiliate links on social media without looking like a ShamWow salesman. 

Below are the 3 principles I live by when sharing my referral links so that I'm not obnoxious to others:
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22 May

5 Official Secrets To Getting More Blog Comments

Erika Madden   |   Blogging Tips, Business Tips   |   60 Comments

How do I get more blog comments? Here are 5 secrets behind a busy combox + why you want one on your blog.

In assurance to makers, doers, and dreamers everywhere, they say "if you build it they will come."

But I'm about 102% certain that whoever the heck "they" is never had a blog.

(Picture who you may at this point, but all I see in my head is a young, baseball-playing Kevin Costner.)

"If you build it, they will come!"

See, I don't know about you, but I've built a large number of websites in my day.

And only a handful came to most of them.

(Especially that fun -- but ohhhmyugly -- "I-am-so-darn-fed-up-with-Britney-Spears!" site I created as a 15 year old. Ha.)

Along the way I did learn what it takes to steadily attract website visitors and get noticed online, but getting blog traffic is -- to continue our corny baseball + Costner theme we have going on here -- like only getting to first base on the baseball diamond.

So what's second base?

Getting engagement (otherwise affectionately known -- probably only by me -- as blog comment luv).

The baseball diamond of blog success! Olyvia.co

Before I "pitch" you the steps to get more blog comments (oh I crack myself up), let's be clear: simply because you don't have much engagement on your blog DOES NOT mean you can't make money from it or that it's one colossal failure.

You can monetize and sell successfully through your website as soon as you've started bringing in some visitors, and the fact you have little to no comments coming in right now doesn't necessarily mean your blog is failing you.

HOWEVER, there are good, business-y reasons for wanting engagement on your blog, which I will explain to you later on in this post.

With that, let's get to the 5 secrets to getting more blog comments!
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13 May

How to Handle Negative Comments Online (Like A Pro)

Erika Madden   |   Business Tips, Customer Service, Online Etiquette, Reputation   |   33 Comments

How to handle negative comments online like a true pro. There are great customer service + reputation tips for creative business owners and entrepreneurs in here!

I know how it goes down.

You're busting your (sometimes) manicured nails on your blog, staying up until 1 a.m. hustling for business, and trying to convince yourself that:

1. you DO have something worth saying,

2. you ARE capable, and

3. gosh darn it, people like you.



And then, just when you think you've found your groove, what happens?

Someone comes along to tell you just how ridiculous, incompetent, fraudulent, and ignorant you really are.

(Or at least that's how negative online comments feel, yes?)

The experience can be horrifying.

And worse, it can make us want to be horrifying in return.

But I have a better way to deal.

(Because there's only ONE thing more destructive for your biz or blog reputation than critical, complaining, and rude comments, and that's a poor response to them.)

This is how to handle negative comments online, Chief Olyvia style. Ready to roll with me? Let's go!
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06 May

10 Ways to (Not) Suck at Email Marketing

Erika Madden   |   Business Tips, Classy Marketing, Email Marketing   |   26 Comments

how_to_suck_at_email_marketing

A guest post by Kirsten Thompson, blogger & e-newsletter extraordinaire

Hey fellow creatives! I'm honored to be here with you today, and so grateful to Erika for allowing me to share my love of all things "newsletter" with you!

First, let's be honest with one another.

If you're like a lot of bloggers and online business people, you fall into one of these two categories regarding newsletters:

1. You know you need a newsletter, you just don't know where to start.

2. You have a newsletter, but you know you need to kick it up a notch.

Today, I want to share with you 10 ways to absolutely suck at email marketing, and how to make sure you don't.
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22 April

How To Get Pinterest Followers + Repins: The Ultimate Guide

Erika Madden   |   Business Tips, Social Media Marketing   |   204 Comments

The ultimate in Pinterest tips! How to get followers on Pinterest (and drive traffic back to your website) if you are a blogger, business owner, or entrepreneur. Learn how to get more re-pins, what makes people follow you, and get 15+ real-life examples. Read + bookmark it at http://olyvia.co/how-to-get-pinterest-followers-and-repins/. This is like an e-course on growing your Pinterest account, but totally free!

You might think you can't grow your Pinterest account. You may think you'll never know how to get more followers on Pinterest. You may think that Pinterest can't drive traffic to your website. You may think, my friend, that Pinterest is what they call "le giant waste of time."

If so, you and I -- we feel each other.

I've been using Pinterest for years with past blogs, but when I launched Olyvia.co, I honestly wasn't sure how well it would work for the brand.

I knew the platform worked like crazy pants for food recipes, DIY tutorials, quotes, and pretty product photos. But business, marketing, and blogging?

Let's just say I wasn't 100% convinced.

Despite my worries that Pinterest wouldn't be a major social media platform for my business, I went ahead and made a decision from the start to create "pinnable" images (more on that in points 6 & 7 below) for each and every blog post I published.

I had high (read: desperate) hopes that, somehow, it would pull through for me.

Ten months later? Pinterest accounts for 60% of social media referrals to my blog (Twitter comes in second at 20%), and is the top referrer overall with more than 30% of my total traffic coming to me from the image-oriented platform.

To say I have a love affair with the platform is a vast understatement. Me and Pinterest? We're like THAT.

But, I know not everyone sees the same results -- and I'd like to fix that. To help you learn how to get Pinterest followers, more repins, and -- ultimately -- more traffic to your site, I've created today's Ultimate Guide for you.

(Ooo, don't you like things that sound so fancy?)

There is a huge amount of info packed in this post (it may or may not...

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09 April

9+ Smart Facebook Groups For Women Entrepreneurs, Freelancers, + Bloggers

Erika Madden   |   Business Tips, Resources, Social Media Marketing   |   110 Comments

9 of the BEST Facebook Groups for Women Bloggers, Freelancers, + Entrepreneurs

Have you ever joined a Facebook group thinking that it looked pretty darn cool, only to get in there and find an endless stream of promos + sunset pictures with sappy quote overlays?

Yeahhhh. Me too.

For the last 4-6 months I've been on a relentless search for "quality" Facebook groups to help me learn more + grow my brand. All I've (ever so humbly) asked for is a place that has:

1. No icky spam

2. Useful, correct advice

3. Helpful, engaged people



Am I being difficult here? No! And yet, for every great community I've stumbled into, I've stumbled into 3 more that give me that "ewwww, I just stepped into a late night infomercial while I was trying to find the Game Of Thrones marathon" sensation.

I don't like feeling so undignified + swindled (can you tell I take my Facebook forays seriously? :) ), hence the creation of this brief guide to help you avoid a similarly dreadful pick-your-own-adventure scenario.

(Ahem. You did read those books when you were a kid, right?)

So in no particular order and without further chitty chat, here are 9 of my favorite Facebook groups for women entrepreneurs, freelancers, and business-minded bloggers!
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