5 Items to Consider for Your Work From Home Coffee Station…
After working from home for any amount of time and getting tired of having to take a moment to go out and get coffee it becomes necessary and let’s be honest, fun project to set up your very own work from home coffee station.
Your coffee station will speak to you and be either a complete necessity or a fun creative outlet to create that perfect work from home Fung Shui that your work from home space is missing.
Taking a coffee break at work was always a good time, why not be able to take a coffee break at home?
With your very own coffee station, you can make it as decorated or as efficient as you want and it can be a work in progress. It can be the little space in your home office that gets decorated for the holidays.
You’re the boss when it comes to your work from home coffee station and here are just some ideas to help get your creativity started.
Five items to consider for your work from home coffee station:
when thinking of a in home coffee station you want to know are you going to put all of your equipment on a counter top? Cabinet? Kitchen counter? Stool? Stoop? Where is all of your materials and decorations going to go?
Do enjoy the traditional coffee pot or are you going to go with the quick Keurig style coffee maker to get the job done?
If you want to get the richness out of your coffee and still use ground coffee. One of the quickest and flavorful methods is the french press.
If you want a faithful container that isn’t a mug and that is going to last and hold your desired temperature for long periods of time, Contigo is the way to conti-go. (It’s cheesy, but I stand by it.)
Whether you want to go all out with your design and decor or you want to be extremely efficient and get the bare essentials items like this are a great place to start and you can find great reviews and feedback on each product that you are considering for your work from home coffee station all on Amazon.
If you enjoy working from anywhere, Storytelling and writing in general, you might love owning a domain of your own where you can write about it? Ever want to own your own domain name (Yourname.com)?
Bluehost hosts your blog so that you can own your domain and make money blogging. Check them out only if you’re interested in making money blogging; otherwise, go for a free blog instead 🙂
It is the Amazon you love, for work. Make workplace procurement easier with convenient delivery options, simplified purchasing workflows, multiple payment options, and a competitive marketplace with business-only pricing and quantity discounts. Anyone who makes purchases for work (eg. procurement specialists, office administration, IT departments, etc.) can create a FREE account for their business. Customer must be from a verified business in order to successfully create their Amazon Business account.
We hope you enjoyed this quick post: 5 Items to Consider for Your Work From Home Coffee Station
What should I ask myself when I’m wondering, “what should I write about?”
It is that fateful moment again.
You have gotten out of bed. Brushed your teeth and showered.
The aroma of coffee (or tea, I’m drinking more tea these days personally) fills your kitchen. You pour that beautiful hot steamy comforting liquid into your #1 Boss Mug that you unashamedly bought for yourself since you work from home.
You make your way to your favorite nook to write and you get into your brain stimulating position.
You stare at your computer screen and here it comes…”What should I write about?”
You sit for a moment staring at the screen. Then out the window. And think again, “What should I write about today?”
You wait and wait for inspiration to WOOSH through your door and slap your brain and the words to start flowing masterfully and…nothing.
The dreaded question we ask ourselves every morning doesn’t seem to help much when we are stuck in the vaccuum of our own head. But not you.
If you are reading this you are one of the smart ones that knows in order to get the words flowing ideas must come from elsewhere and you are here to find them.
I hope that this post helps you find that spark to get started today and many days from here on out 🙂
22 Things to help you think through the question, “What should I write about?”
What you can look forward to in this post:
Start with simple writing prompts: What are you passionate about?
What do you already know a lot about?
What relevant events are going on?
What do you have strong opinions about?
Is there a controversial topic that’s ‘hot’ right now?
What do you want readers to take away from your writing?
What do you want readers to do with your writing?
Do you want to write fiction?
Look at your other posts to see if you can go into details about something you previously covered broadly
If you already have a following, have you asked them what they want to hear about?
Have you used Quora?
Have you checked Twitter?
Have you written about a time you failed?
Take one of your popular posts and write about it from a different angle.
Check the comment sections of other bloggers and influencers in your niche.
Can you write about a mentor and how they helped your business succeed?
Have you written an income report to let your readers in on what’s really working and what’s not for your business?
Have you written about your readers’ problems and how to solve them?
Have you shared with your readers your writing routine and detailed the different aspects of how you work through a blog post from start to finish?
Have you written about a problem you are in the middle of discovering for yourself?
Have you shared about a negative comment you received and how you turned it into a good thing?
Have you shared with your readers a recent time you were personally refreshed by a blog post you recently read?
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What Should I Write About: 22 Writing Prompts to Give You BIG IDEAS
1. Start Simple. What are you passionate about?
When you are asking yourself the question, “What should I write about?” the easiest writing prompts to write about is to share about things that you are most passionate about.
Something that you are either very knowledgeable because of experience is easier to write about than something you have to spend hours and hours researching.
On the flip side, you can choose a topic or subject that you know little about but may find interesting to write about and do the research knowing that you are going to enjoy it compared to looking into a subject you care little about.
Another convenience of writing about what you are passionate about is that it’s easier to write about things you care a lot about and have enjoyed thinking about.
Try this little writing exercise:
Focus on: describing your passion.
Try to write this: I love [your passion]. I love doing this because [talk about what excites you and what you find rewarding about it]. Or I love thinking about [your passion] because [talk about why you like it.]
Example: I love writing because the English language and the art of storytelling is fascinating.
Now go deeper.
Google: [your passion]
Read an article or 3 that pop out to you.
As you are reading pause and write down facts, opinions, quotes, etc, that stick out to you as things that will be important to others as you read them.
If you do just this one exercise you will have enough information and inspiration to write a blog, journal, essay, project, etc.
Just this one writing exercise can take you far if you use it well when you are wondering, “What should I write about?”
2. What should I write about: What do you already know a lot about?
Going back to the first point, it’s easiest to start with something you already know a lot about. Choosing a topic that you already have a great knowledge base on is simpler to share than something you have to go out of your way to find out about. So, when you are having trouble knowing what to write about start with topics you already have a large base knowledge with.
It will take less time, to begin with. You won’t have to take long research breaks and you’ll enjoy writing about something you know very well and have put a good amount of personal time into.
When you’re thinking, “what should I write about?” try this simple exercise:
What do I know about already that I have spent hours learning how to do?
Make a list:
Exercise
Health
Fitness
Music
Art
Your profession
Supplements
Finance
Tech
Gluten free
writing
Research
At home recipes
How to get your kids to sleep
How to get your kids to eat strange foods
How to get more readers to your blog
How to potty train your pet
How to get stains out of shirts
Etc
You can see in this list that nothing is off limits when it comes to knowing a lot about something.
No matter who you are, you may know something more than someone else about a given subject
How to get my little brother to stop sneaking in my room
How to get my kids to get along on a car ride
What movies are family friendly
What are star constelation names
What are some ways I can save money grocery shopping
How can I save time grocery shopping
How do I relieve back pain
If you have done something and figured out how to do it its worth writing about because someone else is going to be looking to do that same thing eventually.
How do I level up faster in this game
How do I get my boss to treat me with respect
How do I make friends
How can I get my brother in law to think I’m cool
How do I learn to type faster
How do I sleep better
I hope the point 🙂
Any topic is up for grabs and you might just be surprised to find out what you know how to do very well that others are looking to read about 🙂
So the next time you are thinking, “what should I write about?” think about anything in your life that you know how to do or know a lot about. And write as if you were telling someone else how to do that thing.
3. What relevant events are going on?
Another great thing that can be very interesting to write about depending on the day would be an event that is relevant.
This could be carried out in three ways.
You can write about a worldwide event that everyone is thinking about and talking about.
2. The other path to carrying this out is to find a relevant event in your specific niche.
Maybe you want to write about fashion and it’s fashion week.
Maybe you want to write about marine life and it’s shark week.
Whatever your niche may be there are almost always big events going on that have to do with your main ideas or relevant ideas.
3. You could write about a specific event in your life that is relevant to your subject.
If you write about fashion you can write about what got you started in your love of fashion.
Or you could write about a controversial situation that happened to you and your fashion. Maybe your friend said your outfit was ugly behind your back and you found out about it?
If you are going to write about an event try to include these tips:
Make the title short and powerful
2 title examples:
Bad- This week is fashion week and we are so excited to see all the different colorful items that the designers will be showing us.
Good- 7 Outfits From Fashion Week That You Will 100% Regret Not Seeing
Or
9 Outfits From Fashion Week that Will Shock Your Socks Off
A little over the top, but it tends to work and I think you can see the difference.
Give tasty info at the start but don’t give away everything
If you are going to write about the event give a few exciting details away at the start but don’t give away the entire cake in the first 3 paragraphs.
Give them something enjoyable to latch onto but save something delicious for the end.
Stick to the facts Jack
Make sure to give your reader really good information and facts not JUST opinions.
We can most certainly include our opinions about the event but make it in small fun doses that give extra personality to your writing.
Name drop
If you can drop important famous heavy hitting names into the writing, don’t be afraid to do so and if it happens to have fun information about the person feel free to add that as well. Personally I would say stick to the facts and don’t let it turn into gossip or slander.
You most certainly don’t have to use all these tips, but use the ones that you think are relevant to the type of event you are writing about.
If you are trying to figure out, “what should I write about?” a great angle to go from would be to consider what relevant events are occurring.
4. What do you have strong opinions about?
If you are still wondering, “what should I write about?” it is easy to find many words when you think of ideas you have strong opinions about.
Sometimes it is easy to punch out a quick article when you have a strong opinion compared to trying to write about things you have no opinion about or haven’t thought about at all.
The stronger your opinion the better and if it is about controversial topics, that’s okay!
It’s okay to have a strong opinion about something and share that opinion knowing that in the comment section you might have people agreeing and disagreeing with you.
The fact that it’s controversial might make your writing have more reaction.
Here’s an exercise to try:
Make a list of topics you would rant about with a close friend or at the dinner table
Religion
Politics
Healthcare
Equality and inequality
Things at work
Things at home
Dating habits and practices
Movies
TV Shows
I’m sure that even in this list you may have seen a topic that you feel like it would be easy to rant and rave about.
Go ahead and write about it in your journal. On your blog. Maybe you have a story you could share with your readers about any of these topics.
If you are looking for something to write about today consider writing about a topic that you have strong opinions about.
5. Is there a controversial topic that’s ‘hot’ right now?
If you are wondering, “what should I write about?” controversy is great for storytelling and marketing.
If you have an opinion about a topic that is a hot button for a lot of people, write about it.
If you have a blog, make a post. It’ll be a great way to get some good comments and conversations rolling.
If you have an essay due and you think that something controversial going on in the world today could be an interesting topic for you to dive into then write about it.
Don’t wait for inspiration to come smack you upside the head if you are thinking, “what should I write about?” go find that inspiration and write about it.
6. What do you want readers to take away from your writing?
When you’re thinking, “what should I write about?” a great and effective tool is to put yourself in your potential reader’s shoes for a moment.
How often do you ask yourself questions like these before writing:,
What do I want my readers to learn from this?
What do I want my audience to run away with?
Did I do a good job of delivering great information that helps them?
What will they say to others about what I wrote for them?
Writing is a great way to give back to people. If you have figured something out or had some great success with a particular field, a good place to share with people how they can better their lives is in your writing.
Did you write a personal note to someone to say thank you?
Will your professor appreciate what you put into your writing?
Will your blog readers really enjoy the way you put together your post?
When you are wondering, “what should I write about?” think about the end person who will be reading it?
7. What do you want readers to do with your writing?
When you are pondering, “what should I write about?” thinking about what you want your reader to do (if anything) will really help start you writing on the right track.
Figuring out what you want to say in your writing is paramount, but figuring out what you want your readers ‘to do’ is a key piece of the puzzle.
If on another hand you want your friend to mention your wedding card you sent them, be sure to include a meaningful quote and some personal thoughtful sentiments in it.
Depending on what your medium is will determine how you go about getting the person reading to action.
When the question pops up, “what should I write about?” decide on what you want your reader to do when they are done reading.
8. Do you want to write fiction?
When you are wondering, “what should I write about?” it’s important to note what style of writing you are doing.
It is good to know if you want fiction or nonfiction. Do you want your writing to be about inspiring poems? Or do you want it to be factual information?
Do you like teaching? Or do you like creating?
If you enjoy teaching than it might be a good idea to write blog postsabout stuff you’re learning and enjoying yourself, whereas if you like creating characters and a story you might enjoy creating a blog that is a bunch of riveting short stories or poems or whatever writing style you’re passionate about.
If you are thinking, “what should I write about?” know what your writing style is that you are getting into.
9. Look at your other writing to see if you can go into specific detail about something you previously covered broadly.
When you are wondering, “what should I write about?” you can sometimes look no further than your own writing.
You can find a good amount of writing prompts directly in posts you have already written.
If you have a blog or social presence you can even look in your comments to see if commentators have left you details you can write about. Whether it is in the comment section where you have answered some questions that could be turned into blogs or you can scan your major points of a broader post topic to see if there is a major point that you can write another 600 to 1,000 words on.
If you are thinking, “what should I write about?” look at your past writing and see if inspiration has been staring you right in the face.
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If you enjoy What Should I Write About: 22 Writing Prompts to Give You BIG IDEAS, Storytelling, and writing in general, you might love owning a domain of your own where you can write about it? Ever want to own your own domain name (Yourname.com)?
Bluehost hosts your blog so that you can own your domain and make money blogging. Check them out only if you’re interested in making money blogging; otherwise, go for a free blog instead 🙂
10. If you already have a following, have you asked them what they want to hear about?
When you’re thinking, “what should I write about?” have you ever considered straight asking your followers, “Hey! What should I write about?”
Have you made your readers feel comfortable enough that they know they can ask questions and receive answers from you?
Have you asked them directly in the posts or in the comments what your followers are interested in hearing about next?
When you are thinking, “what should I write about?” look no further than your peeps.
11. Have you used Quora?
Thinking, “what should I write about?” consider looking at the questions people are asking on Quora and how many answers they’ve received.
Quora is a great site to be a part of the conversation.
What makes Quora great about getting superb writing prompts is that people are literally just asking questions there.
They go to this site to find answers. So make sure you are there and ready to help out and answer their questions.
All you have to do is just browse through the most popular questions related to your niche and presto! You’ve got great material that you know people all over the world are interested in.
When you are thinking, “what should I write about?” download the Quora app and start scrolling not trolling.
12. Have you checked Twitter?
“What should I write about?”
“Have you checked twitter?”
Check out the most popular tweets going on in your subject matter and run with it.
For any social site these things ebb and flow in popularity, so be sure to stay up to date and take advantage of when certain topics are going viral.
If you are trying to promote your blog, do your best to get into the conversation and be helpful and relevant so that when the right time comes you can drop your post into the conversation naturally to get more viewers on your page.
Thinking, “what should I write about?” a little birdie told me to check Twitter.
13. Have you written about a time you failed?
People love a great story.
And if you’re still thinking, “what should I write about?” they love a great comeback story.
We as humans eat that stuff up because we all fail and we all want to know that it is possible to succeed even though we fail. We resonate with each other and learn through others’ failures and successes.
Don’t be shy to write about a time you biffed it majorly and then how that turned into a reason for you to get back up, try again, and crush it the next time around.
When you are wondering, “what should I write about?” try writing about a failure in your life.
14. Take one of your writings and write about it from a different angle.
Wondering, “what should I write about?” try writing about something you already wrote about but from a different angle.
If you have a blog and one of your posts went viral or maybe just one that is very popular on your blog, take a moment to think about if you can write this post or story from another angle.
Seeing it from a fresh perspective might resonate with more of your followers and it might help you see things from a new light as well.
“What should I write about?” try thinking outside your own box.
15. Check the comment sections of other bloggers and influencers in your niche.
When you are concerned, “what should I write about?” check other bloggers comment sections.
You can tell if its going to be a good topic if you see it repeated by many commentators or if it’s a topic that is highly debated.
Have you perused comments to see if there may be a great comment to expound upon?
Did someone ask a great question that you can answer in a post? Or did they add some advice that makes you think about another topic you can go into even further?
An easy way to see this is to look for comments that got lots of conversation going. Find a comment that went on a little bit of a buzz or maybe started a good discussion and use that to create another amazing post.
“What should I write about?” look at the comments and reviews.
16. Can you write about a mentor?
“What should I write about?” what mentors have you had?
Maybe you took an online course that shared some information with you that really helped you succeed whereas before you were failing.
Perhaps your mentor has an affiliate program and you can add some good reviews about the product because you have used it and learned from the person and have good insight to give.
See if you can help your readers by posting a clear and concise review of the product.
Maybe you had a teacher or professor that inspired you?
Fitness instructor?
Parent?
Pastor?
Older sibling?
It could even be a book they wrote.
When you are concerned, “what should I write about?” think about people in your life that have inspired you and what that lead you to.
17. If you have a blog have you written an income report to let your readers in on what’s really working and what’s not for your business?
If you have a blog and are wondering, “what should I write about?” consider starting a monthly blogging income report.
Many bloggers feel comfortable sharing the income they are making through their blogs.
They share what they are making through sponsored links, through freelancing, and through affiliate links.
I have seen this work very well for them and their blogging business as it can be used as social proof for them for affiliate products they write about.
Can you share a report and how can you make that information benefit your readers?
“What should I write about?” consider starting a monthly blogging income report.
18. Have you written about your readers’ problems and how to solve them?
A lot of internet searching comes down to some simple user facts.
I have a problem and I am searching for an answer.
Think about how many times you’ve done that this week.
“Hey Siri, where’s a good place to eat near me?”
“Alexa, what time is it in London?”
“Hey Google, do I strain the noodles before I add the salt in?”
You may not have asked any of these exact questions, but think about the ones you did ask and think about your exact wording.
It is very common that as consumers we ask very similar questions.
Use Google’s keyword planner to see how many people are looking up what you’re wanting to write about.
So since we know people are looking up answers to their problems it should be an easy writing prompt for you to think of a common problem many consumers need help with that you have already solved for yourself.
That makes for a great writing opportunity and now you have plenty to write about since you’ve already gone through the problem yourself and came out the other side with a solution.
“What should I write about?” Solve your reader’s problems.
19. Have you shared about a negative comment you received and how you turned it into a good thing?
If you have a social presence or blog and you’re thinking “What should I write about?” consider writing about a negative thing someone commented about your post.
As humans, we love reading about a good controversy. I mentioned this before.
This is why it could be easy to take a negative comment you receive and turn it into a good thing for your writing career.
One of my email mentors does this frequently on his email list.
Someone will reply to his email negatively and say horrible things about his style, marketing tactics, and character at times.
He will almost always write about the negative feedback and spin it into a good thing he can teach his email list.
Now you could take this and retaliate and say all kinds of firey things back to this person, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
I would instead take the opportunity to thank the person and explain how they are missing out on great information or how a comment like that is completely justified and that they have valid points.
But you have to decide how you would deal with negative comments on your blog or social presence.
“What should I write about?” Write about a negative comment.
20. Have you shared with your readers your writing routine and detailed the different aspects of how you work through a writing project from start to finish?
If you’re wondering, “what should I write about?” it might be inspiring and helpful for your audience to see into how and why you write the way you do, especially if you are in the writing, freelance writing, and blogging niche.
For me, one of my key secrets is outlining.
Outlining sounds awful and boring and to be honest it is!
But once you get the hang of it and you are doing most of the foundation work in your head it becomes second nature and is extremely useful. (Thanks, Mrs. Louden! My English teacher.)
I used to think it was useless as a kid, and it was because my essay had all of 3 points, so pretty pointless as it would be hard to forget three points, but in a post like this with 22 points, it is EASY to forget where you are, where you came from, and where you’re headed next in the point.
“What should I write about?” Share your writing process with you readers.
21. Have you written about a problem you are in the middle of discovering for yourself?
We already discussed writing about a problem and solution you have already found, but are you brave enough to write about a problem you are in the middle of and the fact that you haven’t found a solution yet?
Could you create a post while you’re in the midst of the problem and write the post live and update it as you solve your own problem?
There are several ways you could take this, let me know if anyone does as it sounds like an interesting writing experiment!
22. Have you shared with your readers a recent time you were personally refreshed by a blog post you just read?
Considering the question, “what should I write about?” What have you been reading lately that inspired you?
Don’t back away from paying it forward and sharing about a recent post that you read on someone else’s blog that really inspired you or helped you get out of a rough spot.
Do you have a blogging mentor of sorts?
Reach out to them and see if they don’t mind you reviewing a post that you personally found helpful.
You can even let them know about it and see if they’d like to link to your review.
Especially if you give them social proof of high praise they might be likely to send some of their readers to it so they can see how the mentor’s writing helped someone in the real world on a completely different blog.
You never know how much helping someone else out will help you.
Don’t be afraid to invite others along with you on your path to success as a writer.
Did you enjoy this post?
Did you find a prompt that helped you?
What did you end up writing about from reading the post: What Should I Write About?
If you found your prompt here, feel free to share a link to your post in the comments.
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If you enjoy What Should I Write About: 22 Writing Prompts to Give You BIG IDEAS, Storytelling, and writing in general, you might love owning a domain of your own where you can write about it? Ever want to own your own domain name (Yourname.com)?
Bluehost hosts your blog so that you can own your domain and make money blogging. Check them out only if you’re interested in making money blogging; otherwise, go for a free blog instead 🙂
You are definitely wondering how to use affiliate marketing to make more money online.
It may sound confusing, but it is actually very very simple.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is promoting a product, service, or company with a web link and getting paid for clicks, sign-ups, and purchases from the link they give you.
It really is as simple as that. I promise.
All you have to do is find a company that has an affiliate program, and apply to their program.
They provide the link (most of the time, Amazon actually has you pick a product and then makes the link for you) and usually have a place for you to sign in and check out how your link is working.
How Do I Actually Make Money with Affiliate Marketing?
That’s a good question.
There are many ways to go about it.
You can make your own Blog and use what you write to promote affiliate products.
You can promote on your social media such as Pinterest, Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. (There are rules and restrictions to posting affiliate links on certain social channels so be sure to check with each one before posting anything they would deem against their rules.)
You can build an email list of happy subscribers and tell them about products you like to use with affiliate links.
You can write a blog post today and contact a well-known blogger and ask them to feature your blog post on their site.
Any way you can think of getting your link in front of the eyes of internet readers and users is a way to make money with affiliate links (you have to follow the affiliate program’s rules.)
Why Would a Company Want to Use me as an Affiliate Marketer?
A lot of companies love using affiliates for marketing their products these days.
Back in the day before blogging and social media they had to pay BIG ADVERTISING FEES and weren’t guaranteed any return on their investment.
Whereas with you promoting a product, they don’t have to pay out the commission fee to you unless the product actually sells or they get an actual lead from your promotion. So it’s a win-win situation for them and you 🙂
Side note: Something I personally love about affiliate marketing compared to making and selling your own products is you don’t have to deal with returns or customer service.
You get to make some extra cash while you’re sleeping and not worry about the customer complaints or returned items.
If you enjoy How to Make Money Blogging with Affiliate Marketing, Storytelling, and writing in general, you might love owning a domain of your own where you can write about it? Ever want to own your own domain name (Yourname.com)?
Bluehost hosts your blog so that you can own your domain and make money blogging. Check them out only if you’re interested in making money blogging; otherwise, go for a free blog instead 🙂
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Is Affiliate Marketing All Fun and Games?
Of course not!
There are ups and downs to all kinds of work.
Example: I had a friend that got paid by his company to go to theme parks regularly. I’m talking weekly getting paid to go to Busch Gardens and Scuba Diving in Florida.
I thought, “Dude! That’s amazing! What a sweet gig!”
He said, “Well yeah it would be except that I’m always going as the liaison or glorified tour guide for the company so I’m always there with people I don’t know or am working for.”
I can think of many worse ways to get paid, but the point is there are ups and downs to every job.
So in the same way, affiliate marketing can be tough and it is hard to get started, but once you wake up to check your account, or you get done watching netflix and see that you made a few bucks while you were doing it, and realize how many ways you can scale this, it can be a great side hustle or even make a living from.
For me, it’s being around friends and family more and working from my couch while watching a movie with my wife. Or quitting work at 12 pm because my friend invited me to a movie and in the back of my mind knowing that I’m making a living for my family while spending time with my friends.
Of course there are days where you feel ZERO motivation.
That happens to everyone.
You can either push yourself on days like that or say, “Hey, I’m gonna go outside and get some exercise throwing a ball with my dog and if I feel like making some post later this evening, great, no worries.”
It’s days like that I can’t believe I get to do what I am doing and I feel so grateful.
What Companies Offer Affiliate Marketing?
There are LOTS.
You have but to only do a google search:
“(product/service) affiliate program” and you will see many of great choices.
Make sure that you check out the programs for legitimacy.
And be sure to understand the program’s terms and rules so that you don’t lose your account with them prematurely.
What is the Best Way to Make the Most of Affiliate Links?
Choose products that you are personally interested in. It’ll be easier to write about and it’ll be more natural. Trust me, your readers will be able to tell.
Find the right products for you and your readers. Do online research. Most companies that have affiliate programs are looking for more affiliates. The cost of advertising through affiliates is low for them.
Be relevant for your readership: this seems like a no-brainer, but it’s laughable the amount of weird stuff you can find blogs trying to products that have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with what they are writing about.
Be up to date: take time every so often to edit and revise your older posts.
MOST IMPORTANT: I feel like this doesn’t need to be said, but bloggers everywhere prove me wrong all the time. Write about and promote what your readers want! For affiliate marketing, if you want to make money and get clicks, promote and write about things that your audience is interested in. Take time to figure this out and make it a regular priority for you.
Focus on quality over quantity. Products that usually end up working out badly for others will cause your readers a bad time too and they won’t trust you for other products. So pick products that are good quality and give whoever tries them a good experience and they’ll come back to you for more and be grateful for your input.
Focus on products that will be interesting to your audience, not products that just sell in general.
Don’t be afraid to find products that are similar and review, compare, and contrast.
Find affiliate networks and look at the resources they offer to affiliates to help them get more sales and clicks.
Use services like Hubspot and Google Analytics to see what’s going on in your market. Facts about what your audience is looking up and reading about are more beneficial than what you imagine they want to hear.
Research, research, research. Do your homework.
Compare commission rates and talk to your affiliate managers about upping your rates when you’re doing well.
Talk to your affiliate managers about doing sales exclusively for your readership.
Keep an eye out for discount codes to share with your followers.
Make the best use of the available affiliate networks. Through the networks, many programs and products are available to promote. Make sure you look through these and take advantage of what they have to offer. Searching through Affiliate Networks will help give you ideas you may never have thought of.
If you enjoy How to Make Money Blogging with Affiliate Marketing, Storytelling, and writing in general, you might love owning a domain of your own where you can write about it? Ever want to own your own domain name (Yourname.com)?
Bluehost hosts your blog so that you can own your domain and make money blogging. Check them out only if you’re interested in making money blogging; otherwise, go for a free blog instead 🙂
Update Bonus: 21 Shocking Writing Prompts to start writing your next book or short story optimized Quick Pinterest Pin at the bottom of the Page.
6+ Easy Practical Steps to Becoming a Better Writer in 30 Days or Less
Follow these strategies below and you will most assuredly be a better writer than when you started.
Whether you want to become a technical writer, a ghostwriter, a TV writer, a travel writer, or just learn how to write your essays better, these tips should prove helpful.
Becoming a better writer isn’t difficult, but it absolutely takes a solid discipline.
As with most things the more hardcore you go with these strategies, the more you’ll get out of it.
6+ Easy Practical Steps to Becoming a Better Writer in 30 Days or Less:
There are plenty of good sites to start blogging today for free, wordpress.org being one of them and they allow you to use free plugins as well compared to wordpress.com.
Disclaimer: You can always start a “free” blog, but the terms of use for free sites is that they can shut it down for any reason (at ANY TIME). So it’s possible to randomly lose all your hard work on a free blog. Be careful.
So just a fair warning, you can use free blogging, but I haven’t had much success with it personally. I started many free blogs and none of them stuck. This is the only one I’ve paid for and I’m glad I did. And it is the only one that I continue working with.
If you want to start a legitimate blog or if you think you might try to monetize it one day you are eventually going to need a hosting site.
I personally use Bluehost. They made getting my blog started EXTREMELY easy and their ‘one-click’ WordPress.org setup was ridiculously smooth.
Bluehost is one of the top web hosting companies in 2020. You can start your own blog with them for as low as $3.95 a month (on the page you’ll see that they say it is normally $7.99, but I’ve never seen them try to get anyone to start for that.) The $3.95 sale price only comes with their 36-month plan. I use them and that’s what I did and I’m happy about it. ( I did the 36-month plan and so far we are still happy with it 🙂 )
Sign up them and you can also get your domain free if you purchase a 12 month or longer hosting plan (that’s worth $15). As I said, we did the 36-month plan because it was the best deal but you can choose any plan. If you’re not planning on monetizing your blog it might be a good idea to start with a free blog.
I can tell you from personal experience that a free blog won’t motivate you to write as much as paying for a blog, but it’s up to you to decide what works best for your unique situation. If you really love blogging you never know when you might decide to monetize and at that moment you’ll be happy you decided to host with Bluehost and owning your domain.
Having your own site looks more professional to affiliate programs and readers. You will be able to have a better following, no one can shut you down for no reason (like on a free blog) and at any moment you will be able to monetize through ads and affiliate programs.
Some of my blogging mentors had their blogs going for years before they decided to monetize. You just never know.
At the same time, you can always start a free blog to test things out and buy a domain name and hosting later, but there is no guarantee the price will still be as good and no guarantee that the domain name you love will still be available.
Do what’s best for you and your specific situation 🙂
For me personally, I started with Bluehost and WordPress.org right from the start because I enjoy work from home and being my own boss. As far as online jobs and work, blogging is one way to pay yourself and work when you want.
If you want to reasons why it’s a good idea to start a blog, you can check out this post here:Why Start a Blog
If you are interested in more details on how to make a great blog from scratch you can see this post: How to Become a Blogger in 2019
2. Read about writing every day
Good writers all have certain traits in common. One of them is that they read A LOT.
Most of them read every day. Now I won’t say that I’m a good writer that’s up to others to decide, but I do read mostly every day.
You might be thinking “but you probably grew up reading as a kid and loved it.” Not true! I personally couldn’t stand reading and writing growing up. Hated reading with a passion actually.
It actually wasn’t until I got into college that I really started to read and then probably a couple of years into it that I started to enjoy it.
So you don’t have to be some kind of savant to get started in writing. You just have to have drive and discipline.
But this type of reading isn’t just reading at first. It is specifically looking to read about writing (I know, it sounds boring and it can be tedious but the foundational knowledge will help in the long run). During your becoming a better writer in just 30 days, you will want to be keen to read and learn about writing, especially if you want to do writing online or freelance writing.
Try to read things that help you get to where you want to go. If you want to become a blogger read about blogging tips and tricks. < (I googled it for you)
If you want to become a ghostwriter, read about how to become a ghostwriter. (Pssst! What’s a ghostwriter? A ghostwriter is a writer that gets paid to write something for someone but doesn’t own the project. For example, a person could hire you to write a novel for them, but they get to publish it as the author. They paid for it and own all the rights to it and you are just the ghostwriter.)
It’s just one way to get paid to write.
If you want to be a technical writer, read about the best practices of technical writers. As long as you are willing to read the right things you can learn to write anything 🙂 there really is nothing holding you back.
Look up blogs, articles, look at the library for books on writing. Depending on what type of writing you want to pursue will be very important to the writing that you read about.
As you get a good idea of a foundation for the type of writing you want to do, you can start to branch out studying other types of writing. You will see how understanding the why’s and what’s and styles behind them all can help you in your pursuit of becoming a better writer.
Look on Amazon for great reads on writing. I personally recommend these ones for when you need to think outside the traditional box or when you get bored of reading about writing:
These are non-traditional and will help open up your mind to more strategic possibilities for the potential of writing. Full disclosure: I didn’t read any of these yet. I took Neil Gaiman’s Masterclass, which was amazing and I highly recommend it.
In fact, I recommend Masterclass to anyone who loves learning and thinks it’s neat to learn from celebrities (such as Dan Brown, James Patterson, Samuel Jackson, Christina Agulera, and many more.
@ $15 a month, it is extremely worth it. I’ve been using it for a year and learn so much from professionals that I never would have. And the lessons always feel personal. Sometimes the teachers who are celebs even write back to your comments. Can you imagine Samuel L. Jackson responding to your comment?) about their crafts.
On Writing was recommended to me 2nd hand by a writing mentor of mine. He said that it was good if you need to get outside the traditional learning about writing books and it was interesting if you’re a fan of Stephen King novels too.
I love TED talks, I watch some when I can, so when I saw this book about public speaking from TED talks I knew it would be a winner with powerful knowledge.
If you’re wondering why I would suggest a public speaking book for learning how to be a better writer, it is simple.
When writing has been your profession for years you learn what crafts complement great writing. For instance, IF you want to be a great writer, your secret weapon is research. If you aren’t a personal professional researcher, it will be nigh impossible for you to become a great writer. Public Speaking skills go beyond just speaking and writing.
Those skills bleed into SO many professional avenues that it will not only make you a better writer. It’ll make you a better person in almost everything you do (unless you live in a hole and never interact with other humans in any way, shape, or form.)
Read some of the reviews on each one to see if they look like something you would enjoy. (And DON’T just read the 5-star reviews, read the bad reviews too. I almost always read the bad reviews, most of the time, I read the 1-star reviews first. This actually saves me time when shopping for a new product, especially tech products.)
There is a simple method over 30,000 people use to get paid for freelance writing online.
Opportunities can get started in just minutes a day, all from your home couch.
It’s easy to get started! No previous experience or degree required to start.
Exclusive job listings for writers, updated daily.
Check out Writing Paychecks to see if you can start getting paid to write today.
3. Write Every Day
Now this one is the kicker. If you do nothing else from this post, do this one thing and you’ll surely become a better writer. Write every day.
Now you can:
Write at a certain time every day
Or
Write a certain amount of words every day
Or
Write a certain amount of time every day
You can mix and match these however suits you best. You try them all out and see if one is easier and sticks better for you.
Me personally, I like writing a certain amount of time and writing at a certain time of the day. This keeps me going and I don’t feel bad if I don’t come up with a certain amount of words.
I tried writing a certain amount of words every day and I couldn’t keep up with it and instead of doing it I’d skip it because I knew it would take “too long.”
You see, you are more likely to develop a habit if you start small and take smaller bites that you can handle.
If you already write every day that’s great and you can choose to write more.
If you don’t write then start small.
Start with 1-10 minutes a day. If you find that easy, do more. If you find that hard, write less. At first, start with what seems easy to you and build on that.
The last thing you want to do is start with a habit that’s too hard to do every day. If you bite off too much you might not swallow it. If you find yourself dreading it, that’s a bad sign. If you find that you easily go a week without doing it, that’s a sign you tried to do more than you should start with.
If you want to do a certain amount of words every day I recommend starting with 100 a day. If that’s easy write more. If that’s too hard write less.
I tried 500 words a day and I couldn’t keep up with it. It just became tedious and therefore unenjoyable. I’m a professional writer, so that’s why I recommend starting with less. I mostly work in email writing, so if I’m on a job I might write more or less on those days, but if I’m not writing for a client, 500 just didn’t seem appetizing.
Blogging has definitely changed that for me, that’s why I recommend Starting a Blog.
I now try to write a certain amount of time every day and usually I find that if I get started, I end up writing longer than the first little amount that I force myself to do anyway. Thus, this strategy works very well for me. I’d start with the easy goal of 1 minute. 60 seconds, if you can’t do something for 60 seconds a day, maybe you don’t really want to do it at all.
You can also benefit from writing at a certain time every day. You will know what time works best for you.
It could be first thing in the morning. Some people find that this is their most creative and profitable time.
Me personally, I don’t do so well in the morning, I prefer to write at other times. Afternoon and evening, not late evening though. If I feel my eyes start to droop, I just know that I’m not gonna get much coherent information on the page. (It can be comical though. I’ll go back and read what I was writing the night before and it can be some of the worst writing! I’ll save myself time and energy if I just get some sleep or caffeine instead of trying to push through.)
You might like to write during your lunch at work, or first thing when you get home after eating something.
It’s always a good time to be able to put something on T.V. and write while relaxing.
So you can take time and figure out when is best for you to write.
If you write even just 10 minutes a day for 30 days you will be a better writer at the end of that short 30 days, and you might find that you have developed a habit you look forward to and fully enjoy 🙂 I know I do.
Update: Since Blogging and traveling more while blogging I find that a certain amount of time a day and a certain time of the day becomes tedious and makes blogging less enjoyable for me personally. Again this may work for you, so don’t hesitate to experiment.
Now, I enjoy writing at some point during the day. I find that it doesn’t have to be strict or a certain number of anything. I sit down to write and I find that I can easily be there for hours or an interruption might come up like a family member or friend wanting to hang and I am able to get up and go without any sort of remorse. I find this to be key to my success as a writer and blogger.
4. Research Storytelling
Storytelling will benefit you no matter what writing niche you go into, except maybe academic writing. Even then I’m sure it could be a little useful.
If you look around, you’ll start to see how stories are everywhere and people love stories. We eat them up. We can’t get enough of stories.
Stories are in the movies. Stories are on the news. On blogs, web pages, profiles, social media, history, we find stories fascinating and that is why they work so well and why we should find ways to incorporate the skill of storytelling into our writing, no matter what niche we are in.
Let me give you an example:
I once knew a guy.
He had a problem.
He was about 30 years old living in America, but he didn’t know how to read or write…
Did you notice something there?
I introduced a character and a problem he had, did you notice how you instantly went into “consuming story mode.” Did all your attention get drawn into the short story that started?
If not, that’s okay. It wasn’t super dynamic, but if you did, take time to think about why that happened. Stories are a powerful tool you need to add to your writing arsenal. Study stories and storytelling to engage your audience and grab their attention when you choose.
Stories are great at helping illustrate a point. Great as an ice breaker and a great way to regain your audience’s attention if you think you are losing them.
And stories work across all mediums. Art, writing, presentation, public speaking, with a group of friends or colleagues. Storytelling is a life skill that anyone would benefit from developing, but especially writers.
There is a simple method over 30,000 people use to get paid for freelance writing online.
Opportunities can get started in just minutes a day, all from your home couch.
It’s easy to get started! No previous experience or degree required to start.
Exclusive job listings for writers, updated daily.
Check out Writing Paychecks to see if you can start getting paid to write today.
5. Read about different types of writing
After you get a good handle for your specific niche of writing, you will really benefit from studying other styles of writing and using different tips and tricks to make your style even better by borrowing from the other types.
Different Types of Writing include but not limited to:
Copywriting
Fiction
Non-fiction
Blogging
Email Writing (cold emails, drip campaigns)
Article Writing
Academic Writing
Web Page Writing (About us, Home pages, etc)
Mailers
Landing Pages
Branding
Sales Pages
Video Scripts
Sales Funnels
There are probably more. And there used to be a time not long ago where most of these genres didn’t have precedence, but these days knowing how to do any one of these well can mean good freelancing money for you or better your own business. Either way $$$.
Even looking at this list might help you think more about what you want to do or discover for yourself. You may have not been aware that some of these opportunities existed before now, but now you know and can do something about it.
6. Read, Read, Read
It should make sense at this point. One easy way to get better at writing every day is to read every day.
Having a wide array of reading will make you well rounded and increase your understanding and vocabulary.
Writing a lot is necessary but if you don’t expose yourself to all sorts of different voices and writing styles you might find that you don’t have much to write about.
I recommend have light reading along with tough to read stuff simultaneously.
By having light reading you’ll be able to enjoy reading and move along. But having tough to read material will stretch your will power and ability as a reader and writer.
Exposing yourself to writing that is better than your own will help you improve. You will also more readily observe bad writing and notice when you yourself are writing poorly.
Humans have been writing for some time now and many tricks of the trade are out there for you to see, experience, enjoy, and make a part of your own writing repertoire. So don’t skip the reading.
Bonus: Be a Critical Consumer
Being a critical consumer doesn’t mean you make a bunch of critical comments on the stuff you read and watch like your the next reality TV show judge.
Being a critical consumer is the opposite of being a mindless consumer.
We all watch and read a lot of entertainment.
When you are reading or watching your favorite stories or documentaries take mental notes.
Think about how they use dialogue. What is the main theme of the story?
How did they seamlessly carry you through each step of the story while you consumed it?
Did something not sit right with you about the character development?
Were all the important plot questions answered satisfactorily?
Updated Bonus: 21 Shocking Writing Prompts to get you started writing your next book or short story.
Check out these FREE trial resources from Amazon for when you work from home (or are stuck at home 🙂 ) As an Amazon associate, if you do sign up or buy anything using Amazon links from our site we make a commission at no extra cost to you.
