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Ask Me Anything

Last Updated: BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 178 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

It’s been a long time since my last Ask Me Anything here on Making Sense of Cents.

Ask Me Anything is literally that – you can ask me anything. If you’re struggling to figure out what to ask, here are a few of the topics you may want to know more about:

  • Personal finance
  • Blogging
  • My life
  • Travel
  • RVing
  • Sailing
  • Being location independent
  • Business
  • Making extra money
  • Questions about my dogs

And so on, and so on.

Seriously, ask me anything in the comments below, and I will take the time to answer every single one. Of course, please nothing inappropriate or creepy. I’ll let you be the judge of what is creepy, I guess, haha!

All right, go for it, ask away!

 

P.S. If you’re looking to see all of the comments and questions, make sure to hit “Older Comments” or “Newer Comments” below. The comments break apart in pages once there are over 50 comments.

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About Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Michelle is the founder of Making Sense of Cents, a blog about personal finance and traveling. She discusses how her business has evolved in her side income series. She paid off $40,000 in student loans by the age of 24 mainly due to her freelancing side hustles. Click here to learn more about starting a blog!

Comments

  1. Quan Nguyen says

    I am really curious about how many affiliate program you are working on. Do you only promote Bluehost as a main affiliate program or have more than 1 affiliate program. Because I am thinking should I do more than 1 program or I should stick with only 1 and only. What are your thoughts about this? Thank you!

    Reply

    • William Orr says

      Michelle:

      I am thinking about blogging on the following two things:

      1) RV life and pulling or driving a motorhome.
      2) Heroin since our daughter passed away Aug 10, 2019. I mentioned this in previous emails to you.

      I was reading about blogging and someone said that people are more interested about gaining information from someone who is not an expert with a particular blog.

      I know you said there is no right or wrong answer. I think this is possible. I am familiar with the right and wrong things to do with travel trailers. I am also familiar with pulling a 5th wheel but that would be one that I would have to further research.

      Regards

      Randy

      Reply

      • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

        Hello William,

        I recommend blogging about whatever you want to blog about. I recommend determining what your passion is, and then coming up with a list of a possible 10 blog post topics to see if it’s something that you would be interested in.

        Reply

    • Carlos Costa says

      So I’m new here, as well as to the whole idea of blogging. After being recently laid off from work, I’ve come up with an idea to start a blog. I typically have many interests and passions, which is why I’m having a difficult time deciding what to start writing about. I want to start doing this as my main source of income, I’m well aware it could take a while before that’s a reality. So I will have to find a regular job again in the mean time. Anyway, what would be your recommendation on brushing through all of your ideas and passions that would you like to write about, and come to a real life conclusion on something that could actually turn profitable?

      Many thanks in advance!

      -Carlos

      Reply

  2. Daniel A. Olson says

    I was wondering if you could recommend a few good WordPress themes for blogging? The intent (besides looking good and professional/modern) would be to easily capture email addresses, as well as have room for marketing ads, etc. Thank you Michelle.

    Reply

  3. Jenny says

    Hi Michelle,

    My partner and I are toying with the idea of living on a boat. (We have zero boat experience… just 1 night spent on a sailboat. We LOVED it and want to find out more.)

    Anyway, I was wondering if you could point me to some resources where I can start learning the basics… for example, what types of boats can you live on full-time, how to care for a boat, where to find marinas where you can live aboard, etc..)

    Thanks!
    Jenny

    Reply

    • Marlene St Thomas, VI says

      Hi Jenny. Your questions bring questions. Where are you planning to live on this boat? What state? Do you have any mechanical knowledge? Do you know when batteries need to be charged? Were you planning on having solar or wind power? Water supply is easy but taking a hot shower….I am speaking from experience and have lived on a 40 foot Beneteau sailboat since 2009. I now own a marine chandler in St Thomas and have people spend oodles of money in my store. B.O.A.T. bring on another thousand….You can send me an email at [email protected] to get more info.

      Reply

  4. Sibghatullah says

    Hi Mam
    I am a blogger. I want to ask you
    How to get traffic to my blog?
    I can writ hundreds of articles but since I am not getting traffic. It discourages me a lot.
    How can I get visitors?

    Reply

  6. DNN says

    How long did it take you to see healthy income from your blog until you were able to quit your day job & live off of your blog income full time?

    Reply

  7. Joy says

    Hi
    Do you have a specific mindset to be a blogging entrepreneur. Do you tell yourself affirmations, do you use vision boards or other woo woo techniques

    Reply

  8. Susan L. Stoltze says

    Hi Michelle, I’ve been reading your posts for a long time; I am amazed that you publish your income reports, and it appears you are doing very well. I was wondering what your expenses are, or what is your month gross after expenses?

    Reply

  10. Alexa says

    Hi Michelle! Thank you so much for doing this Ask Anything! I am a blogger and I am struggling with growing my blog. What was the main way you grew your blog? How did you start gaining subscribers?

    Reply

  11. Sam G says

    I have a blog that is building a lot of traction: addictionofchoice.com

    I get so overwhelmed with the monetizing piece and where to start! What do you recommend doing first and how do you navigate through this? We put in a ton of hours and We are ready to be rewarded for our hardwork!

    Your blog success is admirable and I want to replicate that type of success within my niche! We will and do put in the hours to make it successful as I know you strongly recommend doing that 🙂

    Thanks for your help!

    Sam

    Reply

  12. Cece says

    Hi Michelle
    I appreciate you candor and honest feedback. You’ve recommended SEO in many of your replies, but can you go into more detail? SEO is such a big and confusing topic. What exact SEO strategies worked for you? Hiring someone? Doing it yourself? Any good resources you can refer us to for SEO strategies?

    Reply

  13. Cheryl says

    Michelle,
    I’m a food blogger and I have been trying to grow my blog for about 1 and 1/2 years with no success. It is so discouraging. I sometimes feel that I need another food blogger to be right by my side helping me with each step. Obviously the things I’m doing are not working. What would you suggest for me at this point.

    Thanks.

    Reply

  15. Abby says

    Hi Michelle,

    I’m interested to know how you’ve been able to evolve with customer social media preferences.

    For example, customer preferences with Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.

    Also, which platform do you prefer?

    Reply

  16. Bree says

    Hi! I’ve been wanting to start a blog for quite some time, but have yet to find a platform that works well for me. I tried Word Press, first, and actually was smart enough to place it inside a Linux Panel, but didn’t like being out there on my own without a support team I could call on the phone. I use GoDaddy, and like their support team, a lot. Next, I tied GoDaddy’s Website builder, but it pulls your latest blogs posted on the front page of your website, and I am not wanting to do that. I want to control what goes on my front page, as you have done. It also doesn’t have a search tool where you build the blogs, so that you can pull up old blogs you’ve written by typing in their title to pull them up. You have to click page by page to get to blogs to edit them. That’s fine if you only have 40 blogs, but the tool is not equipped to handle a blog as big as yours, and I don’t want the tool I choose to use to hold me back. I would like to succeed in the same way you have. GoDaddy advertises that their blogging tool can handle an unlimited number of blogs but I don’t see how, unless you’re the type of blogger who will never go back to edit past posts. I am the type of blogger who will edit past posts all the time, growing them as I write new ones. lastly, I have recently signed up with “Wealthy Affiliates” as of today, which, apparently, they have you set up your website with them, and I guess they do your hosting. The group is like a club that you join for $49 a month, that offers training and a community of Affiliate Marketers. I’m happy for the training and the community but not excited about doing my website under this roof because, again, I don’t want to get pinned into a corner by a tool that doesn’t work all that well, and though Wealthy Affiliates claims it’s the one stop shop platform for Affiliate Marketers of all levels, I still feel more comfortable with GoDaddy than I do with them hosting my stuff.

    Can I ask you what platform and template you are using and what kind of support have you had to set up your website and now to help manage it? I understand I cannot learn things like how to create a course like the course you created in my first year of blogging, but I am trying to get set up correctly and set up for huge success up front upon starting my blog, and am yet to get all the first basics set up, where I have pages that I can manage easily and a way that I can build a robust endless blog and be able to manage it on my end easily. I know that’s a pretty personal question to ask you – exactly what tools are you using, but if you’re willing to share with me what tools you have been using that will for sure work for huge success, I could really use the mentorship from someone who is making as much money as I’d like to be making, so that I can finally get started and follow someone like you as I blog about the stuff I want to blog about, learning things like how to build a course, as I go. I can’t figure it all out at once, but what I need to get started is a list of tools that will work for what I’m trying to do. What platform are you on? What template are you using? Do you use Word Press on your own? And how did you get set up so that you could grow subscribers, and email them?

    I hope I see a reply from you and thank you for posting this “Ask Me Anything” blog.

    Reply

    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      Hello!

      I don’t think these are personal questions at all, so I wouldn’t worry about asking these 🙂

      I use WordPress for my platform. I’m not sure what you mean by support, though. It’s pretty much set it and forget it. There’s really not much that needs to be done.

      For my course, the platform is Teachable.

      Reply

  17. Holly Sanford says

    I’ve been blogging for a few years but it’s only been the last year or so that I decided to get serious about it. I just set up an email list a few months ago but it’s been super slow going in getting subscribers, I think I have like 18 right now. I am interested in your Affiliate marketing class but money is crazy tight (single mom with 2 kids in college) so I’m wondering if you think it would be better to wait until I have a bigger audience before I take your affiliate marketing class? I’m assuming most affiliates won’t talk to you anyway until you have a decent following? I realize I need to spend money to make money but I want to be smart about how I spend my limited funds. Thanks so much!

    Reply

    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      Hey Holly!

      Many, many people who are in my course are brand new bloggers. So, you can pretty much take it at any time.

      But, since you say you are low on funds – there are definitely many areas you can focus on until you save money. I would focus on writing high-quality content, growing your email list, and improving your traffic.

      Reply

  19. Mike McHugh says

    Hi Michelle-

    I just came across your blog after listening to you on a Choose FI podcast from a few years ago. Episode 38 I think it was from 2018. I checked it out because I was curious about blogging, and your story really inspired me. I don’t need to make your kind of bucks doing it, but just a little to supplement my retirement would work out fine.

    I wrote a humor column for a local newspaper for several years, and I got a lot of good feedback on it so I know I can write. Been thinking that a blog geared toward an active baby boomer lifestyle would be good. It could cover a host of subtopics such as finances, staying healthy, travel, grandchildren/family, and a host of other things. It pretty much mirrors what I do.

    My only question now is how your blogging business is set up as a legal entity- are you a sole proprietorship, LLC, etc?

    Regards,

    Mike

    Reply

  20. RC says

    Do you have any stories about single moms with young children in school that decided to ditch it all to go RVing? I’ve been thinking about working remotely, perhaps blogging, online schools and the like, but I would love to hear an inspiring story.

    Reply

  21. Bo says

    Hey there!

    When you were first starting out blogging, how long did it take you to get some level of regular traffic (eg: earning even a few dollars a day from ad revenue or an occasional affiliate lead), and did you use paid search/FB ads/etc… to get started or was it mostly/all organic?

    Thanks!

    Reply

    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      I actually did not have analytics installed on my blog until around a year or so in, so I have no idea what my traffic even was. I think around 2 years in, I was at around 50,000 monthly page views.

      I did not use anything paid for the first several years.

      Reply

      • Bo says

        That’s some valuable insight for me to think about. I just started up this month and I’m pretty involved with my analytics even though honestly the majority of my page views (not many lol) are coming from people who know me.

        Thanks for the answer!

        Reply

  23. Meh says

    Hi Michelle
    Approximately what percentage of your traffic generation effort goes to SEO? Did you have to use paid to tools for the backlinking?

    Can a blogger generate about 10k visitors a month with NO or bare minimum SEO ?

    Thanks

    Reply

      • Meh says

        Hi Michelle

        Could you please elaborate a bit more?

        Your post rank very high in google.Your blog have got huge number of backlinks. And so do most of the successful blogs. I wanted an idea of the effort needed for that. Has majority of it happened it naturally i.e. others liked your content and linked?

        My concern is whether a newbie should bother much about the backlink part?

        Reply

  24. Sonia says

    Hi Michelle. Been readingg a lot around your blog and got curious: How can one enter an “affiliate disclosure” at the beginning of each post without hurting SEO? I thought that the first paragraph should mirror the title somehow for keywords/phrases…also, is there a way to make this disclosure show up at the beginning of each post? (Bought your course “Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing ” which is very enlightning 😉)

    Reply

  25. Brian Lum says

    Have you thought of doing an online course on how to start living on a boat? I bet you have some great information like what maintenance issues come up the most, how to get the best wifi for working online, etc.

    Reply

  27. Lenny Cohen says

    I’m wondering how you pay taxes, and which ones, without a permanent home. I’m assuming you don’t spend more than half the year in any one state, and you can be outside the US when you’re on the water. On the other hand, you’re an American with a Social Security number, and money coming in. Thanks,!

    Reply

  28. Shaun says

    H Michelle! Love the site and thanks for all the content and free information. I recently had some people on IG asking for plans for a chicken coop build we just put together. I was wondering if you had any recommendations or tips for sites or apps to sell the pdf plans digitally.

    We only have a few interested at the moment so just paypal and email might be the way to go but we’re working on some other designs I think people also may be interested in.

    Thanks!

    Reply

  29. Mike says

    Hi Michelle, just starting a blog and trying to cross my ‘t’s and dot my ‘i’s. One thing I’m struggling with is a disclaimer statement. Any suggestions for writing one? Are we able to copy pieces from other blogs?

    Reply

  30. Abdullahi Usman says

    hi dear Michelle y question is how did you get the Money when you published a single post
    or were you getting the reward direct to your PayPal account?
    and who pay you the money ?

    Reply

  31. Abdullahi Usman says

    I can’t speak English a much better but I totally understand all your articles so thank you
    I’m from Nigeria
    even though I have small experience on networking
    I now know what #blog contains

    thank you so much

    Reply

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