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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Quan Nguyen says
February 12, 2020 at 10:57 pmI 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!
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
February 13, 2020 at 7:14 amI promote a lot of different affiliate programs. If you look at my income reports before December 2018, you’ll see them listed in each income report.
William Orr says
February 18, 2020 at 7:31 amMichelle:
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
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
February 18, 2020 at 11:04 amHello 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.
Daniel A. Olson says
February 13, 2020 at 12:17 amI 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.
Jenny says
February 13, 2020 at 12:55 amHi 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
Sibghatullah says
February 13, 2020 at 5:51 amHi 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?
Stan says
February 13, 2020 at 6:20 amHow are you doing?
DNN says
February 13, 2020 at 8:09 amHow 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?
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
February 13, 2020 at 2:59 pmYou can see all of my income reports right here in a nice list – https://www.makingsenseofcents.com/extra-income
DNN says
February 15, 2020 at 8:47 amThanks Michelle! 🙂
Joy says
February 13, 2020 at 9:06 amHi
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
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
February 13, 2020 at 2:59 pmNope, I don’t do anything, ha!
Susan L. Stoltze says
February 13, 2020 at 10:47 amHi 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?
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
February 13, 2020 at 3:05 pmHey Susan!
My expenses have always been very low. They are usually around 5-15% of my monthly revenue.
Fakayode Babatunde says
February 13, 2020 at 5:16 pmhow do you get the images on your blog?
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
February 13, 2020 at 6:04 pmHmm can you clarify what you mean with your question? Like, where they come from? How I make them? Or, how I add images to a blog post?
Alexa says
February 13, 2020 at 7:18 pmHi 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?
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
February 15, 2020 at 10:14 amHey Alexa!
I talk all about the different things I did here to grow my blog – https://www.makingsenseofcents.com/2017/04/how-to-make-money-blogging-online.html
I don’t know if there was one specific main way. It was a mixture of a lot of different things such as: high quality content, being active on social media, taking part in interviews, and more.
Sam G says
February 14, 2020 at 8:16 pmI 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
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
February 15, 2020 at 10:36 amHey Sam!
There are many ways to monetize a blog. Some ways include:
1) Display advertising. This is probably where most bloggers start because it doesn’t take long to set up.
2) Affiliate marketing. This is my favorite, of course!
3) Sponsored partnerships.
4) Creating your own product.
Here’s a good place to learn more on each – https://www.makingsenseofcents.com/2019/04/how-to-earn-money-blogging.html
Cece says
February 14, 2020 at 8:38 pmHi 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?
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
February 15, 2020 at 10:37 amHey Cece!
I don’t really go too far into SEO because it would be impossible to teach it in a comment. A good place to start reading on it is here – https://www.makingsenseofcents.com/2018/08/seo-affiliate-marketing-income.html
Cheryl says
February 16, 2020 at 9:51 pmMichelle,
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.
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
February 18, 2020 at 10:53 amHey Cheryl!
There are many things you could do. I think either focusing on a really good blogging/traffic course and/or hiring a blog coach can help you see what you’re missing.
Papa Foxtrot says
February 17, 2020 at 6:55 amMuch like Cheryl I am trying to grow traffic. It seems to be progressing slowly. Any sound advice?
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
February 18, 2020 at 10:53 amAre you sure you’re doing everything in order to grow your traffic?
Reverse The Crush says
February 17, 2020 at 7:47 amHey Michelle,
Based on your experience, what is better to grow traffic: maintain a once per week posting schedule, or posting as much as possible? Thanks!
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
February 18, 2020 at 10:54 amSimply being consistent with high-quality content is key.
Abby says
February 17, 2020 at 5:53 pmHi 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?
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
February 18, 2020 at 10:55 amHey Abby!
I’m not sure if I understand your question. I am simply on social media 🙂 I don’t know if there’s been much “evolving.”
I like Instagram the most, just because it’s the most enjoyable.
Bree says
February 18, 2020 at 2:45 amHi! 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.
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
February 18, 2020 at 11:04 amHello!
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.
Holly Sanford says
February 18, 2020 at 10:47 amI’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!
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
February 18, 2020 at 11:09 amHey 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.
Mike McHugh says
February 18, 2020 at 6:11 pmHi 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
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
February 19, 2020 at 12:54 pmHey Mike!
Glad you found my blog 🙂
I have an LLC.
Mike says
February 20, 2020 at 11:13 amOne other question, Michelle, regarding living on the road. I imagine you need to have some sort of physical address. For instance, for driver’s license, vehicle registration, taxes, mail, etc. Where do you say you “live” for that kind of stuff. And how do you keep up with physical mail when toy’re travelling all the time?
Maybe you have covered these things in an earlier post and if you did you can just refer me to it.
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
February 20, 2020 at 1:08 pmHey Mike!
We belong to a mail forwarding company called St. Brendan’s Isle. All of our mail gets sent there, and they forward our mail to wherever we are. You’re able to use that for your DL, registration, taxes, and more.
You can read more about this here – https://www.makingsenseofcents.com/2016/09/the-ultimate-guide-to-getting-started-rving.html
RC says
February 19, 2020 at 12:31 pmDo 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.
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
February 19, 2020 at 12:52 pmHey RC!
If you join an RV-related Facebook group, I’m sure you’ll find some families that fit what you’re looking for in there 🙂
Bo says
February 20, 2020 at 4:26 pmHey 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!
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
February 20, 2020 at 7:06 pmI 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.
Bo says
February 21, 2020 at 6:54 pmThat’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!
rose says
February 24, 2020 at 12:00 amWere you using any SEO techniques in those first couple years? Thank you
Rusty Do says
February 20, 2020 at 5:44 pmYour website makingsenseofcents.com is hosted by which hosting company and which plan do you use?
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
February 20, 2020 at 7:05 pmI use BigScoots. It’s about $60 a month.
Meh says
February 21, 2020 at 11:43 amHi 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
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
February 21, 2020 at 12:28 pmHello!
Almost none of my traffic generation effort goes toward SEO. I maybe spend a few minutes per blog post?
Meh says
February 22, 2020 at 6:24 amHi 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?
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
February 23, 2020 at 5:40 pmIt’s all been very natural. I am in the process of spending more time on the subject, though 🙂
Sonia says
February 22, 2020 at 2:50 amHi 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 😉)
Brian Lum says
February 23, 2020 at 7:14 pmHave 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.
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
February 24, 2020 at 10:36 amHa, I do not think I am qualified enough for that!
Andrea Ramos says
February 25, 2020 at 4:49 amWhat is the best site or plugin you is to handle purchases made through your site? I’m so close to launching my site but I am stuck in this area.
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
February 25, 2020 at 2:18 pmHmm I’m not sure what you mean? I don’t sell anything directly through my website.