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5 Blogging Lessons I Learned in 2023
(& Tips for You in 2024!)It's hard to believe it, but I've been blogging for a decade now. Back in October, I crossed the 10-year mark with my first site, Valerie & Valise (here's the case study update, too); I would never have guessed I'd still be pluggin' away at this keyboard all these years later – or that it would be the primary income I earn and which supports my family...
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8 To-Dos to Prep Your Blog for the December Traffic Bump (2023)
Here we are, in the early days of winter, as the darkness descends and we all feel a little bit down. If your blog is anything like mine, you’ve probably been feeling the squeeze of seasonality since school “started” in September. (You can see what I mean in my October recap too.) My traffic always goes down this time of year, and I’m left feeling a bit low...
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“Should I Hold Out for Mediavine?”
An Honest Assessment of Mediavine Requirements (2023)Maybe you pressed publish that first time without realizing what was next. If you're like me, you just wanted to start a blog, share your perspective on the world, and maybe get some niche-dependent perks on the side. (A lifetime of travel is one great one for me as a travel blogger!) But there is so. much. more. to being a blogger than just writing and hitting publish...
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Love Your List Review: Is Kate Doster’s Signature Course (Still) Worth It?
If you know me at all, you know one thing: I'm possibly the most cynical person when it comes to the online "knowledge economy." There's nothing that makes my blood boil more than course creators selling courses about how to become a course creator selling your own courses about creating courses. I mean, that sentence is just stupid to write – and yet people are profiting off of the hard work of thousands of people, selling these course multi-level marketing schemes every. single. day...
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5 Blogging Lessons I Learned in 2022
(& Tips for You in 2023!)One thing nobody ever tells you is that running a website or blog is a long, never-ending marathon – you launch a site, and then start creating content until... forever? Heck, I started my first site nine years ago and am still learning, still growing, and still trying to figure out what's next...
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5 Blogging Vanity Metrics to Throw Out in 2023
I've been in this blogging game long enough – almost a decade – to know that some parts of it are legit, and other parts are total trash. That's the way it is in every industry, and there's no way around it. Unlike other industries though, the blogging and website owner space is made up of a whole bunch of independent people working on our own projects and occasionally crossing paths when interests align...
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How Often to Publish on a New Site:
My 10/10/10 Website Launch PlanSo you've decided to start a new site? Awesome! When I started Site School, it was always my goal to help both first-time and repeat website owners create sites that bring them joy and earn them money. This means that, from time to time, people in the community will be in the "launch" phase of their first/latest site and need help with that process as much as any other part of the business like monetization through ads and affiliates or product brainstorming...
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7 Components in My Travel Blog Strategy for 2021
I’ll be honest: I did not want to write this post at all. I wondered if anyone would read it, and looked at my traffic to determine that very few people saw my 2020 post on the same topic. But when it came time to sit down and organize my thoughts, I realized I had a lot I wanted to say.
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9 Components in My Travel Blog Strategy for 2020
Here we are: a new year! A new decade! A new opportunity to create or adjust our business and travel blog strategies! I do love a new year, as I’m sure you’ve noticed from my many, many posts this week… Not to toot my own horn, but I work pretty hard at this blog – and I think it’s paid off so far....
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5 Important Lessons I Learned as a Full-Time Blogger in 2019
As I started to write my ‘year end’ posts for 2019, I realized that there was one important area of my life I was skipping over: travel blogging/being a creative professional in the travel industry. I shared some observations in my sixth blogiversary post, but I didn’t necessarily translate them as prescriptive ideas for those reading...