Kayaking Near Tampa Bay...My Shameless Plug

It's not uncommon for me to promote new projects I'm working on here on the blog.  However, in the interest of full disclosure, I want to be clear that my husband and I own Island Kayak Tours.

As you know, Simply The Good Life is all about living the life you want to live with as little stress and chaos as possible.  So, it should be no surprise that when Mr. Good Life and I decided life was, once again, becoming something it shouldn't, we made a change.  I realize some of you might be thinking, "Owning a business can be VERY stressful and chaotic."  Yes, it can be, but in a much different way.  As a business owner, you are in control...and that makes all the difference.

It's hard to feel the stress and demands of owning your own business when you're on the water.  Paddling through shady mangrove tunnels, and pulling up to the sandy island beach just have a way of melting away your troubles.  I mean, really, how hard can it be to get up for work each day when that is the view from your kayak office?!  As the old saying goes, "Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life."

I encourage each of you to find your passion, and make it your livelihood.  Of course it won't be easy, and it may take a few tries to find a way to make your dream profitable, but persistence pays off.  Take control of your life and your happiness.  Live your good life, simply.

If you happen to find yourself in the Tampa Bay area, please look us up and come out for a tour.  We offer guided and self-guided (read as rental) tours through Shell Key Preserve, leaving from Tierra Verde, which is near St. Pete Beach.  We'd love to have you!

-Karissa

My Tips for Starting Your Own Blog

"Coffee Cup And Laptop" by Ohmega1982
courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Let me start this post by stating that I in no way guarantee that you will have a successful blog just by following my suggestions.  I am neither a professional, nor an expert.  I do not make money by blogging.  It is a hobby of mine. This is simply the advice I would give to a friend who asked about starting her own blog.  I would love to have input from any readers who also blog.  What has worked for you?  What hasn't worked the way you thought it would?  Here are my top 5 tips for getting started.

1. Choose your subject and audience.  You may have one specific subject you feel is your area of expertise, perhaps cooking or crafts.  Your audience will be more broad. You will want to write your posts so that any person interested in that subject will be drawn to your blog, and not feel excluded.  This may include men or women of a variety of ages. On the other hand, you may wish to cover several subjects on a regular basis.  Take my blog, for example.  I write about all areas of motherhood.  I cover many subjects; cooking, education, crafts, family management, etc.  My audience is more narrow.  While I'm careful to write my posts in a way that no mother feels excluded regardless of her location, race, or beliefs, my posts are definitely directed at mothers with children at home. (However that doesn't mean you have to be a mother with children at home to enjoy my posts.) Knowing what you want to write about and who you are writing to are critical in helping to determine your style of writing.

2. Find your voice.  Once you determine your style, you need to find your voice. Your voice is your personality, the particular way you speak. No one says things the exact way someone else does. Your readers will identify with you more and feel more comfortable with you if you let your true self come through. When I first started my blog, I felt as though I needed to be more formal. I tried to write so that readers would think I'm smart and knew what I was talking about. Looking back, I can see that some of those posts were kind of stuffy and had no personality. No one wants to read the rants of a robot. We all relate better to people who can just be themselves.

3. Get organized.  Before you start publishing, make a plan. How often do you want to publish posts? Are you doing this for fun, or do you plan to make money with your blog? Questions such as these can help you plan ahead. They can also help you answer other questions. For example, I do not plan to make money off my blog, so I have chosen to use Blogger, a free publishing platform. I am not going to spend money to publish posts that I write for fun. (That's not to say that you can't make money off of a blog that is published with Blogger.  I'm just referring to the fact that Blogger is free.)  If I were writing a blog for a company or for a project that I intended to grow into a company, I would be more willing to spend money to ensure that I could customize the website to fit my brand exactly. One final thought on getting organized. Create a separation between your personal online presence and your blog's online presence. Consider creating a separate email address and online profile just for your blog. Should your blog become the next big thing, you don't want your personal contact information available to the whole world.

4. Plan ahead.  I highly recommend spending a little time brainstorming topics and actually writing a few posts to have on hand. There is nothing worse than knowing you are scheduled to publish a post tomorrow and you can't think of a single topic to write about! There have also been several times that my life has gotten so busy that I simply didn't have time to get my post written, even though I knew what I wanted to write about. On those days I was very happy that I keep a small stash of posts that are written and ready to publish. I also use my Google calendar to "schedule" posts. This really helps when I have a great idea for a Thanksgiving post, but it's February. I simply add the title to my calendar in November so I can remember that I have a draft sitting in my file.

5. Build your audience.  Depending on what you write about and how you publish, there are different tools available to you to help build your audience. You can join blogging networks that promote each other, you can use social media to make your blog available to more people, and you can use promotions and giveaways to encourage others to read your blog. In addition to publishing my posts on my blog's website, I create links to each post on my blog's Facebook and Google+ page, which are both public pages. I also tweet about each post, and pin it to my Pinterest boards. It will take some time to build an audience. I started my blog in August of last year. In my first month of blogging I had a total of 106 page views. Last month I had 537 page views. I'd still like to grow a lot more, but I'm very happy with the readers I have so far. I recommend inviting friends and family to read your blog & to share it with others they think might enjoy it. Use labels, tags, and hashtags to make your posts more likely to be found by people using searches to find information.  I always include labels at the bottom of each post to help search engines find my post.

Which publishing platform you choose, how often you post, and how you advertise are all personal preferences.  In the end, my best advice is to find a subject you love and to be yourself.   Follow your heart.  You are sure to find others out there who share your passion.

Karissa

p.s.  If you do have a blog, please leave a link in the comments below.  I'd love to read it!

Mid-week Morsel: Boredom Busters for Work From Home Moms

The modern economy doesn't really support the one income family model.  However, many families, like mine, still choose to have a parent at home with the children.  More and more of these stay-at-home moms are running their own businesses from home.  This week's mid-week morsel is all about keeping your kids busy while you are productive.  Spark Plugging is a website dedicated to work at home resources for home-based entrepreneurs.  I found a wonderful article there listing 94 ideas to keep kids busy.  Whether you work from home for money, or just to keep your sanity, this list will certainly help reduce the number of times you hear, "I'm bored", this summer.

Karissa