The Purple Teacup Co.

Blogging to promote your business, your passion and your voice

Start your blog

Niche Blogs And Why They Make Such An Excellent Affiliate Marketing Tool

Blogs or more specifically… Niche Blogs are simply blogs that are topically focused and target a specific market and/or niche.

More importantly, though, these blogs contain targeted information that your target market is searching for.

This is KEY.

As an affiliate marketer, we are always told that information, whether its an article, review, ebook, e-course, report, mp3 or podcast, is a key Pre-Selling tool before your potential customer decides to buy what it is that your offering.

This is where Niche Blogs come into play because of there many capabilities and functions.

The biggest advantage Blogs have is they give you the ability to syndicate your content and/or information through a technology called RSS(Real Simple Syndication).

The types of content you are able to syndicate are as follows:

– Articles
– Product Reviews
– eBooks
– eCourses
– Special Reports
– Mp3 Files
– Steaming Video(A.K.A Pod Casting)

Are you starting to see the advantages to blogs or more importantly, having a network of affiliate Niche Blogs?

I hope so.

Also, with your blog comes an RSS Feed that your potential visitors can subscribe to.

What does this mean for you?

Simple. Whenever you post to your affiliate Niche Blog or network of Niche Blogs guess who will INSTANTLY receive that post?

That’s right, whoever subscribes to your RSS Feed.

Are you starting to see the many benefits of having a Niche Blog and incorporating it into your affiliate marketing mix?

Only you can answer that.

Another great thing about Blogs, in general, is that search engines love them and everytime you post to your Niche Blog it “Pings” the search engines and other RSS Directories you’ve submitted to letting them know that there’s new fresh content for them to come and index.

The more you post, the more pages that will be produced, which means… more for the search engines to index, which means… more traffic to your Niche Blog.

The best way to take advantage of your new source of traffic and maximize your Niche Blog profits is to modify your blog template and add Google Adsense and your affiliate programs marketing materials to it.

By doing this, every time you post to your Niche Blog your marketing message will always be there and Google Adsense will display targeted ads related to your content.

Now, I can’t go into a lot of detail on how to modify blog templates in this article simply because that’s an article within itself and then some.  If you want to learn more about blogging – you can join our free Facebook Community here.

All I really wanted to get across to you is the advantages to having your own Niche Blog as part of your affiliate marketing mix to help market your affiliate programs to your target audience.

Blogs are here to stay so we might as well take advantage of them in any way that we can.

Are you interested in starting a Niche Blog? Coming soon – we will help you build the blog that is right for you! Make sure to join our community, and we will help you build a better blog!  Ready to start now, here are some tips!

 

Why The Purple Teacup is Hosted with SiteGround

Heads up! This post may contain affiliate links to products or services that I recommend. If you purchase those products, I may receive a small amount of compensation (like a referral fee). There is no extra charge to you. If you want more information, you can check out my full affiliate disclosure here.

SiteGround: The hosting choice of The Purple Teacup

So, I will be honest with you, I have tried a lot of hosting companies over the years.  GoDaddy, Netfirms, Bluhost, HostGator, just to name a few, and they all have their good and bad points.  A while ago a blogging friend suggested I try SiteGround (thanks Tammy), and I thought, well, ok! So, I moved a small site I had over and started playing around.  Overall, I would say that the back end where you do everything is about par with other companies, but the fact that ALL accounts come with CPanel, makes me a happier blogger.  What I will say is this – this is a hosting company built for people who want to make money off their blog – it includes a FREE SSL certificate, which is vital now with the changes being made by Google – Site installation is SO MUCH FASTER than any other company I have ever used.  (I run a class blogging setup class, previously, the participants had been on a Reseller account, and it would take up to an hour for me to do the installs, now, I am looking at around 10 minutes – that is a huge time saver. – a basic email account is included (this could save you another $10 a month from some of the other companies). – Siteground is recommended by WordPress (that should be enough right there!) – Siteground includes a free Content Delivery Network (another geeky wonderful thing) – As far as hosting companies go, their customer service is amazing.  I pretended that I didn’t know that I was doing on installing my SSL, and contacted their chat technical service.  The call was answered quickly, and everything was done in a matter of minutes, not hours. – Backups are included in Siteground Hosting, another vital piece of the blogger’s toolbox. There are 3 great hosting packages for WordPress Users as well.  I am on the GrowBig Plan!

StartUp – can host one website, it can handle up to 10,000 unique visits per month, 24/7 client support, free CDN, Let’s Encrypt SSL, Unlimited Emails & DBs, free daily backup, etc.

GrowBig – you can host multiple websites and this plan can handle up to 25,000 visits per month, 30 backup copies and free restore, all 3-levels of our SuperCacher, which aids loading time tremendously, customer support with priority, although we have insanely fast response times, our GrowBig and GoGeek clients are handled with priority. 

GoGeek – can host multiple websites and offers even more space, can handle up to 100,000 visits per month, has all features of the other two plans plus 1-click WP staging, pre-installed git, PCI compliance and fewer accounts on the server.
You can read a bit more about Siteground here.

Whether you are just starting out, or a seasoned blogger – I would HIGHLY recommend Siteground for anyone looking to do a self-hosted blog!  When you are ready, check out SiteGround here!

And don’t just take our word for it – we recommend SiteGround to our clients – and this is what they have to say.  Don’t take a chance with your website.

 

Where to start blogging? Start HERE!

Heads up! This post may contain affiliate links to products or services that I recommend. If you purchase those products, I may receive a small amount of compensation (like a referral fee). There is no extra charge to you. If you want more information, you can check out my full affiliate disclosure here.

One of the most common questions I receive on our Facebook page and in our groups is – If I want to start blogging, what should I do? The answer is simple, in the beginning.  Blogging, while it can feel intimidating, is actually a reasonably simple process.

First, you need to pick a platform for your blog.  After blogging and trying different website platforms, I find that WordPress is the best and most flexible platform.  There are literally hundreds of thousands of WordPress websites and blogs out there! So, no matter what type of website you want, you can find a relatively inexpensive or free template.  Before you get to templates, though, you need to find somewhere to host your blog.  Some people will use WordPress as their host, but for a number of reasons, self-hosted is the way that I recommend.

After 15 years of trial and error – I have found that SiteGround is by far the best. The reasons that I love them (and yes I said love)?  Their uptimes are one of the best in the industry, they have amazing customer support (not a lot of sitting on hold waiting), and even their BASIC hosting packages come with a free SSL and CDN system.  So, for less than $50 a year (their basic package), you receive everything that many other companies would charge over $200 a year for.

Next, you need to look at themes! This is truly a ‘get what you pay for’ situation.  Free themes will have limited customization option and limited (if any) support.  We have some of our favorite theme companies listed here.  There really is something for everyone.

Then you are going to look at adding customization and plugins.  Plugins are like website apps that do cool things, from helping people share your posts on social media to capturing email addresses.

Once you have all that done, you move on to creating your posts – posts like this one.  There are LOTS of places to find inspiration for what to write, too.  Just listen to your friends, your clients, your staff – there are always people looking for advice.  Once you know what you want to write about, the actual sitting down and typing it all out can go quickly – check this out!  Find your niche and start sharing!

Finally, promotion.  Once you have created your blog and done all of your hard work, you want people to come and check you out! You can use word of mouth, but social media is one of the best ways to share what you have to say.

So basically (in a small nutshell) you are looking at your platform, your look, and your content.  If you would like help this all this, we are here for you!  We have an entire collection of courses to help you out, regardless of where you are in the process!  Total beginner and ready to learn?  Hop in on our next Blog Lab.  Want us to do the set up so you can get to writing?  We’ve got that here, too.  We even have a course to fill in the blank for more experienced bloggers and a FREE “7 Days to Launch” course for those who are comfortable with tech and need a quick and easy  guide to get started.  There is no better time to start blogging  than WRITE now 😀

 

Hey, come and check out our Facebook page and give us a like! We love to know what people are looking to learn in WordPress world! Our group, The Bloggers Bistro is filled with an amazing group of Female Entrepreneurs learning how to blog to promote their business, their passions and their voices!

Niche Blogs And Why They Make Such An Excellent Affiliate Marketing Tool 1

5 Free Stock Photography Sites for Bloggers

One of the challenges that most bloggers face is finding good quality stock photos that they can use within their blog posts.  Here are my top 5 choices for stock photo resources.

(Please remember to always check terms and condition and licenses. Things can change from when this was published.)

1.  Pixabay

This is my first go-to when I need an image. They have a large existing catalog and it keeps growing. In many cases, they will have a series of images so if you are looking to do a collection of posts, you can get matching images without using the exact same one.Niche Blogs And Why They Make Such An Excellent Affiliate Marketing Tool 2

 

2.  Stock Snap
Hundreds of high-resolution images added weekly. Free from copyright restrictions.  This is a great site for lifestyle bloggers to find free stock photography that will work with their blog.

Niche Blogs And Why They Make Such An Excellent Affiliate Marketing Tool 3

3.  Unsplash 
I love that the photography community is looking at using their talents for good and not evil! (LOL) Many photographers have side passion projects that they never expect to sell, but just want to create beautiful images.  This is an example of professional photographers sharing their talents for free.
Niche Blogs And Why They Make Such An Excellent Affiliate Marketing Tool 4

4.  Gratisography
 Gratisophy has the perfect picture for your personal or business project. Amazing high-resolution pictures are added weekly and all of them are photographed by Ryan McGuire and free of copyright restrictions.

Niche Blogs And Why They Make Such An Excellent Affiliate Marketing Tool 5

5.  Public Domain Archive
Some people go down the rabbit hole of Pinterest, but this is MY guilty pleasure site.  I love looking at the amazing photography on this site and it would be the perfect fit for a lifestyle or travel blogger.
Niche Blogs And Why They Make Such An Excellent Affiliate Marketing Tool 6

BONUS! This is a late addition that I want to make sure you know about!
PikWizard just arrived at my doorstep and I am loving the fact that these images are new and fresh.  NONE of these I have seen anywhere else!  I would DEFINITELY recommend them as an added resource to your list!

 

Niche Blogs And Why They Make Such An Excellent Affiliate Marketing Tool 7

Hey, come and check out our Facebook page and give us a like! We love to know what people are looking to learn in WordPress world! Our group, The Bloggers Bistro is filled with an amazing group of Female Entrepreneurs learning how to blog to promote their business, their passions and their voices!

Niche Blogs And Why They Make Such An Excellent Affiliate Marketing Tool 8

6 Simple Tips for Writing Any Blog Post

Writing blog posts can be as easy as baking cookies to one person, but much more difficult to the next. Professional writers will tell you that they find blog writing enjoyable. Those who are not great writers may be intimidated by the task, however, and may never want to learn how to write a blog entry. Writing a blog entry does not have to be painful. It can be a lot of fun! If you are interested in blogging but are unsure how to begin, use these six easy steps to writing a blog entry to get started.

Gather Ideas

The most difficult part about writing anything is deciding what you want to write about. Blogs are interesting because you can use them in several ways. You can use them as a personal online journal of sorts if you wish. You can also use them as a place to post your opinions and views. Lastly, you can use them as a place to put short articles of interest for others to read.

If you are choosing to use your blog as a journal, you might not need much planning. You can probably simply begin writing and see where it takes you. If you want to use the blog for your opinions or for articles, however, you will need to gather ideas. Create a list of topic ideas that interest you. Use them to determine what your topic will be. After choosing a topic, make a quick outline of the main points you want to include. This step may seem tedious, but it will make the other steps go much more quickly, so be sure not to skip it.

Choose a ToneNiche Blogs And Why They Make Such An Excellent Affiliate Marketing Tool 9

After you have chosen your topic and created your short outline, you will need to choose your tone. The most successful blogs are written in a casual tone, which is a welcoming idea to most non-professional writers. Don’t worry about grammatical rules. Simply choose a tone that is like the one you would use when speaking with your spouse or a great friend. The tone should be friendly and stress-free.

Write Your Post

When you sit down to write your post, remember the tone you chose for your piece. Put your topic idea and outline in front of you and begin writing. You should keep your blog posts pretty short. They should contain your main point within the first sentence or two. Donít ramble on and on or you will risk losing your reader somewhere in the middle. You can strive to keep your posts between 300 and 700 words altogether. This may sound like a lot, but once you start writing, you will see that it will not take a lot of time to get to this point. Don’t forget to write in a casual tone. Write exactly like you would speak. Avoid large words that some people may stumble over. Create interesting, yet simple, posts for everyone to enjoy.

Use a Signature Ending

A signature ending is important for any blogger. You can choose to end each post with a specific quote or phrase. You can add your name to the bottom with a special symbol nearby. It really does not matter how you choose to end your post but be sure to choose a signature ending. A signature ending is a great way for regular readers to see that your post is ending. It can be a comforting sight for many readers as well and make your blog seem more personal.

Edit Your Work

After all of the writing is said and done, you should always edit your work. Editing is not always a fun thing to do, but if you want your blog to be taken seriously, you should go back over your work. Look for misspelled words and other common mistakes. Although you are not worrying about perfect grammar, you should not misspell words. When you are certain your text is mistake-free, you can move on to the last step.

Submit Your Update

The final step to creating a blog post is to submit it to your blog. This is typically done via the blogging software. There is a spot where you can paste your text and click on the submit button. The software should do the rest. After submitting, visit your blog as a reader and check out your new update.

 

Hey, come and check out our Facebook page and give us a like! We love to know what people are looking to learn in WordPress world! Our group, The Bloggers Bistro is filled with an amazing group of Female Entrepreneurs learning how to blog to promote their business, their passions and their voices!

Niche Blogs And Why They Make Such An Excellent Affiliate Marketing Tool 10