Tue, 28 October 2014
Have you ever thought to yourself, “If I could just learn the strategies that the most successful women are using, I’d follow those exactly and finally get some results.” Today we’re giving you the opportunity to put that theory to the test. Crystal Paine of MoneySavingMom.com shares the Facebook and Pinterest strategies she’s using right now to increase her traffic and engagement. She also shares the top 3 ways she’s grown her blog. Crystal lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband, and three children. Despite a wildly successful blog and best-selling book, Crystal still loves bargain shopping, freezer cooking, and putting her faith and family first. She is truly a Brilliant Business Mom who has found a way to make it all work. On the Podcast01:38 - Turning a Debt-Free Focus into a Popular Blog Turning a Debt-Free Focus into a Popular BlogCrystal and her husband Jesse made an audacious goal of staying out of debt while Jesse went through law school. At the same time, Crystal became very sick with her first pregnancy and had to quit working. Knowing that they couldn’t pay the bills with Jesse’s part-time job, Crystal had to find a way to keep making money from home. Crystal learned everything she could about making money online and discovered the world of blogging. She started a mommy blog where she wrote on many different topics. Her readers were most interested in saving money, and her Frugal Friday blog posts became very popular. How the Teen Years Shaped CrystalWhile other teens were busy avoiding chores and responsibilities, Crystal was learning real-life skills that ultimately shaped her blog and career. She grew up in a family of nine, and her Home-Ec experience as a home-schooled teen involved recipe planning, grocery shopping, and cooking for her large family. How to Know When to Move OnCrystal urges other women not to do what she did! At one point, she had 3 blogs that she was trying to run all at once. This was too much stress for a mom with 3 young children. Her advice for starting anything new is to make sure you have the capacity in your schedule to add in that new project, and if you don’t, you’ll have to find something that you can subtract first. (Great advice from Crystal! How many times do we assume that we’ll magically find extra time for something new that we’re pursuing?) Crystal also encourages other moms to realize that “There’s nothing wrong with changing course.” She advocates for jumping out and trying new things, and in this way, you’ll learn what works and what doesn’t. "Go with those things that you really love and that are working really well for you." The Top 3 Ways MoneySavingMom has Grown(plus advice for you on growing too!)
Why Planning can be MisleadingDespite being Type A, very organized and driven, Crystal says one of the best things she’s realized is that there is no “typical day”. You can make elaborate plans, but they don’t always work out. Just the other day MoneySavingMom was under attacks from Nigeria, and Crystal couldn’t access her site. She had to drop everything and just focus on that problem. (Wow, what a great reminder that no matter how successful you are, no one is immune to stress and difficult circumstances!) Despite being prepared for nearly anything to happen, Crystal does have a general schedule for each day:
The Early Days of Blog-BuildingIn the early days of blogging, Crystal admits to not having good compartmentalization because she didn’t have any help with her online work. She had taken on way too much for herself. She’d wake up extremely exhausted because she hadn’t gotten enough sleep the night before, put out fires all day, and then repeat again for the next day. “It was not a healthy place” Crystal admits. 6 Facebook Strategies Crystal is Using Right NowCrystal's blog traffic from Facebook took a huge hit recently. So she began experimenting with ways to get those traffic numbers up again. Here is what is working for her:
6 Ways to Use Pinterest to Drive Traffic to your Site
Crystal’s Adorable Mom MomentListen to the podcast to hear how Crystal sets an example for her children by finding ways to stay creative, refresh and refuel. The Best Book on BloggingCrystal highly recommends How to Blog for Profit without Selling Your Soul by Ruth Soukup. Ruth shares loads of Pinterest advice and strategy, and Crystal says that everything she learned about Pinterest, she learned from Ruth. (With more than 265,000 Pinterest followers between them ....'nough said!) (I couldn't help but share this adorable note that Crystal received from her daughter when her book, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode was released. How sweet is this?!) Of course, you can find Crystal at MoneySavingMom.com Why not send her a tweet to thank her for such a great podcast?! What will you change as a result of hearing Crystal's advice? I'm trying the multi-picture Facebook post and posting at night first. One step at a time! ~ Beth Anne
Direct download: Episode205220Crystal20Paine_mixdown20final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:11am EDT |