Casper Dog Mattress – Free Shipping and Free Returns

Most of us are still in quarantine or stay-at-home mode, so hopefully my top Amazon picks and purchases this month will be ones you can get a lot of use out of. Speaking of which, my Top 5 for April was a big hit, so check it out.

1. Casper Memory Foam Dog Bed: If you’ve been following my recent adventures, you know that I got a french bulldog puppy for Christmas and I am obsessed. He’s already chewed up one dog bed, but this one came highly recommended, and it looks great in our living room. We got him a size small, and he absolutely loves it. I think my dog has a nicer mattress than I do, to be honest.
2. Traeger Grill Rub Bundle: We have been grilling out a lot during quarantine, and Jason loves his Traeger grill. This 3-pack of rub tastes amazing and has all the flavors we need, so we can cut down on having one million seasonings and spices in our cabinets. We stocked up on Good Ranchers quality meat, so we have more than enough stuff to grill for the next 6 months, which is awesome.
3. City of Girls Book: Anything by Elizabeth Gilbert is worth a read, and halfway into this book, I 10/10 recommend it. It’s set in the 1940’s and takes place in NYC. I have never wanted to live in NYC, but after reading this, I sort of wish I had spent some of my younger years living in the city. It’s quite hilarious, takes my mind off current issues and is written brilliantly, which shouldn’t come as a surprise if you’ve read any of Gilbert’s other books.
4. 10″ Ring Light: Full disclosure, I have a different ring light, but have friends who have this one and I’ve also used this one, plus this one is $40 cheaper than the one I use. This is great for family photos, doing Instagram LIVEs, and more. Also, if you don’t already follow me on Instagram, please do! Funny how people used to make fun of ring lights for bloggers and vloggers, but I have friends who just prefer to take pictures of their meal prep using ring lights and other great uses. It’s quick and easy to set up and easy to transport too.
5. Resistance Band Set: Another easy addition to your at-home workout set and makes a huge difference. You can even YouTube or search videos specifically using resistance bands – think a new arm workout with the band around you arms. Trust me, it’s a game changer for your workouts, and with a number of resistance bands in the set, it’s perfect for low to high resistance and you can even share with your quarantine workout buddy.

This post contains affiliate links, but all opinions are true and are my own. I also love Amazon because I only purchase Prime for free shipping and free returns, so if it doesn’t work out like you wanted, it’s easy to send back and get a quick refund.

Best Blogging Tips In Your Downtime

These at-home orders are tough for all of us. I’ve seen tons of “what to do you in your downtime,” and I guess I should count my blessings I haven’t had a lot of downtime. My clients are needing more work, and my days seem to be shorter having to share at-home office space with two other people and a puppy.

But for those who do have downtime now or in the near future, I wanted to share some blogging tips for optimal ways to update your blog and grow your blog presence. I have been blogging on The Blonde Side for 10+ years and run multiple corporate blogs, so I do have some valuable blogging tips to share.

If you want to succeed as a blogger and hopefully make money as a blogger, it takes time. If you aren’t sure where to start, here are some ideas.

Here are 15 things to do to help grow your presence and make the most of your time:

1. Support other bloggers. Yes, this is my #1 tip. Supporting others in this industry in a genuine and authentic way will do wonders for your blog, your growth, and your community. Guess what? You were probably inspired to start a blog because of these people, so share the love. I know you’d want the same love reciprocated, right? Do this in simple ways: shoot them a message thanking them for their content, leave a comment on their blog post, LIKE and share on social media, link to their blog on your personal FB page, etc. Many times they will reciprocate, but it also shows you share other relevant and fun content, not just your own 24/7. Plus, just be reaching out to their blog or social media, you can see ways they are successfully doing things (or not) and generate some of your own content ideas.
2. Create graphics and link your evergreen blog posts on Pinterest. Use one of the free Pinterest templates on Canva to create a graphic and link it to your posts. One of my most read recent blogs was this Downtown Denver Dairy Block Hotel Staycation Guide. A few weeks after posting the blog, I created a Pinterest graphic to link to it. I looked over my business Pinterest analytics and one of my most engaging pins all year (!) was the Denver Dairy Block pin, so I took a few different images from that trip (Pinterest does not recommend sharing the same pin or same graphic over and over, so take time to make a few different ones, including the text overlay), and added different text overlays and scheduled the pins. They continue to perform well, so I started using that same logic for other evergreen posts like At-home Workout Tips and 3 Weeks of Workouts in Denver. There is definitely something to be said for evergreen content (content that doesn’t have to be updated often) and sharing it on Pinterest, so take that approach for at least a few posts and see where it gets you.
3. Speaking of Canva and Pinterest, spend time utilizing their free online tutorials. These are
   

   15 Blogging Tips That Go Beyond Just Writing Blog Posts

   so useful and will help you get in a rhythm to market your blog the right way. Canva literally has a Design School online, which is FREE.

4. Learn blog-related skills other than writing, like coding and photography. Full disclosure: I haven’t the slightest idea how to code, but when I have time to sit down and learn, it’s top of my list. Not only are these helpful tools for your own blog, it’s 2020 and these are tools we all need. I can’t count the number of times I have emailed or texted my web guy for something as simple as a spacing issue, even in WordPress, which is pretty user friendly. It’s a lot, trust me. If I knew some of these simple coding tactics and wasn’t afraid to mess up my post, I’d try it. Also on this list are video editing tools, so I have been trying to get better at using Splice for my client videos to simply add professional logos at the beginning and end of clips and fit social media.
5. Update your links. If you’ve been blogging for a while, it’s with great certainty I can say you have broken links on your site. Broken links aren’t a good look for your blog, nor are they doing you any SEO or Google justice. Spend time re-reading old blog posts and clicking through the links to make sure they are still functioning. I have a ton of sports articles on The Blonde Side that link back to CBS Man Cave Daily, a portion of the CBS site that is now defunct. It’s time to clean up those links.
6. Audit your blog. This goes with #5, but go through your entire blog and make sure your contact info is updated, there aren’t misspellings, that your photos display correctly, etc. It could even be handy and fun to offer to trade auditing services with another blogger – a clean set of eyes will benefit you both.
7. Can you update any posts to make them evergreen? Again, it takes time, but go through old posts and see what you can add to make them relevant now and reshare them again. I have a post about tips from working from home – if I spent my time wisely, I could update a line about how COVID-19 has found many people working from home or link to my favorite work-from-home Amazon products, then make a Pinterest graphic (see #2), and share it on my social networks as a way to share relevant, useful and timely content. Those clicks from Twitter will help your overall numbers. You are providing a service with actionable and helpful tips to your followers (social media, strangers, newsletter, etc.) and they are providing beneficial web traffic – it’s a win win. My friend Carrie Colbert does this magnificently.
8. Sign up for influencer sites. If you want to make money from your blog, this is ideal. Setting up your profile, interests, web analytics and more allows brands and third party sites to reach out to you for collaborations, which can bring in a few hundred dollars, per collab. The two I have had the most success with are Activate and AspireIQ, but there are literally hundreds, especially if you’re interested in trading for product ( I am not).
9. Create (or recreate) your elevator pitch. I’ve had a decade of experience with this, but I find it’s usually hit or miss introducing myself as a blogger to strangers. Many people still don’t understand what that entails or the fact it’s more than a hobby. I talk about how I’m a sports and travel and fitness blogger as well as a corporate copywriter. I’ve found keeping it simple at first allows whoever I’m talking to to ask questions they want to know. Perhaps they want to know what fitness publications I’ve written for or what athletes I’ve interviewed. That lets me share what I do in a valuable way that benefits both of us.
10. Create your hit list of brands and/or follow up with your targeted list. To go along with #7 where you hope brands come to you, it’s smart to have an outreach list. This is something I have done for years. I create a folder on my iPhone, my computer, Instagram saves, and more, with snaps of products I think truly align with my brand and following. For me, this tip would be to spend the time researching the company/brand, finding their PR or media contact and sending out a collaboration request. Sometimes it can be as simple as sliding into their DMs, but I have had much more success taking it off social and into email. I clearly state why and how we should collaborate and go beyond “I love your clothes and want to share an OOTD.” People do that for free all the time with clothes they paid full price for. Why should they send you clothes or even better, why should they pay you? What can you offer them that they would consider valuable? I find my list many ways – looking at companies already spending money on other influencers (hit that IG save button), seeing who is spending money on Google ads or sponsored posts, what companies sponsor the MLB team in your neighborhood or advertise in your neighborhood publication. That means they already see the value in marketing (and have a budget!), now you need to show them the value in marketing with you.
11. Create or update your media kit. This is essential for me and should come before #10, but this sets my blog apart from others that are merely a hobby. Being able to send a professional media kit with demographics and updated engagement rates and blog and social media numbers shows brands you mean business, and that this is a business. You can Google free or cheap media kit templates or odds are you have a friend who is a designer you can pay $100 for their work. You only need one page, but include the pertinent info so they don’t have to look you up, which they likely won’t find the time to do. Send them a good looking and factual media kit, get their interest, then they look you up and respond.
12. Plan your content calendar. I have never been good at this, but I can see why it’s so crucial to your blogging business. Pending your blog niche, staying ahead of holidays and trends (i.e. DIY Pumpkin Ideas or 4th of July Recipes and Outfits) can truly set you apart and keep you organized. In fact, Pinterest Business sends emails to remind you about “peak planning periods” for upcoming holidays like graduation, Mothers Day, Memorial Day, etc. so you can get your blog posts up, and start generating traffic from Pinterest when people being the high level searches.
13. Create content ahead of time. This is a big one, if you can pull it off, also part of #12. Although my blog is a large part of my business and income, I also run other corporate client social media accounts and blogs, so those will always come first. But when I do sit down to write blog posts, I tend to try to knock out 3-4 at a time. I’m already in “my voice” and usually have blogs ready to put to paper, so I will write and schedule them all at once, so even when life gets busy, I still have content being posted. Same is true for social media posts (scheduling ahead on Facebook) and creating those Pinterest graphics and scheduling those. This allows your readers to get your content when it’s most important and gives you a better chance of making affiliate money off their link purchases or having them share your content on social media.
14. Create content on other channels, related to your blog. For me, a loose extension of my blog and where I can make extra money are Poshmark and the LikeToKnowIt app, so having photos ready to post and share are helpful. You can shop my links here.
15. Take evergreen photos. As I’m writing this post, I’m wondering what photos I have in my existing arsenal to feature. None come to mind, so that may delay this post, oops. I went to a fashion blogger panel at SXSW probably 6 years ago where one of the fashion influencers shared a secret that blew me away. She admitted she shot all of her OOTD for a two-week period in one day. It finally made sense. These gals didn’t always dress to the nines and have a full face of makeup to run to Target. They simply hired a photographer (or used a selfie timer or asked their boyfriend for help), did their hair and makeup perfectly and changed outfits multiple times, and by the end of the day, albeit exhausting, they had all their content they could edit, save and schedule. Time saving tools like that and the ability to plan ahead (i.e. taking your Memorial Day outfit pics and linking to them on the blog before the actual holiday) can result in a lot of money, not to mention your sanity.

Those are my best blogger tips for your spare time. Of course writing compelling content and staying consistent are great tips too, but that’s stuff you probably already know.

Do you have any tips to add? Or favorite bloggers who just kill it at the blogging game?

Tupelo Honey: Denver Southern Food Restaurant

A few weeks back, we had one of the best Denver date nights. Granted, we live in the suburbs of Denver, so going into Denver (downtown, RiNo, etc.) isn’t always the easiest or best option, especially if we’re going to partake in a few cocktails.

We checked out Tupelo Honey, just outside of Denver’s Union Station in one of the most bustling parts of downtown Denver. As a somewhat newbie to Denver, I didn’t even realize there was a backside of Union Station. We had only ever seen, walked around the front, so imagine my surprise at how much uncharted territory there still was!

Tupelo Honey features southern food and everything is made to order, so if you’re a picky eater and there’s an ingredient turning you off, just tell the.

Also, the menu is massive – a legit, double-sided FULL menu. Wow. There are 17 options for “snacks” (their appetizers) and their Happy Hour menu features snacks from $2-4, like Fried Cauliflower Tacos, Fried Pickles, Fried Green Tomatoes, Loaded Cracklins, and more.

Another bonus of this cute spot – they serve Infinite Monkey bubbly on draft, which is my favorite local Colorado wine and rosé (also in Austin).

Speaking of rosé, that’s what actually brought me to this spot. I was doing research for best places to drink rosé in Denver, and this spot came up. In case you didn’t already know, southern food and rosé go together quite well.

They offer three rosés by the glass, plus a happy hour rosé, which is $6. They have Les Trois Couronnes, Ava Grace Rosé, and M. Chapoutier, which is usually one of my favorites.

I consider myself a rosé connoisseur but having blind taste-tested four different ones, what I thought was my fave was actually my least favorite. With that said, I seriously loved (and would buy) all four. They also serve a Cherry Bomb Frosé, a frozen cocktail made with rosé, Luxardo cherry liqueur, lime, mint and cherry. Take advantage of their daily happy hour specials (3-6 p.m.) offering rosé by the glass for $6 as well as the Cherry Bomb Frosé for $5.

Our server Jamie had so much personality and made our date night even better. He actually started at the original Tupelo Honey in Asheville, NC and he has the southern accent to prove it.

Rosé aside, the Tupelo Margarita is most definitely worth trying. They make their own sweet and sour mix in a pressurized canister and on tap. For dinner, Jason got the Chimichirri Hanger Steak, and I got the Fried Chicken, which they are obviously known for. I loved the fact you could order a dark meat option, and the pairing with cheese grits was divine.