Do you like to do home improvement projects in your spare time? Do you dream of becoming a blogger? If the answer to both of those questions is yes, you're in luck!
Starting a blog is one of the easiest and quickest ways to learn how to make money online, especially if you have quality content to post. The home improvement niche is widespread and continues to grow as people want to learn more about DIY projects. Read on to learn how to set up your home improvement blog.
How to Pick a Blog Platform
Before you start blogging, you will first need to choose a blog platform. You have several options, but you need to choose a platform that will let your register your own domain name if you want to make money.
If you are new to building a website, platforms like Wix and Squarespace let you choose from various templates and customize with your content. These are easy to use and can be customized to an extent to give your site a unique look.
If you want more control, you will want to build your site with WordPress. You start by getting a domain and a web host and then building your site using the WordPress platform. WordPress has a learning curve, but there is a lot of help available online, and you have many more options to customize your blog.
How to Turn Each Project Into a New Article
To get many visitors to your site, you will want to make a separate blog post for each project. If you are doing a large, multi-step project, such as remodeling an entire room, you may want to split it into several blog posts.
As you do your project, take as many photos (and even videos) as you can. Home improvement blogs with many photos do better than those that do not have as many visuals. Once you have all of your footage, it's time to create your post.
Write a detailed post with step-by-step instructions on how to do the project. If you have an interesting anecdote, you can lead with that. People tend to return to blogs when they can connect with the blogger.
Add in pictures to go along with each of the steps. Visitors want to see your beautiful finished product, but they also want actionable steps they can follow. If you really want to increase user engagement, create a YouTube channel, make a video of your project, and add that to your blog.
How to Set Up and Use Amazon Affiliate Links
One of the best ways to make money with your blog is through Amazon Affiliate links. The way affiliate links work is: you will recommend a product on your blog and link to the product on Amazon using a unique link that lets Amazon know you sent the buyer. If the user clicks the link and makes a purchase of anything at Amazon within 24 hours, you will get a percentage of the sale. (This is an over-simplification of the process; you can find out more on a website called "Amazon.com Associates Central.")
To create affiliate links, you must first sign up for the Amazon Associates program. You will enter information about the type of website you run and your website's URL. Once you are accepted to the program, Amazon will create a bar at the top of your Amazon page. Once you're on the product page of a product you want to recommend, you will have the option of getting a link, an image link, or an image and description link. You will use this link on your website so that Amazon can track your referrals.
How to Write About Local-Specific Terms to Get More Search Traffic
Local search engine optimization can often be quite helpful in getting traffic to your site. This process involves using local cities' names on your site to get local traffic. In many cases, users are more likely to add a location to their search. Let's say that you live in San Diego, and you hire someone to come out and install a water softener system. Write a blog post about it, and use terms when you write it. This will help people find your blog easier than if you just blog about soft water systems in general. When you narrow down your focus to a geographic niche (in this case: San Diego + soft water systems), you'll be competing with fewer websites and blogs (who are all competing for the broader topic: soft water systems in general).
Setting up a home improvement blog to showcase your projects is easy and fun. By using best practices (for example, you can read about how I became a blogger here), you can turn your hobby into an activity that makes you money.
I started this blog in January of 2010, meaning its now over 10 years old (or new, depending on how you look at things!) and in its 2nd decade of life. It was started at a time when my "day-job" was a little slow, and I found myself with quite a bit of energy and brain-power remaining at night. Starting this blog has been one of the best decisions I've made. Below are my reflections...
Here in the Raleigh, North Carolina area, it doesn't look like the lock down from the coronavirus is going away anytime soon. Yesterday, the NC governor issued a stay-at-home order running until April 30th. This was on top of the Wake County stay-at-home order/timeline through April 15th.
These are truly the best of times and the worst of times. It's the best of times because I am thankful to have stable employment, good family health, and a lot more time at home with my family. It's the worst of times, well, for the obvious public health reasons, and because we need to stay at home to restrict disease vector spreading.
We're all feeling the "squeeze" in our own unique ways. People that live by themselves are going crazy because they feel alone without other human interactions. On the other end of the spectrum, families like mine with two young kids at home are finding it hard to have quiet time to ourselves for work or other purposes.
Along with several other great suggestions (regular exercise, connecting with old friends), one that I really liked was picking up a new hobby or pick up an old one.
For the past few years due to my career/"day-job" and having two children, I haven't had the time to personally write much on this blog. However, it's one of the things about blogging from which I get the a lot of satisfaction. It's a nice creative outlet.
As such, maybe one of my goals for this stay-at-home stretch will be to do more "raw" writing here, without worrying necessarily about formatting, advertising, SEO, networking, etc. Let's see how it goes!
Now, It's Your Turn...
So, how about you all? What steps are you taking to cope with these challenging times?
The 10% give back giveaway fun rolls on for the month of May 2015.
The past year has been one of major life changes for me. I finished my graduate school degree in August 2014, got married in September, moved to Colorado in November, started a new job in December, and bought a single family home in January 2015. With all of these changes, I have gotten a little behind with running give backs on MPFJ. In fact, my records showed that I haven’t done one since April 2014.
As such, we need to do some catch up!
In case you missed the first 31 editions of the 10% Blog Income Give Back, after doing some thinking at the beginning of October 2011 about what direction I want this blog to grow and evolve towards in the future, I decided that any income made from this blog would have more significance to me at a personal life values level if I knew that a portion were being given back to the following places:
1) The readers – Obviously, without you here to read my articles and interact with my ideas, there would be no blog in the first place (let alone blog income). As such, it is only fitting that you receive a portion of any blog income.
2) Charitable organizations – If you’ve read my blog before, you know that I’m a big believer in donating a portion of my money to charity. Each year, I donate between 5-10% of my income to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society as part of the Bike for MS fundraiser that I do. Beyond the good that is done by donating your money, getting used to contributing to charity is also a good practice to emulate the actions of affluent individuals (T. Harv Eker discusses this in his book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, which I would definitely recommend reading if you have a few hours).
Because of these considerations, I’ve decided that each month going forward, I’m going to give away 10% of my net (after-tax) blogging income/profit to My Personal Finance Journey readers (5%) and to charity (5%). Listed below is a summary of the results we’ve achieved together thus far through this give back effort:
After each calendar month passes, I’ll tally up my net blog income and determine what Dollar value correlates to 10%.
So far, I’ve been very happy with the success of the October 2011 – April 2014 give backs. Listed below is a summary of what we’ve accomplished so far with the give back effort.
Current total given to charity = $2,570
Current total given to blog readers = $1,266
So, that’s the overall flow of things and a brief recap of what’s happened so far with the give back initiative. Now, let’s get in to the specific details for this month’s (May 2014-May 2015 catch up!) giveaway.
Details of May 2014-May 2015 10% Blog Income Giveaway
$779.13 total blog income to give away – $389.57 to 2 My Personal Finance Journey readers and $389.57 to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society of Colorado.
$389.57 in the form of 2 prizes available to 2 readers as follows –
1) Grand Prize = $250 USD Cash Via PayPal.
2) Runner-Up Prize = $139.57 USD Cash Via PayPal.
How to Enter the Giveaway – Deadline to Enter is 11:59 PM, June 15th, 2015
Like previous months, I’ve decided to use the RaffleCopter giveaway management tool to handle sign-up facilitation for this giveaway, so simply go through the steps listed in the widget below to enter the running for the prize and accumulate entry points.
There is no limit to the amount of points you can earn. If you refer 10 subscribers – your name will have accumulated 50 entry points! Or, if you link to the giveaway more than once, you can accumulate those 5 entry points multiple times. In the event of a tie, I will be using a random number generator to select the grand prize and runner-up (2nd place) prize winners.
Important instructions: After you complete an entry method, make sure to click and fill out the “I Did This” or “Enter” button in the widget so that I have a record of your points.
Remember, the deadline for entries will end at 11:59 PM, June 15th, 2015 (~4 weeks from today – the start of the give back). Good luck to you all! Please contact me if you have any questions. After the deadline for entries passes, the grand prize and runner-up prize winners (one with the most points and second most points accumulated, respectively) will be contacted via email to receive their prizes.
The following is a post by MPFJ staff writer, Derek Sall. Derek is the owner of the blog, LifeAndMyFinances.com, where he teaches people how to get out of debt, save money, and become wealthy.
Do you ever stop to think about how much you really have? I sure hope so, because if you’re reading this post on your personal laptop or tablet right now, you have tons more than the average person in this world. On this day, I suggest that you stop, think, and be thankful.
We Are Wired to Want
Have you ever wanted something simply because someone else had it? I think we all have! It’s in our nature. Let’s take kids for instance. There might be a group of kids playing, each with their own toy, and then one kid decides to pull a different toy out of the closet, one that everyone knew about and didn’t grab. But, now that this kid has it, the other kids want it. We have all seen this before haven’t we? For whatever reason when someone else has something we are wired to want it.
Unfortunately, many of us do not grow out of this habit of wanting. When our friends and neighbors buy new cars, we suddenly get the itch to buy a new car as well. We know that it’s not a wise purchase (due to our lack of cash and the quick depreciation on the vehicle), but we begin to justify it. We suddenly start noticing that our current car “breaks down all the time” and “gets terrible gas mileage”, when in actuality the car is a perfectly fine automobile and might last another ten years if you just take care of it. The reason for buying the car is simple – we want it so we talk ourselves into buying it.
We Forget What We Have
As human beings, all we really need is a roof over our head, food in our bellies, and clothes on our back. If we shared a house with ten of our closest friends, what would all of that really cost us? Maybe $200 a month? But how much do we actually spend per month? For many of us, the monthly cost of keeping all of our stuff is well over $3,000 a month. Isn’t that just insane?!
And, with all of this spending, we are still left wanting more. Instead of a 2,000 square foot house, we think we need a 3,000 square foot house! Instead of a six-year-old domestic car, we would really like a brand new luxury car. And for what reason? Just because it looks cooler? Or maybe because we want others to envy us?
I don’t think I have ever quoted Oprah Winfrey before, but this saying is absolutely spot on:
“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you’ll never, ever have enough.” – Oprah Winfrey
Thankfulness and happiness really go hand in hand. If you are thankful for what you have and are happy with what you own, then you will likely be blessed with even more. But, if you constantly want what other people have, then you will just be wanting for your whole life, because there is no way that you can afford to buy everything. It is best to be thankful.
We Don’t Know What Others Don’t Have
While we are out wanting all day, many of us forget to consider the needs of others. Do you ever stop to think about how good you actually have it? There are millions of people out there that do not have access to clean water, and you can access it from your home by taking about 5 steps to your left and turning the faucet.
There are millions without the luxury of owning a car, but still walk 10 miles or more each day purely for their survival. You have a car that can drive you hundreds of miles, but you just want a shinier model.
The next time you want something, consider the life of the needy. How would they view your desires? Again, be thankful for what you have and you will only grow in your happiness in this life.
How about you all? What have you desired lately that is totally unnecessary? Will you be thankful instead?
The 10% give back giveaway fun rolls on for the month of April.
In case you missed the first 30 editions of the 10% Blog Income Give Back, after doing some thinking at the beginning of October 2011 about what direction I want this blog to grow and evolve towards in the future, I decided that any income made from this blog would have more significance to me at a personal life values level if I knew that a portion were being given back to the following places:
1) The readers – Obviously, without you here to read my articles and interact with my ideas, there would be no blog in the first place (let alone blog income). As such, it is only fitting that you receive a portion of any blog income.
2) Charitable organizations – If you’ve read my blog before, you know that I’m a big believer in donating a portion of my money to charity. Each year, I donate between 5-10% of my income to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society as part of the Bike for MS fundraiser that I do. Beyond the good that is done by donating your money, getting used to contributing to charity is also a good practice to emulate the actions of affluent individuals (T. Harv Eker discusses this in his book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, which I would definitely recommend reading if you have a few hours).
Because of these considerations, I’ve decided that each month going forward, I’m going to give away 10% of my net (after-tax) blogging income/profit to My Personal Finance Journey readers (5%) and to charity (5%). Listed below is a summary of the results we’ve achieved together thus far through this give back effort:
After each calendar month passes, I’ll tally up my net blog income and determine what Dollar value correlates to 10%.
So far, I’ve been very happy with the success of the October 2011 – March 2014 give backs. Listed below is a summary of what we’ve accomplished so far with the give back effort.
Current total given to charity = $2,529
Current total given to blog readers = $1,225
So, that’s the overall flow of things and a brief recap of what’s happened so far with the give back initiative. Now, let’s get in to the specific details for this month’s (April 2014) giveaway.
Details of April 2014 10% Blog Income Giveaway
$81.90 total blog income to give away – $40.95 to 1 My Personal Finance Journey readers and $40.95 to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (which I just donated today!).
$40.95 in the form of 1 prize available to 1 reader as follows –
1) Grand Prize = $40.95 cash via PayPal.
How to Enter the Giveaway – Deadline to Enter is 11:59 PM, April 30th, 2014
Like previous months, I’ve decided to use the RaffleCopter giveaway management tool to handle sign-up facilitation for this giveaway, so simply go through the steps listed in the widget below to enter the running for the prize and accumulate entry points.
There is no limit to the amount of points you can earn. If you refer 10 subscribers – your name will have accumulated 170 entry points! Or, if you link to the giveaway more than once, you can accumulate those 10 entry points multiple times. You can also share other My Personal Finance Journey articles via social media sites once per day. In the event of a tie, I will be using a random number generator to select the grand prize and runner-up (2nd place) prize winners.
Important instructions: After you complete an entry method, make sure to click and fill out the “I Did This” or “Enter” button in the widget so that I have a record of your points.
Remember, the deadline for entries will end at 11:59 PM, April 30th, 2014 (~2.5 weeks from today – the start of the give back). Good luck to you all! Please contact me if you have any questions. After the deadline for entries passes, the grand prize and runner-up prize winners (one with the most points and second most points accumulated, respectively) will be contacted via email to receive their prizes.
***Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/tejvan/4420933678/in/
Today, in the ongoing Reader Profile Series, we’re getting to know MPFJ.com readers and commenters, Anneli and Carlos, from the site, The Frugal Weds. Let’s all give them a big round of applause for sharing their life with us and listen to their story. Enjoy! Also, if you’re interested in sharing your own financial story/journey with us in a reader profile of your own, just shoot me a quick email, and we can get the ball rolling!
1. Please Tell Everyone a Little Bit About Yourself (Background, Education, Family Situation, etc).
We are 30’s-something newlyweds living in Los Angeles. We met while through friends as undergrads at UCLA (Go Bruins!)
Like most college students, we both had to take out student loans. While we should have saved more during our college years and early 20’s, we went chugging along, enjoying our lives, and saved minimally. All that changed when we started discussing marriage. We buckled down and put our savings in high-gear. We paid off our engagement and wedding all in cash – not putting a penny on our credit cards! We were inspired by this and now, we are bent on eliminating our student loans and living a debt-free life! We are also very much driven by adventures – we are absolute foodies and restless travelers! Since food and travel were two of our biggest expenses, we have created ways to reduce our expenses: we cook amazing food at home and we’re travel hackers! We take advantage of cash-back offers and miles & points in order to stretch our budget even more. Through our blog, we share all the ways we are still enjoying our life, while making sure we are focused on financial independence! We’re moving towards being debt-free in the next 12-24 months and retired by the time we’re in our 40’s 🙂
2. Describe Your Current Financial Situation (Who Works in Your Family, How Your Income Is, Your Expenses, etc).
We both hold down our 9-5’s – Anneli in Recruiting/Talent Consulting and Carlos in Commercial Insurance in the Entertainment Industry. Together, we make over 6-figures and are able to save more than 20-25% of our income for retirement. We toyed with the idea of home-ownership, but most of the housing in the LA area is overpriced. Since we want to travel the world once we’re retired, we are holding off on owning our house for now. Perhaps once we’re retired, we can pay for a house all in cash!! (Fingers-crossed!) We are fanatical budgeters and keep track of all our expenses, investments with an eagle eye!
3. What Are the Current Financial Challenges You Are Facing (Saving, Paying Off Debt, Student Loans, Merging Finances After Being Married, etc)?
We are all about paying off our student loans! We’re 1/2 debt-free – we paid off Carlos’ student loans last year. Now it’s all about attacking Anneli’s loans. Once that’s done, we are debt-free!! We are also thinking about starting a family relatively soon – so saving for a baby is front and center in our budget. It’s awesome that we’re pretty much on the same page with most things financially. It’s easy to outline our goals and figure out how we can make things happen!
4. What Are Your Plans for the Future (Retire Early, Build Your Career, etc)?
We are excited to continue our savings and investment strategies in order to retire early and travel the world!
5. What’s Your Best Piece(s) of Financial Advice and/or Your General Philosophy on Personal Finances?
Always be future-oriented!
What you do today – how you spend of save your money will dictate what kind of retirement you will have in the future! Be creative – instead of finding ways NOT to do something – ask HOW can you make it happen instead. Additionally, find a partner in the truest sense of the world – if we’re on the same page with our goals, that’s the most important thing!! As a couple, we are a team and it’s a beautiful thing 🙂
The 10% give back giveaway fun rolls on for the month of March.
In case you missed the first 29 editions of the 10% Blog Income Give Back, after doing some thinking at the beginning of October 2011 about what direction I want this blog to grow and evolve towards in the future, I decided that any income made from this blog would have more significance to me at a personal life values level if I knew that a portion were being given back to the following places:
1) The readers – Obviously, without you here to read my articles and interact with my ideas, there would be no blog in the first place (let alone blog income). As such, it is only fitting that you receive a portion of any blog income.
2) Charitable organizations – If you’ve read my blog before, you know that I’m a big believer in donating a portion of my money to charity. Each year, I donate between 5-10% of my income to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society as part of the Bike for MS fundraiser that I do. Beyond the good that is done by donating your money, getting used to contributing to charity is also a good practice to emulate the actions of affluent individuals (T. Harv Eker discusses this in his book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, which I would definitely recommend reading if you have a few hours).
Because of these considerations, I’ve decided that each month going forward, I’m going to give away 10% of my net (after-tax) blogging income/profit to My Personal Finance Journey readers (5%) and to charity (5%). Listed below is a summary of the results we’ve achieved together thus far through this give back effort:
After each calendar month passes, I’ll tally up my net blog income and determine what Dollar value correlates to 10%.
So far, I’ve been very happy with the success of the October 2011 – February 2014 give backs. Listed below is a summary of what we’ve accomplished so far with the give back effort.
Current total given to charity = $2,466
Current total given to blog readers = $1,162
So, that’s the overall flow of things and a brief recap of what’s happened so far with the give back initiative. Now, let’s get in to the specific details for this month’s (March 2014) giveaway.
Details of March 2014 10% Blog Income Giveaway
$125.92 total blog income to give away – $62.96 to 2 total My Personal Finance Journey readers and $62.96 to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (which I just donated today!).
$62.96 in the form of 2 prizes available to 2 readers as follows –
1) Grand Prize = $37.96 cash via PayPal.
2) Runner-up – 2nd Place Prize = $25 cash via PayPal.
How to Enter the Giveaway – Deadline to Enter is 11:59 PM, March 31st, 2014
Like previous months, I’ve decided to use the RaffleCopter giveaway management tool to handle sign-up facilitation for this giveaway, so simply go through the steps listed in the widget below to enter the running for the prize and accumulate entry points.
There is no limit to the amount of points you can earn. If you refer 10 subscribers – your name will have accumulated 170 entry points! Or, if you link to the giveaway more than once, you can accumulate those 10 entry points multiple times. You can also share other My Personal Finance Journey articles via social media sites once per day. In the event of a tie, I will be using a random number generator to select the grand prize and runner-up (2nd place) prize winners.
Important instructions: After you complete an entry method, make sure to click and fill out the “I Did This” or “Enter” button in the widget so that I have a record of your points.
Remember, the deadline for entries will end at 11:59 PM, March 31st, 2014 (~2.5 weeks from today – the start of the give back). Good luck to you all! Please contact me if you have any questions. After the deadline for entries passes, the grand prize and runner-up prize winners (one with the most points and second most points accumulated, respectively) will be contacted via email to receive their prizes.
***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/promanex/3382448536/sizes/o/
The 10% give back giveaway fun rolls on for the month of February.
In case you missed the first 28 editions of the 10% Blog Income Give Back, after doing some thinking at the beginning of October 2011 about what direction I want this blog to grow and evolve towards in the future, I decided that any income made from this blog would have more significance to me at a personal life values level if I knew that a portion were being given back to the following places:
1) The readers – Obviously, without you here to read my articles and interact with my ideas, there would be no blog in the first place (let alone blog income). As such, it is only fitting that you receive a portion of any blog income.
2) Charitable organizations – If you’ve read my blog before, you know that I’m a big believer in donating a portion of my money to charity. Each year, I donate between 5-10% of my income to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society as part of the Bike for MS fundraiser that I do. Beyond the good that is done by donating your money, getting used to contributing to charity is also a good practice to emulate the actions of affluent individuals (T. Harv Eker discusses this in his book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, which I would definitely recommend reading if you have a few hours).
Because of these considerations, I’ve decided that each month going forward, I’m going to give away 10% of my net (after-tax) blogging income/profit to My Personal Finance Journey readers (5%) and to charity (5%). Listed below is a summary of the results we’ve achieved together thus far through this give back effort:
After each calendar month passes, I’ll tally up my net blog income and determine what Dollar value correlates to 10%.
So far, I’ve been very happy with the success of the October 2011 – January 2014 give backs. Listed below is a summary of what we’ve accomplished so far with the give back effort.
Current total given to charity = $2,382
Current total given to blog readers = $1,078
So, that’s the overall flow of things and a brief recap of what’s happened so far with the give back initiative. Now, let’s get in to the specific details for this month’s (February 2014) giveaway.
Details of February 2014 10% Blog Income Giveaway
$168.15 total blog income to give away – $84.15 to 2 total My Personal Finance Journey readers and $84 to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (which I just donated today!).
$84.15 in the form of 2 prizes available to 2 readers as follows –
1) Grand Prize = $50 cash via PayPal.
2) Runner-up – 2nd Place Prize = $34.15 cash via PayPal.
How to Enter the Giveaway – Deadline to Enter is 11:59 PM, February 28th, 2014
Like previous months, I’ve decided to use the RaffleCopter giveaway management tool to handle sign-up facilitation for this giveaway, so simply go through the steps listed in the widget below to enter the running for the prize and accumulate entry points.
There is no limit to the amount of points you can earn. If you refer 10 subscribers – your name will have accumulated 170 entry points! Or, if you link to the giveaway more than once, you can accumulate those 10 entry points multiple times. You can also share other My Personal Finance Journey articles via social media sites once per day. In the event of a tie, I will be using a random number generator to select the grand prize and runner-up (2nd place) prize winners.
Important instructions: After you complete an entry method, make sure to click and fill out the “I Did This” or “Enter” button in the widget so that I have a record of your points.
Remember, the deadline for entries will end at 11:59 PM, February 28th, 2014 (~2.5 weeks from today – the start of the give back). Good luck to you all! Please contact me if you have any questions. After the deadline for entries passes, the grand prize and runner-up prize winners (one with the most points and second most points accumulated, respectively) will be contacted via email to receive their prizes.
***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/kouchi/151196377/sizes/o/
Happy Friday folks! Just a quick post here to announce that yesterday marked the official 4year birthday of My Personal Finance Journey! Wooohooo! If my site was a child, he or she would be STILL be causing all sorts of mischief at this point!
It all started 1460 (Wow! That sounds like a lot of days!) days ago with a simple little post about a $30 sign up bonus offer for the Chase Amazon Credit Card. Coincidentally, I still have that credit card and use it for all of my Amazon purchases. It provides a pretty nice cash back feature too.
Since that first post on January 16th, 2010, here at My Personal Finance Journey, we’ve had about 415,000 visitors and 1139 total posts (328 posts during 2013). It’s been a great ride, and I look forward to another successful year of learning and interacting with all of you.
Thanks again for all your support!
The journey has just begun…..
Jacob
***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/girl_named_fred/57060927/sizes/l/
Today, in the ongoing Reader Profile Series, we’re getting to know MPFJ.com readers and commenters, Anneli and Carlos, from the site, 
