Nesting Place is so much more than a business.
I feel like I have a message. A message I can’t stop talking about. I talk about it one on one, I talk about it in a little weekly radio spot, I played it out as a little girl playing barbies, and right now, the vehicle to get the message out is this thing called a blog. Maybe one day it will be a book or a simply me encouraging my future daughters in law. No matter what, I can’t stop spreading the word that it doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful. It’s a message I desperately need to hear. Thank you for listening to it.
I started this blog so I could show photos of my house and little projects I had done. I quickly learned that I didn’t hate writing as much as I once thought. And for some reason, you out there put up with my non orthodox ways, imperfections and sometimes crazy ideas. The more I shared my secret, once embarrassing methods of mistreating and inexpensively decorating my home, the more you embraced me. I still cannot believe you accept me as I am. Thank you.
After a few months, I realized how much work goes into a blog. Oh my word. You who have blogs know the painstaking measures that go into finding the right words, taking a bajillion photos {every time I see a photo now I think, gosh, that person had to actually TAKE the picture first, then upload it, then tweak it, then name it…} and bearing a part of you to the world for all to freely comment on. It can be risky and scary and super fulfilling. Not to mention time consuming.
Lots of bloggers come to a point where they feel like they are spending mass amounts of time online, away from their family, working on something that hopefully, they are passionate about. But for me, when I spend time away from my family, working–that’s called a job. So the only way I could justify getting married to my dumputer was to make sure there was something in it for the fam. Something like new boys tennis shoes and paying down debt.
Nesting Place brings in income a variety of ways, I’m happy to share them with you and I’m thrilled there is a way for moms like me to work at home and bring in some income. I trust you will support women who make money from their blogs as they spend their time writing quality content. Feel free to implement some of these methods on your own blog.
Those little square ads: that link to really cool shops in the sidebar–people pay a fee to get their button over there. If they are over there, it means I like what they sell. The cold hard truth is, for every button over there, there are probably two merchants who didn’t make the cut. I’m picky. You come here to read about fabric and decorating so why would you suddenly decide you want to look at $4000 diamond rings, right? If there are ads are over there, you can trust that what they offer is relevant, stuff I want to have, and stuff I think you will appreciate.
Google Ads: That long, tall ad under the search box in the sidebar, and that long skinny ad that is sometimes at the top of Nesting Place. I have a love hate relationship with these ads. I also have them on my RSS feeds. I have very little control over what ads show up but I’ve successfully been able to block types of ads as a whole. A google robot does “read” each website and tries to match the most appropriate ads for the words I use. If you or I see something inappropriate over there I can block it or take google ads down for a day or so. The problem is, I don’t know what to block until it comes up. In the past 8 months I’ve only had to block 3 things. So I still have google ads. I make enough from it to cover a few bills and call me crazy but right now, it’s worth the trouble.
Affiliates: sometimes they are in the sidebar with the other square ads when I have extra space, sometimes they are a link in a post–I’ll tell you when a link in a post is an affiliate link–it means that if you click on it and buy, that Nesting Place makes a small percentage {8-12%}–it doesn’t cost you any more but it’s a reward for the website who refers them. Some affiliates I’ve done in the past are fabric.com and amazon and stuff like that. I don’t do much with affiliates, they serve mostly as filler round these parts. I usually use a site called commission junction to find some neat affiliate shops. Check them out if you think you might like to do affiliate stuff.
Giveaway Day: A couple times a year we have giveaway day. It’s a big crazy day of usually 24 giveaways in 24 hours. It’s fun and people get wonderful free stuff, it’s advertising for the merchants, and it’s a lot of work that includes income for the Nester. I get 2-3 time the applicants as there is space for and that allows me to choose a variety of shops that I think are the most relevant. I like to think it’s a win, win, win. If you think a day full of giveaways would work on your blog by all means, try it! I would encourage you to charge a fee for the merchants who want you to feature their shop. It is a ton of work if you take the time to write a meaningful post including links and photos and your opinions about each merchant, and it’s advertising for them~most merchants are happy to pay a small fee for a giveaway that generates a buzz about their products.
Sponsored Giveaway Post: From time to time I have a sponsored giveaway post like this one. Sponsored posts are only available to current advertisers, so that means they’ve already passed my rigorous test of worthiness, adorableness and I-gotta-have-it-now-ness. A sponsored giveaway post is available to merchants for an additional fee. They pay Nesting Place so they can have a post and give away their stuff. But here’s the catch–I get to give my honest opinion about their products. If they gave me products for free, I’ll let you know. Usually, I don’t have an item but because of my relationship with the advertiser and the fact that I have eyes to see how irresistible their wares are, I’ll write about them anyway–so you have a chance to win their cute loot. If for some reason I hate their product, I’ll give them the chance to revolk the post before I publish it {I like to keep it positive around here}. But that’s never happened since I’m so incredibly picky about who can even advertise at the Nest.
Selling Tassels I have an etsy shop that is currently empty. I made tassels for years before I had the blog so the online shop was a natural part of me learning all about the internet. I may open the shop up again one day but right now, I just don’t have time. I also wholesaled tassels to DaySpring for a short while. It didn’t take me long to realize that route was not for me. There may be a few tassels left but I opted not to make them to wholesale anymore.
Ebooks: So far I have two ebooks, a free one that lets people into my little world of imperfection called It Doesn’t Have to be Perfect to be Beautiful, and The Ultimate Tassel Guide that sells for $10. I hope to have more ebooks out very soon. I have about 851 ideas for ebooks for everything from renting to window mistreatments to gift wrapping to thrifting.
Ebay: From time to time I list stuff on ebay to sell. Most likely it’s decorative items and most likely they are beautiful and most likely, I’ll link to it when I do.
Freelance Writing: Right now I only do this for one site, (in)courage and I’m not looking for anymore. But, writing for other websites can be a great way to bring in some income. The payment can vary drastically and sometimes the payment is simply in the form of links back to your site. (in)courage pays it’s contributors with what I call DayCash. A little spending money at the DaySpring website in exchange for a monthly post.
There are lots of places I talk about even though they don’t sponsor Nesting Place or know it exists. Like Target. And Home Goods and Hobby Lobby and Dunkin Donuts and Toaster Streudal and Pioneer Woman, and did I mention Target? And of course, all the links on the bird watching posts and links to other blogs are purely a way to introduce you to some of the most talented people on the internet, most of them have no idea I link to them unless they read Nesting Place and happen to see that post.
Nesting Place is More than a business; but it is a business:
It’s been a business long before I knew what a blog was. Five years ago I was pulling up my big girl, introverted pants armed with some freshly printed Nesting Place business cards and plate hangers, and going into strangers homes and shops and helping them one on one. It was hard work, and it was my job, and I was pretty good at it. No one questioned the fact that I charged for my services, just like any other person with a job, I was paid based on my work. I was charging more per hour than what I make per hour writing a blog and no one cared and we were far from rich.
I consider it a great honor that I can bring in income from this here blog for our family. I make no apologies that the only way I can continue spending so much time at Nesting Place, working the job of my dreams, is if I bring in income. Like a job. Thank you for reading, blogging is such a wonderful medium because the people get to decide if a blog is worthy of readers. I’m assuming you are here because you find value in the message of Nesting Place. My goal is to always inspire and encourage. And the time I can commit to doing that is directly related to the income I can make.
The best thing about having a blog is that it is free for all to read it. You can come here every day for 24 hours a day and get all the inspiration you want and never have to pay a dime.
