1. I have the best husband in the world. We were just coming off a 2 week vacation/family reunions. The original plan was to fly back all together, and then I would catch an early morning flight to Atlanta for the Haven Conference. My flight was canceled, so we  made some changes. I said goodbye to my husband, 5 kids, 7 carryons, 5 backpacks, 1 laptop bag, 1 stroller, 1 big honkin’ checked bag, 1 carseat, and 2 boosters in Houston. I flew to Atlanta, (by myself…in a glorious ROW to myself!) while they flew back to Baltimore, spend the night in a hotel, the next day they drove 5 hours back home, then drove my oldest daughter up to our church girls camp that afternoon. He is the BEST.

this is an interview I did over at Homemaker on a Dime~she did a great series on Blogging for Dollars.
1) Can you please share how you started earning income from your blog?I get most of my income from BlogHer ads. I love them because I really don't have to do anything, just post when I can. I don’t take private ads, because honestly, I don’t want to make the time to keep up with them and it would put more pressure on me to post, post, post. Occasionally, I also do product reviews for Blogher, I have google ads, and am an Amazon affiliate. It’s a perfect part-time job for me right now and I sometimes have to pinch myself that I’m getting paid to do something I love.

2) Can you give advice on how bloggers can attract advertisers without turning off readers at the same time?Most readers understand that blogs are awesome and chock full of crazy good information and insights. Because they are FREE, the ads have got to be part of it. It comes down to this for me: if I’m going to take time away from my family to write and manage the blog, it’s got to give back to me and my family. And it does: it’s a hobby/outlet for me and gives to my family financially.

I don’t know if any of you noticed, but 320 Sycamore has a new blog address!  It used to be www.granvillehouse.blogspot.com and now it’s 320sycamoreblog.com Wahoo!

 

You will still see the blog the same way, nothing will change for subscribers, blogger is still my host, but my blog address was the most confusing thing about my blog.

When I began (3 years ago!) I thought just my family would read my blog and they all know what the Granville House is (from It’s a Wonderful Life), so it made perfect sense to call it that since 320sycamore wasn’t available. It just got confusing though when I would say my blog was 320 sycamore, but the address is granvillehouse blah blah blah….

does anyone remember my original header??  :)

Anyway, it should be a good thing. I wish I could have gotten just 320sycamore.com but 320sycamoreblog.com was the next best thing.

Advice to anyone starting a blog! Before you announce it, tell your BFF about it, launch it, ANYTHING, go buy the .com for the name of your blog. (you can look at places like godaddy.com) Because if you are the least bit successful,  the value of your blog domain name will go up a lot and you will be kicking yourself that you didn’t buy it back then for $20.

I worked with the wonderful Emily @ Designer Blogs to make the switch and tweak a few things (like my navigation bar!) We’re working on getting the search button over there on the sidebar back up to speed, and I’m trying to make some more improvements, but it’s a good start. It’s my blog’s birthday in October and I want to talk more about my blogging journey, and hopefully a few things I’ve learned along the way (is there anything specifically you would want to know about this?), we’ve got an entryway and kitchen to finish up, and we’ll talk paper like I promised.

AND

it is time for our annual Under $10 Under 1 Hour Project Party!

Put it on your calendar….it’s always a good time.

Can’t wait!