My Quick & Easy Natural Makeup Look that Looks Great on Camera & In-Person

Sometimes you want to be over the top with your makeup but other times you want a natural makeup look to showcase your natural beauty.

And if you’re like me then you also want a natural makeup look that is quick and easy to do. I would blame my lack of wanting to spend time on makeup on my husband, 4 kids and the work that I do but that’s simply not the case. I just don’t feel like standing in front of the mirror that long… haha

Continue reading this article for the easy way to get this natural makeup look.

With this look, I had the full kit and caboodle on my face. I am going to link to all of the products that I used below.

Primer
Concealer
Foundation
Eye Shadow
Eye Liner
Brow Pencil
Magnetic Eyelashes
Lipstick
Highlighter Stick
Contouring Stick
Blush

I know that sounds like a lot but I can do it in less than 10 minutes and with minimal makeup brushes sponges. I will also show you what I use with those as well.

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Creating a Natural Makeup Look Without Taking up Your Whole Day

As you can see, it doesn’t look like too much work went into this look but it also looks really nice. I don’t like looking like I have too much makeup on my face but I also feel much prettier when I have the full coverage on my skin.

Sometimes I’ll go without primer and foundation if I need to make it extra quick. Depending on how much I want to glam it up, I may or may not use magnetic eyelashes. I’ll let you know what’s what with each photo.

When you’re figuring out how to make your makeup look natural, remember that less is more. You can use a lot of products but don’t layer it too much.

Also, I found a great video that talks about how to keep your face from looking textured when you put on your makeup. If your face looks textured when you put on your makeup then your makeup doesn’t really look that natural at all.

makeup before learning about texturing — I had all of my makeup and magnetic eyelashes on here but this was before I learned about how to keep from having textured skin.

Full makeup minus fake eyelashes — I had full makeup on here but without the magnetic eyelashes

How I Apply My Makeup Quickly for a Natural Makeup Look

Now let me get into the details of how I do my natural makeup quickly.

#1 – Primer

My skin is a little on the dry side of things so I make sure to get my primer on my face to avoid as much textured skin as possible.

I use this to apply my primer and as you saw in the video above, you need to dab vs. pull it across your skin.

#2 – Concealer

Now I put the concealer under my eyes because it’s a little blue under there and doesn’t look great. Lol

I use my pinky fingers and dab it gently because underneath the eye is very sensitive and I don’t want to damage it.

#3 – Foundation

Now I use the foundation all over my face by dabbing it with this. Sometimes I need a couple of layers. Make sure that the foundation you have layers or it is just going to look weird.

#4 – Contouring & Highlighting

I use this video to help me contour and highlight but I didn’t use these tools. I used sponges.

#5 – Eye Shadow

When I put on eye shadow I just go over the entire lid with a brush. I usually use a tan or light brown for the whole lid. Then I take a slightly darker color and just dab the corner of my eyelid. Finally, I put a light or sparkly color at the top near my eyebrow.

I use the light color near the tear ducts as well.

#6 – Eyeliner

My eyes are super sensitive so I usually don’t put any on the bottom. I just put the eyeliner near the ends of my top lid. Sometimes I even do a little cat-eye.

#7 – Blush

I take a brush from the blush and put the darker blush alongside the cheekbone. Then I take a brush and put a lighter color right on the cheek.

#8 – Lipstick

With lipstick, I usually use a pink from bright to light. I outline my lip and fill it in with the same color of lipstick.

#9 – Brow Pencil

I fill in my eyebrows as needed by going along with the hair.

#10 – Magnetic Eyelashes

The magnetic eyelashes really give it the extra pop. It does feel a little weird the first time that you wear them and you may need to cut them if your eyes aren’t as big as the strips of lashes.

Summing up the Natural Makeup Look

There you have it. My natural makeup look and how I get it. Whether you’re wanting to look great on camera or you want to look good for an in-person event – you can have it all!

Don’t forget to bookmark this site to come back for more great reads.

7 Blogging Mistakes to Avoid Like the Plague

Jessica Lauren Vine

With 90% of all organizations using content marketing to get in front of their customers—your blog is up against a lot of competition!

It’s hard enough to get your blog off the ground but if you don’t know what blogging mistakes to avoid, you could sink your blog as quickly as you get it afloat.

(Learn how to start your blog)

I don’t mean to scare you, but I see this so much AND I did a lot of these things so in this article I will help you avoid these mistakes with your blog.

Contents

No-Brainer Blogging Mistakes to Avoid

If you avoid only one of these blogging mistakes, you can save yourself a lot of loss. This infographic can be a good reminder and I’ll explain these points below.

By the time you are done reading this blog post, you will be empowered with actionable information that you can use today. Keep reading to learn which blogging mistakes to avoid.

#1 – Not Having a Content Strategy

“Fail to plan and you’re planning to fail.”

I’m not sure who said the above quote first, but I have heard it—A LOT. The truth is that I have done both the winging it “content strategy” and actually planning my blog posts and site structure. I have to say that the latter of the two allows me to operate so much better and gives a better user experience to my readers.

The better your site structure is, the easier it is for your readers to navigate. This means they are going to stay on your website longer, learn more, be more likely to share content, to tell their friends or to bookmark your website. This also means you are more likely to be favored by Google and other search engines since they want their search users to have a good experience.

When you plan out your blog (which also means checking to see what keywords people are searching), you are more likely to rank on Google. While I have a love/hate relationship with Google, it is an awesome source of traffic when you get it rolling.

The main things you should plan out and add to as you are moving forward with your blog are:

Site structure
Keywords
Blog purpose
How you’re going to monetize

When it comes to site structure, you need to think about how people discover your content. You can look at your Google analytics to see where people find your content. For instance, this blog post was super popular on Pinterest.

This gave me two important pieces of information. One piece of information was that people were entering my site here so they most likely were bloggers or would-be bloggers. Since I knew they were coming from Pinterest, I could also assume they were considerably savvy online.

This information allowed me to make sure I set my site up in a way that would allow them to progress through it to get to my desired end result. At this time, my desired end result is that they are going to read through my site resources and potentially buy through an affiliate link where I’ll make a commission.

The products I recommend various products to help people, they find their solution and I get a commission. Win-win.

Keywords come into play whenever you plan out your site structure as well. You need to know what keywords to target before you start writing your blog posts.

Don’t skim over your blog purpose. If you don’t figure out your purpose for your blog, it is going to be difficult for you to make decisions for your blog. Determine your purpose and make decisions based on what is going to help get you there.

Monetizing is another important one you shouldn’t gloss over. If you don’t know how you’re going to make money with your blog then it is likely your business is going to go under from lack of capital.

#2 – Writing Less Than Awesome Content

Seriously, how do you create content people love and want to keep reading?

If you have a certain number of blogs you want to write per month or week, you may get stressed and put out content that is less than your best. Here are the top reasons less than awesome content is one of the biggest blogging mistakes to avoid:

People will leave your site quickly
No one will want to share your content
The search engines will not only penalize this blog post but it can harm the rest of your site

Besides for those things, you won’t be very proud of your work either and remember – how you do anything is how you do everything and… if it is worth doing, it is worth doing well.

Make sure your facts are right, you are talking to your audience in a way they can understand what you are saying and always deliver a piece of content you can be proud of.

A note on people leaving your site quickly because of less than stellar content — If people come to your site and quickly bounce away, this is going to increase your bounce rate. Your bounce rate is what percentage of people come to visit one page on your site and then bounce away after reading the information.

People bouncing from your site isn’t necessarily bad because they could have found what they are looking for right away but you really want people to stay as long as possible and click through the website.

Great content makes people stay on your site which also increases your time on site stats that also play into the ranking of your website.

#3 – Images that Are Not the Right Size

If you are going to put images on your blog posts, put images that are going to serve you. Currently, images that are 736 x 1128 are great for Pinterest and 1280 x 720 are good for sharing on other platforms. This is why I put the 1280 x 720 image in the featured image and at least one 736 x 1128 image in my blog post.

It’s important that we make it as easy for people and search engines to share our content in an appealing manner. Having those proper proportions is a must to win with images.

#4 – Poor Promotion

I know how you feel. You’ve just finished your blog post and now you have to do more work. You’ve got to get your mindset right because out of all the blogging mistakes, I’ve made this one the most.

This is one of the common mistakes business owners make.

If you’re going to write a blog post, why wouldn’t you promote it? Do you expect people to start flocking to your website without knowing you even have one? We shouldn’t but sometimes we do have a little bit of a lottery mentality with our blog posts.

When you publish a blog post, you should have a plan of how you are going to promote your new blog post. This is a major player when it comes to blogging mistakes to avoid so please, for your own sake, don’t ignore this point.

Where can you promote?

Social bookmarking sites
Social media
Forums
Facebook groups

Always make sure you follow the rules on any of these sites or you might get banned. As long as you are following the guidelines, you can share to your heart’s content.

One way in which you can better promote your blog posts is by creating advertisements for your blog in the same way in which you would advertise a product or service. The right kind of blog advertisement can:

Make it easier for the right people to stumble across your content.
Increase the number of views your blog receives.
Gain a deeper understanding of your audience (through studying analytics).
Increase your earning potential.
Raise your brand’s profile – especially if you run a business alongside your blog.

However, to achieve this goal – you need to ensure that you have the perfect marketing strategy in place.

To put it simply, you need to understand your target audience and create the kind of content and advertisements that will steer them towards your blog. One way in which you can do this is by looking into deep learning for marketing technology. This tech allows you to analyze complex data patterns. In short, it allows you to understand what you need to do to create powerful and effective advertisements that increase your visibility and connect you with the right people.

When you promote your website with any of these methods, you can boost your promotions by interacting with other people on the platform. Don’t be spammy but show interest in what they’re talking about and get to know them. If your blog comes up in conversation, feel free to share it with them.

#5 – Not Using Infographics

Have you ever been reading a “good” blog but it was so boring you couldn’t finish?

Infographics are fun and they help people understand what you are trying to tell them. Charts are useful when you have statistics you want to share with your readers or you may want to do photos and text. Either way, they are very shareable and eye-catching.

You can make a simple infographic on sites like Canva or if you’re super talented, you might even use photoshop. It doesn’t have to be perfect — your goal is to get your message across to people so you can help them.

#6 – Having a Slow Website / Blog

If your blog takes 3 seconds or more to load, people are going to click away. It drives me bonkers when I am on a quick internet connection but the website is slow.

I’m gone.

This is how we operate as a society these days. We are not patient with our technology.

If you’re using the WordPress CMS, make sure you don’t have any unnecessary plugins that you’re using or you’re going to bog down your site. You should also make sure that you have the best hosting available and that you’re using a content delivery network AKA CDN.

Content delivery networks delivery your website from the closest location possible to the person that is querying your website.

#7 – Not Answering Comments On Your Blog

If you ignore people that comment on your blog, they are not likely to comment again and this is a major blogging mistake. Building a community in your comments is a great way to show people you care.

While you may not be able to answer all of the comments or you may not be able to answer many when your blog gets very popular, if you’re starting out, you are not at that stage. You need to take the time to answer the comments.

Become an Online Marketing Master

Now that you know these blogging mistakes to avoid, don’t let the learning stop there. Continue reading through our site to learn more tips that can help you boost your success.

Help Me, I’m Poor – Tired of Being Poor? Here’s Why You’re Broke

Jessica Lauren Vine

Woman is tired of being broke and looking at piggy bank

Are you tired of being poor?

It really stinks and I know because I’ve been to the bottom.

Want to skip the story and get right to the help because you’re so tired of being broke? Click here to go to the tips to go from broke to doing pretty darn good.

I’ve been the single mom on SNAP trying to support my kid working at Shoney’s and Sonic. It didn’t help that I’m not great at doing math in front of people. Since I was so bad, I would get as close as I could and run off to the safety of the hub – this meant that I didn’t get any tips and sometimes had to pay out of my pocket because I’d gone in the negative.

My self-esteem was low and I was broke not only financially but I was emotionally broke as well and not doing so hot in the mental department either.

Contents

Tired of Being Poor and My Journey Out of Poor Town

Ever since I was a kid, I would try to figure out why my family was poor. I remember my Mom saying something about my Dad making $800 a month or something and that was in 1995 or so trying to support a family.

My parents were the best people that I’d ever known. Caring and kind. Always helping other people out.

I just didn’t get why they were broke.

I heard in church that money was the root of all evil but all I could think was that the lack of money seemed like the root of all evil to me – and if it was so evil, why did they always want our money at the end of the church service?

No matter how broke we were, my parents always gave money. As a matter of fact, before I was born, my parents even gave away their wedding bands to a church because they didn’t have cash to give them.

Once I ruled out being a good person as being the cause of being wealthy, I kept searching for ways to get out of being broke and always dreamed about times when we could go out to eat together without worrying about spending $15 on a meal.

Now you know my motivation and why I kept searching for how to get out of Poor town and here’s what I learned that I believe will help you.

It Doesn’t Matter How Much Money You Make – It Matters How Much You Keep

When I got older, I noticed a lot of people that made really “good money.” I’m talking six figures or even multiple six figures. And what I saw is that they were broke!

They were living paycheck to paycheck. I was pretty freaking discouraged.

The reason I wanted to make a lot of money was so I wouldn’t be broke. I didn’t want to always worry about money. How were these people so broke?

One of the things that I learned is that it doesn’t matter how much money you earn. What matters is how much money you keep. And as you can see from the rest of the quote, it also says that it matters about how hard your money works for you and how many generations you keep it for.

After meeting these high earners that were living paycheck to paycheck, one of my family members that lived in their neighborhood told me that “everyone was broke but at a higher level” and I started to believe that. And believing that did not serve me at all!

Not everyone was like that. Thankfully, I met another friend not long after that and I realized they earned a really nice 6 figure plus income and not only did they have the income but they had savings, investments and plenty of disposable income.

I had hope again!

What did they do that the other people I knew making the same amount of money didn’t do? One of the major takeaways and things that I learned from them is that they knew what they were bringing in and what was going out. And they always made sure they made their money work for them.

Keep reading if you’ve ever said: “I make good money, why am I always broke?”

You Want Compound Interest on Your Side Vs. Against You

Compound interest was another thing that I learned about. If you don’t understand compound interest, one of the main things about it is – let’s say that you start with $1 and you get 10% interest every day on that income, the next day you would have $1.10 but you get 10% interest on the $1.10, not just the $1 so it keeps growing and growing.

Credit cards are one of the things that go crazy on creating interest that sucks our income. If you’re just paying the minimum payment on credit cards – it’s sucking the life out of your finances!

You need to start collecting interest vs. paying interest.

Now that you understand where I’m coming from let’s get right into the tips to keep from being broke and start breaking out of this pattern. Not only for you but also for your children and their children.

The short version of why you’re broke?

Because you’re practicing broke habits vs. wealth habits.

Here are some tips for you to start working your way toward wealth vs. toward being broke.

1 – Stop Letting Banks Use Your Money for Free

If you have your money sitting in a bank account that isn’t accruing interest, you’re letting the bank use your money for free.

Look around online and find savings or checking accounts with a decent interest rate so your money is growing while you’re not using it. There are a lot of savings accounts that barely pay anything so don’t fall into that trap either.

Look for a reputable online bank. I use Ally and they’ve been really great. I also have an account with USAA since hubs is military.

2 – Stop Watching Television Ads

If you want to blow a hole in your wallet – watch television ads or YouTube ads. You’ll always find something to spend your money on.

3 – Sell Vs. Buy

Instead of buying things, get excited about selling things. What do you own that you haven’t used in a long time? What do you own that is in storage and you don’t even remember that you have it?

You can sell these things on the Facebook market or Craigslist and put the money into savings.

4 – Use Coupons & Customer Reward Programs

If there is a loyalty program or coupons, make sure that you’re subscribed to it. If you’re going to shop there, you might as well get the discounts. It doesn’t cost anything to be a member of these programs.

It’s probably not a great idea to sign up for the store credit cards though. That’s a recipe for financial disaster.

Another great program you can use to save money is Zenoshi Premium. ZP has offers all over the US and Canada for discounts on travel, entertainment, dining and more.

The latest thing we got discounts on was eating out at TGI Friday’s. All we had to do was show the offer page from Zenoshi Premium and we got a free entree because we bought an entree of equal or greater value.

ZP costs $1.99 for the first 30-day trial and after that, you can choose to pay month-to-month for $4.99 or you can get a year for $49.99

saving money with zenoshi premium — Here we are enjoying a free entree… thanks Zenoshi. 🙂

5 – Write Grocery or Shopping Lists to Avoid Overspending

When you go to the store, make sure you have a list. No list = no limit. You’re going to spend more than you should.

Don’t impulse buy. It’s the kiss of death!

You’re not likely to ever need what you buy on impulse and even if you do, you could have waited until you planned it.

6 – Use Apps to Keep Track of Your Earning and Spending

If you aren’t tracking what you’re earning and spending, you’re going to fall behind without knowing it. This is how the bank account ends up being in overdraft and bills are behind. It doesn’t matter how many digital nomad jobs you find, you’ll still be broke if you aren’t tracking your earning and spending.

You can find apps for iPhone and Android that will allow you to keep track of the money you bring in and the money you put out.

Make sure you categorize the money you spend and write down details so you know where you’re putting out the most money. You should also pay attention to where you’re earning the most money so you can put more of your time there and less of your time on low-income activities.

Bonus Tip – Educate Yourself by Reading Books & Listening to Audios

Always educate yourself around the matter of money. Read books, listen to podcasts, watch YouTube videos and anything else you can get your hands on.

Don’t just believe everything that you hear though. Try the advice. Test it.

Make sure it works and isn’t just someone coaching you to give all your money to them for further programs and products.

Here are some of the resources I’ve used in this area:

Work Less, Make More by James Schramko

The Power of Zero by David McKnight & Ed Slott

Unshakeable by Tony Robbins

The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley & William D. Danko

The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy

I hope some of these resources help you out. Since you’ve got this far, why not check out some other posts? Enjoy!

Best Affiliate Programs for Beginners: What to Look for When You’re Just Starting Out

Jessica Lauren Vine

When you’re looking for the best affiliate programs for beginners, you want to find a program that doesn’t have a high bar for approval. When you’re just starting with affiliate marketing, you probably don’t have a fancy website or a lot of traffic.

Since you don’t have a fancy website nor a bunch of traffic, you’ll need a program that either doesn’t have an approval process or that won’t likely care if you don’t have “street cred” already. Here are some of my recommendations from my experience with affiliate marketing.

Contents

Must-See Affiliate Programs for Beginners

The rules and regulations for each of these affiliate programs may change in the future but right now these are some of the best bets that you currently have if you’re a beginner at affiliate marketing.

ClickBank

ClickBank is an affiliate network that sells information products. When you navigate over to their website, you’ll find anything from parenting how-tos to how to get your ex back.

Most of the programs on ClickBank don’t require approval from the merchant, which is what makes them great affiliate programs for beginners. Not only that but many of these affiliate offers have great affiliate help sections that not only train you on affiliate marketing but also give you great resources like banners and keyword research.

MoreNiche

MoreNiche is one of the networks that I made some serious cash within my early days. Their affiliate help team is absolutely amazing and they have a lot of great offers in the health and beauty niches. From time to time I’ve seen them venture into other niches and they may have some other offers now.

You should be able to get started with their affiliate program pretty easily as long as you’re working to promote the offers of your choice.

Market Health

Market Health is another network that I’ve worked with before. They have many different health offers from Acne clearing to skin lightening and weight loss. They have a couple of different payment options and also aren’t very picky which makes it a good option for newer affiliate marketers.

Amazon

Amazon is the king of the online world when it comes to sales. Who doesn’t know about Amazon?

While the affiliate commissions are super high, you do get the credibility of their name backing you which is a major plus in my mind. Make sure to check how much you get for promoting the products you’re thinking about promoting because there are some (like Gift Cards) that don’t pay anything at all.

Wealthy Affiliate

Wealthy Affiliate is another program I’ve been a part of for many years. You don’t have to go through an approval process to get started with their program and you can earn while you learn through their platform.

ShareASale

You may have seen my ShareASale review already and seen the requirements to get started with ShareASale. They are a great network to be a part of but some of their programs are more difficult to get approved when you’re a new affiliate.

Make sure you look through the requirements before you try to apply for any given program.

What to Look for When You’re Choosing the Best Affiliate Programs for Beginners

As you’re choosing the best affiliate programs for beginners, here are the most important things you should pay attention to:

Support

Since you’re just getting going, you’re going to need some help. If nothing else, you’re going to need some cheerleading along the way, am I right? Check to see if the affiliate program of your choice as a dedicated affiliate manager that is here to help everyone working as an affiliate.

Not all programs are going to have a dedicated affiliate manager so don’t totally shrug off the program if they don’t have on but it’s definitely a big pro if they do.

You may even get to have direct access to the product creator in some cases since many people like to be hands-on with their company. Make good use of any communication with the people helping you with the affiliate program and always implement their advice.

Conversion Rate

If you’re sending traffic to an offer and not making any money, their product or service likely doesn’t have a good conversion rate. Make sure they are getting sales with their sales page and processes so you’re not wasting time sending people to their offer.

Earnings Per Click

The earnings per click or EPC show the average earnings per click of a campaign. If you send 100 people there and some of them convert, it is how much you can expect to earn per click if you do the math.

Marketing Materials

Do you need banners for your website? Maybe you’d like to have some pre-written emails to send to your email list. Check with the program you’re considering before you get started and see if they are available for you.

Some affiliate programs provide these for their affiliates which means one less thing for you to do so you can focus on sending traffic to the offer.

Get Started with Affiliate Marketing

Are you still on the fence about your ability to win with affiliate marketing? These affiliate programs for beginners are a great start. If you haven’t already, make sure you head over to my blog post about Wealthy Affiliate and see what it is all about – you can get a free account after all.

New Google Search Menu With Icons – Check It Out

Jessica Lauren Vine

Well, here it is folks.

The brand new Google search menu with icons.

Unless you’re a nerdy SEO like me, you might not have realized this change but it is going to change things for consumers and marketers alike.

In case you have no idea what I’m talking about, here is a screenshot from my search below:

Pretty fancy, right?

While it looks cool, content marketers are like — *rolls eyes* Another update? #doh

Calm yourself. This little update isn’t going to cause too much of a change. People are going to notice and it may grab more attention which will cause people to click on the icons and view different search results.

What course of action should you take to get the most SEO traffic from this update?

I highly recommend that you look through each of these tabs and see what type of content is ranking. How can you tweak your content to make it more friendly to each of these tabs?

If people are going to be clicking away from the “All” search results to see other searches, you want to make sure you show up there as well. If you show up on multiple pages, people are more likely to click on your website which means — ding ding ding! You get traffic.

Carry on. Nothing else to see here.

Unless of course, you want to hop over to read my blog post about how to market your business with a blog. That would be a good idea. 😉

How to Make Money with Affiliate Marketing Without a Website

Jessica Lauren Vine

If you don’t want to build a website but you do want to make money then learning how to make money with affiliate marketing without a website is a great strategy.

Whether you don’t have the cash to build a website or you simply don’t want to put in the time and effort, the good news is that you don’t have to have a website to make affiliate income. All you need is approval from a company’s affiliate program and people that want to buy the product.

Sounds simple enough, right?

Maybe. Let’s see.

Contents

How to Make Money with Affiliate Marketing Without a Website

Before we get into this, I have to say that I do recommend building and maintaining a website at some point but it’s not necessary to make money through affiliate programs. Here’s what you need to know about affiliate marketing before we get started.

What Is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is one of the most simple ways to make money online or offline. Someone else provides the product and all you have to do is find the people that want what it is that you’re selling.

Through online affiliate marketing, you’ll most often get a special link with a tracking code so the company knows you were the one to bring in the affiliate sale. In the offline world, you might be provided with a special promo code or “tell them Joe sent you for 10% off” kind of a deal.

That’s the basics of affiliate marketing and what it is.

Getting Approved for an Affiliate Offer Without a Website

You might hit a little snag when you’re trying to market an affiliate offer without a website. Many affiliates offer demand that you have a website before they will give you access to their affiliate program. Some are pretty strict about your website’s quality and your traffic as well.

Obviously, you’ll need to bypass these but the good news is that there are some companies that don’t care if you have a website or not as long as you’re generating sales for them. They’ll pretty much give an affiliate link to anyone.

Once you gain access to an affiliate program, this is where the fun begins.

Before we get into promoting your affiliate offer without a website, let’s talk about why you might want to consider getting a website or you can hop down below this section.

Why You Want a Website to Promote Your Affiliate Offers

I can’t in good faith let you pass by without at least letting you know the benefits of having your own website to promote your affiliate offers.

SEO

For those of you that don’t know, SEO stands for search engine optimization and is what you do to try to get your website to show up at the top of the search engines.

If you don’t have a website, you have no content to rank on the search engines. How sad.

Create a Passive Income Asset

A website is one of the only true ways I’ve ever found to bring in passive income. Remember – create more assets and decrease your liabilities folks.

My favorite thing is when I am able to go do something fun and then come back to check my affiliate accounts to see that I’ve made sales. Yay! It’s seriously the best feeling so that’s a major reason I think you might want to rethink the website having thing.

Opens Up Further Opportunities

When you have your own website, it can open up further opportunities. I’ve had people email me off my website because they’ve found it here or there. If I didn’t have the website, they wouldn’t have been able to find me.

How to Get Started With Affiliate Marketing If You Still Don’t Want a Website

Ok. Fine. You still don’t want a website.

Here is the most simple way you can get started with your affiliate marketing ventures and make money at it without having your own website.

Choose a Niche

First off, choose your niche and figure out what you’re going to be promoting. You can even choose a bunch of niches. I mean, heck — you don’t even have to build a website, so why not? lol

Start with one first and then you can build your web of affiliate offers if you so choose.

Do Topical & Keyword Research

Use a keyword research tool like Ahrefs to research your niche. Find topics and keywords that you can use when you’re creating content.

Wait – what? I don’t have a website. What am I doing this for?

No worries. You can still use SEO on free publishing platforms. While it won’t be as good as doing it to your own website, it’s still good.

Look for topics that you can share helpful information on and put your affiliate links within the content where it is helpful.

Choose a Free Publishing Platform

Now that you have some keywords and content ideas, you need to choose a free publishing platform. You might choose to use LinkedIn Publishing, Blogger, Hubpages or another free site to publish your content.

The bonus of building your content on these sites is that you’ll have access to their audience and will be able to get people to come back to your website from their site as well. Just make sure you do it tastefully or you might get banned.

Promote Like Mad

Now you have to promote your content. It’s great that you have it out there but if no one sees it — no good. Here are some of the best ways to promote your affiliate offers — that really work.

And by the way – you don’t even need to create content and post it on the free publishing platforms. You might choose to promote affiliate products directly. You’ll almost always get better conversions if you go to some platform with good content first and then to your offer though.

Whatever way you choose, these methods of promotion are still very effective.

1. Forums

If you aren’t already a member of forums in the niche you’re promoting, you need to go find the most active forums in the niche. The more people on the forum, the more likely it is that you’ll be able to make sales.

With forums, almost all of them allow you to have a signature that goes after all of your posts. Be helpful in the forum and make people want to see what you’ve got to offer.

2. Social Media

With billions of people on social media, there is bound to be something that’s looking for what you have to offer. Makes sense, right?

When you use social media to promote, you shouldn’t be spamming your status or spamming on other people’s posts. If you see someone that asks for a solution, you can share your link with them. If they make a purchase — you get paid.

Another tactic – if you’re on Facebook, go to your status and update your post with your affiliate link. When you do this, it will be at the top of your page so anyone that comes to visit it is going to see it.

Now go interact with your friends by commenting on their posts or at least like their content. Make sure to be genuine.

When you do this, they are going to come over to your profile and see what you’ve been up to and they are going to see your affiliate link. If it is something they are looking for – guess what! They are going to click and see what it is all about.

Again, if they make a purchase you’re going to get paid.

3. eBooks

You can create ebooks and put them on Amazon for very cheap or for free. Within the eBook, you can promote your affiliate link by linking to it as a resource in the book.

4. YouTube Videos

YouTube videos get a lot of attention through the YouTube platform and through Google search. Even if you don’t like being on video, you can make videos and put them on YouTube to promote affiliate offers.

You can make whiteboard drawings, animations or even PowerPoint presentations.

Make sure your videos are helpful so people trust your content and are comfortable visiting the website you recommend.

5. Classified Websites

Classified websites are a great place to post about products or services you’re promoting. Be careful that you don’t overuse this strategy or the websites will shut you down.

Make sure the content you’re adding is helpful and not spammy.

6. Pay Per Click Ads

You can even use pay per click ads to send traffic directly to the affiliate offer. Don’t expect to make your millions using this strategy right off the bat. You have a lot of learning to do and it could cost you thousands of dollars trying to figure out this strategy.

Rinse & Repeat

Now you’re ready to go.

Go go go!

Go through the steps above and create as many campaigns as you can manage. Keep the campaigns that work and ax the ones that are underperforming.

Want to Learn More About Starting a Blog?

Now that you know how to make money with affiliate marketing without a website, maybe you want to check out the blog making process and learn how to market your business with a blog. Hop over to my super in-depth post about how to start a blog for profit today and maybe get inspired to get going.

How to Write Your First Blog Post (Easy to Understand Guide)

Jessica Lauren Vine

You need to learn how to write your first blog post ASAP.

I firmly believe that having a blog can change your life. With over 400 million blogs on Tumblr alone, it seems there are a few other people that agree with me.

Not only can having a blog gives you a way to get your ideas out to the world but having a blog can allow you to influence others and to make a side income. Or even full-time income.

If you’re still stuck, continue reading this article and I’ll walk you through writing your first blog post.

Contents

How to Write Your First Blog Post – 101

Writing your first blog post can be a little daunting. You might not be sure what to say or even what you want to write about. The following tips will help you get started on the right path.

Remember you can always erase and start over again, so don’t stress.

Ask yourself these questions before you get started:

Why am I blogging?

Who do I want to serve with this blog?

When you answer these questions honestly, writing your first blog post is going to be a lot easier.

If you’re writing this blog to sell a product or service, you’ll write much differently than if you are a lifestyle blogger.

You’ll also write differently if you want to serve Moms of multiple kids that want to learn how to relax than if you are serving single men that need to find a new wife.

Once you answer these two questions and you’ve learned how to start a blog, you’re ready to get into the below steps for writing your first blog post.

1. Get Your “Idea” Ready

Some people will tell you that you should write about yourself in your first blog post. If the blog is about you and your lifestyle then this could be a good move.

On the other hand, if your blog is about a topic other than you or your lifestyle then your blog post should be on that topic.

You might not want to write a monster of a long post when you do your first post since your main goal may just be to get started. If you can write a longer and more in-depth post to get things rolling that would be ideal.

Your idea should be something you want to be known for. For instance, I believe that everyone should have a blog. Since that is true, one of my biggest blog posts is about starting your own blog. I’m also a digital nomad and want people to have the opportunity to experience this life so I also have a very long post about digital nomad jobs.

Figure out what your big idea is and then move on to step number 2.

2. Write Your Blog Post Outline

If you hate writing outlines as much as I do, just post your main ideas down as neatly as possible. I usually put my top three headers down in my blog. If I have a specific number of points then I go ahead and put those points down.

When you get the bones of your post together it is easier to believe that it will actually come together.

3. Keep SEO in Mind

As you’re writing, you need to keep SEO in mind. SEO stands for search engine optimization. Even if you aren’t thinking about where you rank in the search engines right now, you should keep it in mind as you’re writing.

For instance, in this post, I would like to show up for terms like how to write your first blog post or writing your first blog post.

You can see more about search engine optimization and how to rank in the search engines in my other articles.

4. Put the Meat on the Bones

Once you have the bones of your blog post done, it is time to put some meat on those bones. You can do this by expanding upon your ideas. You can use stories and case studies to drive your points home.

Make sure to cite sources for any stats that you use or any information that isn’t widely known.

5. Proof Read

It is very tempting to hit the publish button after you’ve finished your blog post. You know that you did a good job on your post, so why proofread?

While it may seem like your article is error free when you write it, it’s still best to check. Typos can be embarrassing and I make a mistake almost every time that I write a blog post. I do type at 90+ WPM though. haha

<<Some links may be affiliate links which means I could make a small commission to support the blog if you purchase. I only promote things that I use and believe in. Read full disclosure here.>>

One of the tools that I use that really helps me is Grammarly. There is a free option but if you need the extras, you can upgrade to premium. Basically, if I make any grammar errors or other oopsies in my content, it will let me know.

I use this before I do my proofreading so that it catches as much as possible.

6. Don’t Forget Formatting

You can either format your posts before or after you get done writing. I like to format my posts while I am writing. It just makes me feel more accomplished.

Make sure you use Header 2 and Header 3s in your content. Header 1 is already the title so you don’t want to use any more header ones. Header 3s should only be used within Header 2s.

Add photos, graphs, charts and anything else in the content before you hit publish.

7. Promote Like a Mad Woman

If no one sees your blog post, it’s not going to do you or them any good. Promote your post on social media using tools like Tailwind, guest post on other sites that have similar target audiences.

Just get out there!

Ready to Rock Your Blogging Career

Congrats. You now know how to write your first blog post. Once you learn how to blog and start to bring money in, you can go off and be a digital nomad if you like.

Blogging can be both fulfilling and lucrative if you learn how to do it properly. How lucrative can it be? Check out the post that I did about lifestyle blogger income.

New Tailwind Feature for Instagram (Hide Your Hashtags!)

Jessica Lauren Vine

lady yelling into a microphone about the new tailwind feature for instagram

I am so excited about this new Tailwind feature for Instagram. I am going to be tearing IG up… lol

If you follow me @jessicalaurenvine look out for that because I am a beast. bahaha

So, I made a short little video to explain what all of the excitement about the new hidden hashtags is. You can find that below BUT I also typed it out below the video in case you don’t feel like watching. 😉 Enjoy!

<<Disclaimer>> You should know that if you purchase a subscription from Tailwind using my link, I will get a small commission as a thank you for helping you out. Appreciate it! See the full disclaimer here.

The new hashtag finder is awesome. The only problem is that it is messy. There are hashtags all over! Up to 30!

Not anymore.

The new feature allows you to auto-schedule your post and auto-schedule your hashtags in the first comment! Freakin’ brilliant, right?

You can not only get the recommended suggestions, but you also can see how competitive a hashtag is. You want to find the sweet spot where the hashtag has people following and searching for it but not so competitive that your post is going to fly right out of the feed.

Instagram is a little bit of a different beast than Pinterest since with Pinterest people are going to see your posts for the long-term, potentially. With Instagram, you have to be ready to make a lot of posts with great hashtags to get the results that you want.

One isn’t better than the other, you just have to know how to play the game if you want to win!

I am personally going to take some of my most popular posts and start promoting them regularly on Instagram as well as Pinterest. While creating lots of fresh new content is great – you want to promote it and get eyeballs on it.

You can see my full Tailwind review and get more information on how it works by reading these posts:

Tailwind for Instagram

Using Pinterest with Tailwind

If you just want to get down to it and get your free trial of Tailwind for either/both Tailwind for Instagram or Pinterest, you can do so at this link:

Get Started Now

Is Tailwind Approved by Pinterest and Instagram?

Jessica Lauren Vine

Are you wondering “Is Tailwind approved by Pinterest and Instagram?”

I don’t want my Pinterest or Instagram account to get shut down from using shady services and I am sure that you don’t either.

The good news is that Tailwind has direct APIs to both Instagram and Pinterest. Both Pinterest and Instagram approve the use of Tailwind.

Isn’t that awesome?

That means you can enjoy all of the posting goodness you’ve been hoping for. lol

Get Your Tailwind Free Trial Now

If you aren’t sure if you want to get into your free trial of Tailwind yet, you can always check out my breakdown of what you get when you get the Tailwind free trial. 🙂 You can click here to read it.

Maybe you want to read the whole review of Pinterest for Tailwind and Instagram?

If so, you can read my Tailwind Review Here. or you can just check out the article that I did about Tailwind pricing.

I’ve been using Tailwind for a while now and I have never had any problem with it. No cease and desist from Pinterest or Instagram or warnings about too much usage. And I’ve scheduled as much as 300 pins in a day on Pinterest. bahaha

Do you want to read more articles about interesting marketing and other online strategies? Check out my internet marketing category of the site.

Wealthy Affiliate Free Membership – Is It Worth It?

Jessica Lauren Vine

What do you get with Wealthy Affiliate free membership?

Does Wealthy Affiliate give you free membership just to get you to sign up for Wealthy Affiliate premium?

Contents

Wealthy Affiliate Free Membership

Here are the details about the free membership option at Wealthy Affiliate.

Okay – above we have the comparison of Wealthy Affiliate free and Wealthy Affiliate Premium.

Let’s talk about this means as far as the starter version of Wealthy Affiliate.

Live Support for the First 7 Days

When you get live support for the first 7 days, that is via their email support system. They write back within a few hours or less and are very knowledgeable.

2 Websites

If you’ve looked at hosting options, you’ll see that hosting can cost a good deal of money. If you don’t have money to get started it can be frustrating.

When you get your free account with Wealthy Affiliate you get your websites hosted for free on their super fast servers.

Since I’ve been using their hosting, I haven’t had downtime and my websites are pretty darn quick.

You can use their free website builder or you can do like I do and put your WordPress site on there.

Free Training at Wealthy Affiliate

You can get started on your basics training without putting any money out. Once you get through the initial training you can see if you want to go to the premium membership option or not.

You don’t have access to the live training on Fridays when you have a free account. Only the basic level of training in the training section of the site.

Affiliate Program

Even if you aren’t paying for a membership, if you tell a friend about it and they get premium membership – you get paid off of their membership whether it be a monthly membership or a yearly membership.

1-on-1 Coaching

For the first 7 days, you get one on one coaching through private message with your free account. Ask as many questions as you can. lol

Summing up the Wealthy Affiliate Free Membership

Now you have an idea of the Wealthy Affiliate free membership. Don’t stop learning here.

Check out my review of Wealthy Affiliate to learn more about what you’d get if you got started.

I love that they have a free option so everyone can get started learning about internet marketing and how to get started online.

It’s a great way to become a digital nomad and get the freedom lifestyle. You can create any business you can think of and start building it online.

If you want to get your feet wet and check it out then the free membership is a good start. If you’re like me and would go through the whole course in a couple of months then you might want to get the premium membership. hahaha

I also have the premium membership option because I have more than two sites that I host there. With the premium option, I can have up to 50 so it just makes sense.

Anyway – get your free account now or you can check out my Wealthy Affiliate Review.

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Creating a Natural Makeup Look Without Taking up Your Whole Day

How I Apply My Makeup Quickly for a Natural Makeup Look

#1 – Primer

#2 – Concealer

#3 – Foundation

#4 – Contouring & Highlighting

#5 – Eye Shadow

#6 – Eyeliner

#7 – Blush

#8 – Lipstick

#9 – Brow Pencil

#10 – Magnetic Eyelashes

Summing up the Natural Makeup Look

No-Brainer Blogging Mistakes to Avoid

#1 – Not Having a Content Strategy

#2 – Writing Less Than Awesome Content

#3 – Images that Are Not the Right Size

#4 – Poor Promotion

#5 – Not Using Infographics

#6 – Having a Slow Website / Blog

#7 – Not Answering Comments On Your Blog

Become an Online Marketing Master

Tired of Being Poor and My Journey Out of Poor Town

It Doesn’t Matter How Much Money You Make – It Matters How Much You Keep

You Want Compound Interest on Your Side Vs. Against You

1 – Stop Letting Banks Use Your Money for Free

2 – Stop Watching Television Ads

3 – Sell Vs. Buy

4 – Use Coupons & Customer Reward Programs

5 – Write Grocery or Shopping Lists to Avoid Overspending

6 – Use Apps to Keep Track of Your Earning and Spending

Bonus Tip – Educate Yourself by Reading Books & Listening to Audios

Must-See Affiliate Programs for Beginners

ClickBank

MoreNiche

Market Health

Amazon

Wealthy Affiliate

ShareASale

What to Look for When You’re Choosing the Best Affiliate Programs for Beginners

Support

Conversion Rate

Earnings Per Click

Marketing Materials

Get Started with Affiliate Marketing

How to Make Money with Affiliate Marketing Without a Website

What Is Affiliate Marketing?

Getting Approved for an Affiliate Offer Without a Website

Why You Want a Website to Promote Your Affiliate Offers

SEO

Create a Passive Income Asset

Opens Up Further Opportunities

How to Get Started With Affiliate Marketing If You Still Don’t Want a Website

Choose a Niche

Do Topical & Keyword Research

Choose a Free Publishing Platform

Promote Like Mad

1. Forums

2. Social Media

3. eBooks

4. YouTube Videos

5. Classified Websites

6. Pay Per Click Ads

Rinse & Repeat

Want to Learn More About Starting a Blog?

How to Write Your First Blog Post – 101

1. Get Your “Idea” Ready

2. Write Your Blog Post Outline

3. Keep SEO in Mind

4. Put the Meat on the Bones

5. Proof Read

<<Some links may be affiliate links which means I could make a small commission to support the blog if you purchase. I only promote things that I use and believe in. Read full disclosure here.>>

6. Don’t Forget Formatting

7. Promote Like a Mad Woman

Ready to Rock Your Blogging Career

<<Disclaimer>> You should know that if you purchase a subscription from Tailwind using my link, I will get a small commission as a thank you for helping you out. Appreciate it! See the full disclaimer here.

Wealthy Affiliate Free Membership

Live Support for the First 7 Days

2 Websites

Free Training at Wealthy Affiliate