Thoughts from Bloggy Conference: My Passion, Turned Mission and Business!

As I mentioned last week, I just got back from my very first blogging conference called… Bloggy Conference. (aka- Bloggy Con). What a wonderful experience! Whit awesome women (and some brave men!). While the info is fresh in my head, I wanted to share with you some of my thoughts and how they affect Mission: to Save (and you my readers):

1. This is not a hobby. My blog is my business. – Phil Hollows, founder and CEO of Feedblitz, gave a wonderful opening keynote speech. He asked the question of “why” did you start this blog in the first place. For me, it is the passion to teach others how to save for their families so they can have more left over for living and giving! That “why” is very honorable. But as I am logging in 30 hours a week- it is becoming quite clear that my “mission” is more than just a good will hobby, it is becoming a business.

You will notice that at the end of each post I have a little disclaimer that states “This post may contain affiliate links. Thanks for supporting my business. Please read my Disclosure Policy. Thanks!“. What does that mean? It means that in that particular post, there may or may not be links that will generate income for me. For instance, did you know that if you visit coupons.com from a link on my site- I get paid $0.40. (Woohoo!). Or if you are a new member and sign up, then make a purchase via BeFrugal, I get a $5 bonus in my own account. Flash sale and daily deal sites- yep those all earn me money/credits too. Hopefully this information does not turn you off, I want to be honest with you. My time is worth a price, and just think of the savings I am passing on to you! Plese note- there are lots of “deals” that I could be posting about, that would make me a lot of $. But if I won’t do them myself (for instance online survey sites), I won’t promote them to you just to make a quick buck. That would go against my original value of this site- truly helping your family save!

2. It’s ok to be a proud Central Ohio blogger!– Fellow Ohioan and Frugal Blogger, Andrea Deckard (Savings Lifestyle) continued the theme by discussing making your blog a platform for your business. She really got me thinking about an issue I have struggled with- National vs. Local. The frugal blogging “niche” is very saturated (so thank you for choosing to follow Mission: to Save). And in order to be heard, I have to find things to make me stand out. In the past, I was worried that too many Ohio or even more specific central Ohio info would turn off readers from other states. But as I look at my stats, more than 50% of my readers are from Ohio. So why fight it! Yes, I will still cover great deals that anyone in the states (and maybe even worldwide- yes I have some readers form Paskistain and England!) can score. But you will also see more information that is specific to helping my Buckeyes save big! I don’t know exactly how this will all play out right now… but I am working on it!

3. Facebook is not the end all be all. – You may (or may not) have noticed lots of changes with Facebook recently. It is a publicly held company now and those of us who use this “free” service to reach our readers are finding the changes to not be in our favor. Did you know that whenever I post on Facebook, whether it is a picture, a comment or a link to my site- only about 10% (or less sometimes) of my followers are seeing that in their feed. Facebook is now filtering what you are getting the opportunity to see (read how to see more Mission: to Save in your Newsfeed). With all this happening, bloggers have to diversify! So check out all the other places you can get great Mission: to Save content- Pinterest, Twitter (Leah Segedie- aka Bookieboo unlocked the gem for me on this one!) and YouTube (will definitely be working in this! Thanks for the awesome info Nathan from WeUseCoupons!). Finally what is the absolute best way to be sure you don’t miss my great tips and deals- subscribe to the once a day eNewsletter All the daily deals posts that you “can’t afford to miss!” <– tweet this! 😉

Finally- Many of my fellow Bloggy Con bloggers (truely a fab group of ladies) did wrap up posts that covered what they did at the conference- I didn’t really think you wanted to hear about each session, but rather how those sessions will affect how I run my blog- I mean business. However…. thought you might be interested in this great pic from Amanda at It’s a Fabulos Life. Yes I even found time to get a little dancing in! The Johnny Rockets Kick Off Party was a blast!