Tag Archives: blog

May18

Nothing To Write? Have Some Prompts!

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Nothing To Write? Have Some Prompts!

Hello! After publishing my Content Creating 101 post, I received lots of questions asking how I come up with daily content for lifewithlilred. There are a few answers that immediately come to mind, but the first and foremost is that I love to write. I always have and even though I hated school, I never minded when writing papers was the assignment. I like to consider writing as something that I am good at and it makes me feel good when I do it; So, I just go for it! Writing brings me joy so, in that regard, it is very easy for me to find inspiration for content because everything makes me want to write lol.

Although daily content is on lifewithlilred, that doesn’t mean that I don’t get writer’s block too. I swear, some mornings I sit here for twenty or so minutes struggling to get a post started. Writer’s block happens to the best of us, but it’s still annoying AF! If you weren’t aware, WordPress now offers daily writing prompts. However, if you are looking to knock out some posts of your own quickly, I thought I’d provide some of my own too. Let’s get started:

Summer Plans:

  1. What are your goals this summer? I actually just recently wrote about this!
  2. What was the best summer vacation you ever took?
  3. What is your dream summer vacation?
  4. Describe your perfect summer day.
  5. Summertime recipes or party tips? Bring it on!

All About You:

  1. What were you like when you were little? Favorite games, toys, foods?
  2. What did you want to be when you grew up?
  3. What are your favorite things? What brings you joy?
  4. What is your favorite thing about yourself?
  5. What is your go to thing on a lazy day? Comfort shows and comfort food, perhaps? Oh wait, no – that’s me lol.

Hobbies:

  1. What is a project you completed that you are proud of?
  2. What is your favorite medium of art to work with?
  3. How do you express your personality with your hobby? Shopping is my favorite hobby and I express mine through my clothes!
  4. How did you get interested in your hobby? Who taught you?
  5. Did your hobby come easily to you or did you struggle to get started?

Just For Funsies:

  1. What is something that always makes you laugh? For me, that’s easy! The movie Step Brothers, of course!
  2. What is your biggest pet peeve?
  3. What is an adorable thing that your children or pets do? I simply can’t stand it when Melvin and Penelope are snuggling!
  4. What is something new that you want to try?
  5. What happened on the best day you have ever had?

There are twenty ideas above to help get you started and kick writer’s blocks’ stupid butt! Make sure you tag me in the post if you use any of these prompts because I would love to read them. And, if this was helpful to you and you would like more prompt posts, let me know!

What do you love about writing? What is something that you struggle with when you are writing? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

PS: Always remember, that anything that you want to write is important. If you think something is worthy to write about, then it is! ❤

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Feb8

Pro Tips To Boost Your New Blog

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Pro Tips To Boost Your New Blog

In today’s world, blogging is becoming a popular way for people to express their opinion – and why wouldn’t it be? Blogging is fun, it allows you to share your thoughts, and there is the potential to make a side income from your page. A blog can be based on pretty much anything, you can write about business, sports, marketing, food & drink, travel – the list goes on. Then, when you find your niche, you can connect with other people with similar interests across the blogosphere. It’s awesome!

If you are interested in boosting your new blog to unlock its full potential, check out these tips to help you get started:

Use the correct editing software:

In order to run a successful blog, you will almost definitely be publishing pictures and videos to assist your article writing. Pictures are a must, however, video is becoming a lot more popular. When working with images and videos you may want to look into things like home video editing services to ensure the quality is there. You never want to just upload an image without making adaptations to it. Take your time to learn the software so whatever media content you use best suits your page.

Create a content schedule:

Another tip that should be followed when running a successful blog is to stick to a content schedule. Try to decide how many posts you would like to publish each week and set a dedicated time for them to go out. This way your readers will know when to return to your blog to access new information and it shows your website is regularly updated. When putting a schedule together, it gives you the opportunity to think about different topics and categories to write about. The schedule itself is easily done, you can do it with a notes app on your phone, a content schedule website, Word, Excel – whatever your preference may be.

Look after your website:

How your website looks and feels is extremely important. You will have a lot of competitors out there, so having a good-looking website may bring their readers to you. Websites aren’t as expensive as you may think and with many different website builders out there and a creative mind, you may find you can do it yourself using a template or two. If not, reach out to your friends or family members or employ a freelancer to do it for you.

Any blog has the potential to turn into the next big thing. Use the tips above, stick to them, and watch as your page grows!

Featured Image By: Andrea Piacquadio

Jul22

Get Started On Monetizing Your Blog

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Get Started On Monetizing Your Blog

We all love the idea of making money by doing something we actually enjoy. Well, blogging genuinely gives you this opportunity. You can write about topics that are close to your heart, pouring out the thoughts that you keep inside your head for most of the day. At the same time, you can start earning a lot of money – if you know how.

Don’t just rely on ad revenue – it won’t be enough. The key to making your blog a money making machine lies in eCommerce. It’s very simple; you set up your blog to allow people to buy things from you. Meanwhile, you still post content and make money through adverts and sponsors, but you’ve got this extra hustle going on in the background.

Of course, there’s a tactic to this that will make it work. You can’t just sell anything and everything! Let’s look at how you can start monetizing your blog:

Sell things that are valuable:

Choose to sell things on your site that are valuable and relevant to your blog. Merchandise is always a good idea, giving your audience a chance to support you and wear your branding everywhere. At the same time, consider what your blog is about and how you can create products/services linked to it.

For example, imagine your blog is all about marketing. Here, you could sell marketing programs or ebooks that help people improve their skills. It’s an extension of your content, but you go into more detail and reveal your secrets. Alternatively, a fitness blog would be excellent at selling things like branded water bottles, fitness equipment, etc. If you sell things that your audience will be interested in, there’s a lot of money to be made.

Make everything look professional:

Nobody will buy anything if your site doesn’t look good enough. A regular blog is not an eCommerce site; you need to make some changes. Thankfully, there are companies like WEBX360 that can help you create an eCommerce website. This will ensure that you have all of the features on your blog to allow people to add things to their carts and check out securely.

Optimize your content:

We’re not talking so much about your blog content here – though that can be relevant. Rather, we’re thinking about the content on the eCommerce portion of your blog. Write good descriptions and have excellent landing pages to help your site rank well in search engines. This can bring in customers that aren’t from your blog audience, letting you make more sales.

Similarly, speaking about your content, you can use it as a way to link to certain products/services for sale. Sometimes, you could even build content around new product launches to generate hype!

As you can see, your small blog can very quickly grow into a healthy side hustle. If you utilize eCommerce on your site, it gives you a new way of earning income to add to your monthly blog revenue!

Featured Image By: Pexels

Apr24

Polka Dots, Please OOTD Bonus Pictures

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Polka Dots, Please OOTD Bonus Pictures

Hello everyone and welcome to some bonus pictures from my Polka Dots, Please OOTD! As you will see in tomorrow’s post, there are way more bloopers from this shoot than there were winners. The lighting was wonky, Johnny and I were insanely full from Easter dinner, and it was a bit chilly so we were more concerned about just getting things done!

In true Ohio fashion, it’s going from snowing and freezing rain this past week to summer level hot so be on the lookout for more OOTD shoots soon! But now, let’s look at a few extra shots that didn’t quite make the first cut:

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Have you ever had one of those days when you look into a mirror and you look even more fabulous than normal? You then think that it’s the perfect opportunity to take some pictures but can’t take a good one to save your own life? That’s kind of what this shoot was like! Despite a full stomach and cold temps, your girl was feeling herself. Then, I scrolled through the final results and I was just like “oh” lol.

No one ever said a blogger’s job was easy and with each passing shot, my commentary in my head was “blooper, blooper, yikes, DAYUM, blooper, etc”. Haha but I promised bonus shots and bonus shots is what you’re all gonna get! The hardest part of OOTD pictures is not taking the pictures themselves but finding the good in them after it’s all said and done. Kind of like finding the needle in the haystack of one hundred selfies that all look the same!

Were these my favorite pictures of all time? Not in the slightest. But, I didn’t have much to work with from this shoot so what can you do? When my confidence was barely above ground level, I would never post pictures that were nothing short of amazing. I don’t consider these bonus pictures to be my best work but that’s okay!

OOTD pics are not always home runs and, sometimes, you end up with a billion pictures that do nothing for you. That was the case with this shoot and I am posting them anyways. No matter how your pics turn out, I encourage you all to get in front of the camera, try it out, and post away. It will help build your confidence, you’ll have some fun, and see that it is still your best self even if the final result might not reflect it. ❤

How do you build your confidence? What are some of your picture taking pro tips? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Apr4

Be My Friend!

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Be My Friend!

Hey everyone! Just wanted to put a friendly reminder out there that I would love it if you guys were following me on my social media. 🙂 You can get at me at: Sarah Mushenheim on Facebook. And, after literal years of dragging my feet, I am on THE GRAM at: @lifewithlilred94 . On both of these pages, you will see content that didn’t quite make it onto the blog. And, on Insta you can see previews of content to come on lifewithlilred especially when it comes to OOTDs.

You can also reach out to me via email at: sarah.mush6794@gmail.com . I am always looking for guest bloggers on my page so if you would like your work to be featured, shoot me an email with your pitch. Spring has officially sprung so I would really like some super fun spring themed guest posts! 😀

If you choose to give me a follow, make sure you leave me a comment so I know to give you a follow right back. You can never have too many friends! ❤

What is your favorite social media platform? Which social media do you refuse to get (Mine is Twitter!)? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

PS: Make sure you tune in tomorrow for a look at some of my new tattoos now that they’re not all scabby!

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Mar6

The Best Ships Are Blogships

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The Best Ships Are Blogships

Hello! Come September, lifewithlilred will be on its eighth year in the blogosphere and I, honestly, can’t believe it. If you would have told me when I first started my page close to a decade ago that I would still be going strong and read in over two hundred countries, I would have said “no way”! But here we are now, a half a year away from my eight year mark and it’s crazy.

For those of you who don’t remember, it wasn’t even my idea to start lifewithlilred in the first place. I just had So. Many. People. telling me that I should make a blog because I’m funny and have good fashion sense. Eventually, I rolled my eyes, said “fine”, and created lifewithlilred. I was hooked after publishing just one post and I still love sitting down to write all of these years later.

I have always been an avid reader and writer but what most attracted me to blogging was the possibility of making friends all around the world. This was exciting to me because, even now, my “real life” friends are limited to not even a handful but on my blog, I have tons! In fact, one of my best friends in the whole world, Kate of Live In The Nautical, was met through lifewithlilred and it’s weird to go just one day without talking to her!

When I woke up this morning, I had a plethora of comments on Facebook from another friend who I met through my page, Claudia. This reminded me of just how lucky I am for the connections that I have formed because of the blogging world. In my neck of the woods, people know who I am but I feel like my readers know the real me because all of my thoughts, struggles, and life events are here for the world to see. It just feels good to be seen for who I really am because I think my page encompasses it perfectly.

I have always been a strong believer in the power of words and all of the beautiful friends that I have made on lifewithlilred is a true testament to that. Thank you so much for tuning in and, most importantly, being my friend. I love you all!

What is your favorite thing about blogging? How long have you been writing for? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Feb13

My Writing Routine

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My Writing Routine

Hello! I am currently on a 1,150 day writing streak of daily blogging on lifewithlilred and I am so proud! I get asked a lot how I keep up with this and I guess it boils down to the fact that I am a very routine and schedule oriented person. I thrive when I can check things off of my To Do List, which keeps me sitting down at my laptop every morning to continue delivering the latest and greatest.

Everyone has a writing routine and mine looks like this:

Forming Content Ideas:

I am always on the lookout for ideas for my next blog post and am constantly keeping my eyes peeled for things that inspire me. Whether it’s snapping pics of the winter weather outside or a new pair of shoes, I am already pre-writing the post in my head for the most efficient content creation. To keep all of my ideas straight and also to not forget them, I text myself possible posts all of the time that I can refer to when I feel writer’s block sinking in.

Taking Pictures:

If pictures are needed for my post, I typically take them the night before and then email them to myself so that they are ready to go in the morning. I consider my writing process to be somewhat of an assembly line so the completed post can’t be ready to write without the proper prep work done beforehand. Anything that can make my morning blogging go smoother is well worth it because I still have to get myself to work on time!

My Mornings:

My mornings have followed a strict routine for as long as I can remember and it honestly stresses me out to stray from it. As soon as I wake up, I practice five different languages on Duolingo, I do a short work out, and then I shower. After all of this is complete, I turn on my diffuser by Organic Aromas and start my blogging process. Not only does this include my daily writing but I also have to complete other online jobs before I head to work.

Needless to say, my mornings have to run like a fine tuned machine to accomplish all of the above. This is why my prep work is so important as well as having a pretty strict sleep schedule. Johnny has to get up really early for work and I try to get up at least two and a half hours before I need to leave. We are usually asleep by eight thirty!!

No one ever said a blogger’s life was easy but it is so rewarding. I can’t even imagine a day without writing and it makes it even better to share it with all of you! ❤

What is your writing routine like? How often do you blog? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jan23

Friendly Reminder!

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Friendly Reminder!

Hi everyone!! Last month, I bit the bullet and made myself an Instagram during my winter break. I always said I would never get one, but here we are now lol. You can follow me @lifewithlilred94 to keep up with all of the latest and greatest that doesn’t make it onto my blog. This includes bonus OOTD pictures, all of the silly Johnny content, as well as a never ending supply of Governor Ferguson from Wentworth. And, of course, if you give me a follow – I will follow you right back!

For more additional tomfoolery, you can friend me on Facebook: at Sarah Mushenheim. However, I will say it doesn’t have as much shout outs to “THE FREAK!!!” haha. Although I am extremely late to the Instagram party, I am glad that I made one and I would love to connect with all of you on a variety of platforms. Who knows, maybe in the next seven to ten years I’ll get around to making a TikTok. 😀

As always, I am so appreciative of the support from all of my dear readers and friends and am looking forward to the continued expansion of my Insta. Keep it posted on all of my accounts for my latest shenanigans, musings, and pictures from my TV screen that I have deemed worth sharing!

What is your favorite social media platform? What about your least favorite? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Nov26

Holiday Season = Prime Blogging Season

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Holiday Season = Prime Blogging Season

Hi! Since completing my 1,000 day writing steak, I am currently at 1,070 days of blogging in a row. It may be crazy to some but it’s daily life for me and the holiday season is the perfect time to get creative with your posts. There are so many great ways to get content out during these next few weeks and, today, we are going to discuss some ideas to inspire you on your own page. Let’s get to it:

What The Holiday Season Means To You:

What holiday do you celebrate this time of the year? Or do you not celebrate at all? Everyone views these times differently so what does it mean to you specifically? Talking about the holiday that you celebrate is an amazing way to open people’s eyes about the many different ones that take place during the season because we all know that it’s not just Christmas. Teaching your readers about your celebrated holiday and the traditions that come with it will be educational and oh so interesting.

Holiday Crafts:

If you are crafty, how about a step by step guide of the projects that you’re working on this holiday season? Whether you’re hand making ornaments or building the ultimate gingerbread house, share it with your readers! Even if you’re not crafty in the slightest (like yours truly) it will be fun to try something new. You could even have a “crafting contest” for your readers and give away a prize for the best craft, honorable mentions, and not so muches.

Tips & Tricks:

According to Pam from The Office, if you need more than three pieces of tape to wrap a present, then you are doing it wrong. Are you a gift wrapping pro or know how to score the best deals on holiday shopping? Feel free to share with the class! Everyone loves tips and tricks on how to make things easier on themselves or save some money so don’t keep it to yourself – tis the season to be giving, after all! 😀

Decor Galore:

If you are particularly proud of your holiday decorating skills, then let’s see it! There is nothing better than doing a drive through the neighborhood and seeing yards decorated for the holidays. In this case, it will be scrolling through your page but that’s okay! You could get together some other blogging friends and create a holiday decor scavenger hunt through your pages and pictures of your decor. How fun would that be?!

Recipes, Please:

For Christmas dinner, my family always just has a round two of Thanksgiving and that is fine by everyone because we love it. However, there are so many people looking to shake up their holiday dinner menu which is where you come in. If you have a dish that your guests beg you to make or one that you especially look forward to, then share away! Your favorite dish on the menu could end up in a holiday meal halfway across the world.

Holiday Style:

The long running joke of the winter holidays is that everyone gets dressed up to sit around the house. It is hilarious and so very true! It also means that it is the perfect excuse to share your OOTDs and MOTDs with us. Give us New Year’s Eve glam or your fave PJs that you wear on Christmas morning, either way you are sure to sleigh… See what I did there? 😉

Help Give Back:

During the holiday season, it is so important to give back to those less fortunate than us. If you have a charity that you love to help out, let your readers know about it or have them give proof of a donation that they made in their hometown. Draw names from a hat of the people who gave back and send them a small holiday gift if their name was selected.

With the tips above, you will have fresh as fallen snow content all holiday season long. Happy writing!

Which of these ideas are you going to write about? How often do you post on your page? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Sep17

1,000 Day Streak: Complete!

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1,000 Day Streak: Complete!

Hello everyone and welcome to my 1,000th day of writing in a row here on lifewithlilred!! I am so proud to have accomplished this monumental achievement and here’s to 1,000 more days of daily content on my blog. To celebrate, I will be hosting a giveaway for a twenty dollar amazon gift card and the whole world is included! The rules are simple and there will be one week to complete the following:

  • Follow my blog
  • Share this post
  • Like this post
  • Leave me a comment letting me know that you have done all three
  • Bonus point if your comment links to one of your favorite posts on your blog

It’s that easy, folks!

For 1,000 days straight, Lil Red has been dedicated and oh so motivated to deliver fun and fresh content to my dear friends and readers every day. I want to thank each and every one of you for your continued support, which makes all of this more worthwhile than words can say. It means the world to me and I love you all!

What motivates you? What are your writing goals? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah