Taking A Chance On Something New  Yesterday, I took a leap of faith and quit my job at the newsroom after working there for 5 years and 9 months (entirely wayyy too long, lol).  This has been my "safe" job since I was 25 years old ...  the job I've had throughout my freelance radio career and the job I kept even while I worked 40 hours at a full-time copy writing job. (This was my "just in case I get laid off" job and when I actually did get laid off at my copy writing job, I was glad I kept my position at the newsroom).  But, yesterday, I typed up my resignation letter and now I count down the days until my two weeks are over. (And,...

Blogger: Nathan Devonte Website: TEAmCurtains.com Created: January 2015 Niche: Entertainment / Celebrity Blogger Hours Per Day Spent On Blogging: 8+ TEAm Curtains is a London-based entertainment website founded by lead editor Nathan Devonte. Between Nathan and his team of several writers/contributors, TEAm Curtains has made a splash in the entertainment industry, becoming an established source of entertainment and celebrity news. TEAm Curtains publishes fresh, original content and they have interviewed numerous celebs like K. Michelle, Faith Evans, and Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child, just to name a few.  _...

Hey, everyone! Yesterday, I decided to make Blog Like A Boss ad free and I deleted all of my Google AdSense box widgets off of this website. So, why did I do that and cut out some of my blog income?  Well ... 1) I felt like the ads cluttered my blog and took away from my wonderful content and design.  2) Making like $10 so far on this new blog from those ads just isn't worth it to me (even though my traffic is increasing). Plus, there's so many other ways for bloggers to make money.  Click here to read more on how to make money on Instagram alone! 3) I hate seeing too many ads/popups on a website so why should I subject my read...

Before promoting products, etc., you have to build up a following, and you have to put in the time to build this following, it's not an overnight success. But, you also have to give people a reason to follow you ... why should they listen to you? Why should they buy your products?  Give your readers great and consistent information before asking them to buy something. You have to allow your readers to grow comfortable with you. 5 Effective Ways To Increase Your Email Subscribers - Encourage Sharing & Signups Encourage your readers to share your newsletter by adding a 'share' or 'forward' button within your newsletter. Most ema...

Blogger: BelievablyMe (Britt) Website: Believably ME Created: November 2011 Niche: Crafting & Creative Blogger Favorite Way To Stay Organized: Using A Blog Planner Lanette: How Hard Is It Being A One-Woman Show With Writing, Marketing Your Own Posts, Creating And Updating Your Blog, Etc.? BelievablyMe: Extremely hard! I work full-time while being involved in a few organizations outside of work, and I am active at my church. L: How Do You Manage Doing All Of That Plus Still Finding The Time To Blog? B: While I am still in my blogging prime, I do a few things that have served to work well in managing it all at this level...

I remember the time someone DM'd me on Instagram inquiring about prices for advertising on my entertainment blog page. After telling them what I charge per post, they tried to get me to lower my prices and compared what other bloggers charged: cheaper prices.  I didn't have a promo special or anything going on, so I stood my ground and said no.  I could have easily lowered the price for that customer and made whatever money from the price he was willing to settle on, but then I thought, if I lower my prices for him, then who else will I lower my prices for? And, why should I have to lower them? I write great content, I've been blogging...

- Do readers have to dismiss a popup in order to read your mobile content?  - Do you have a popup immediately when people visit your mobile site or while they are scrolling through your content? Well, if you answered "yes" to any of these above questions then your mobile site could be in jeopardy of getting a lower SEO ranking, thanks to the new Google rules for 2017.  Google will start lowering the rank of sites "where content is not easily accessible." According to the recent post: Although the majority of pages now have text and content on the page that is readable without zooming, we’ve recently seen many examples where these ...

If You're Involved In The Online World, Chances Are You've Dealt With Some Haters Social media is an awesome way to connect with people, network, build new relationships, build your business, find customers, share news, make money, share your talents and much more. But, nowadays, it's so easy with anyone with internet access to be this anonymous hater hiding behind a keyboard (thumb thugs ... that's what I like to call them). No matter how great your business is, how good looking you think you are or how awesome you think your content is, there always seems to be at least that one person lurking around with something negative to s...

 Blogger: Justine Luzzi Website: Hashtag Intuition Created: May 2015 Niche: Intuitive Life Coaching & Spiritual Mentor Her blog in 3 words: Intuition Trumps Everything! Fav Social Network: Instagram | Combined 1.5k+ followers Lanette: What is it that made you want to become an intuitive coach / spiritual mentor and blog about it?  Justine: About three years ago, I had a spiritual awakening that opened my eyes to everything I couldn’t see before. This includes discovering my intuition, and how strong and powerful I actually was. I was discovering my ‘higher self’.  My awakening opened me up to a whole new world of ...

Many bloggers accept free products in exchange for a review on their website or an advertising post. Like myself, I've gotten plenty of freebies from companies where some would say something along the lines of: we'll send you this if you post this for us. Well, I just learned my lesson.  My Story  I prefer receiving money in exchange for ads, but sometimes I'll accept a freebie. Since blogging, I've received free clothes, sunglasses and books.  Back in May, I posted several posts of a hair company to promote their upcoming hair events in exchange for free hair bundles. Another blogger that I'm cool with told me about it and asked i...

Whether you're a: - New blogger - Looking to rebrand - Struggling to get readers OR - Still having trouble finding the focus of your personal brand... ... then this post is for you. How many times have you heard the word niche? Find your niche market ... narrow down your niche ... your niche is key in targeting your audience.  Topic selection is a big deal because it's the driving force behind your website traffic as well as web browsers and future loyal readers finding your blog.  You have to make it easy for readers to find the things they actually want to read about, draw them in and attract them. What topics you decide to writ...

Blogger: Jayraw Website: Only Jay Raw Created: 2012 Niche: Entertainment / Celebrity Blogger Fav Social Network: Instagram | 3.6k followers Lanette: Describe One Of Your Favorite Blog Moments.  Jayraw: One of my best moments was when I got the chance to interview two artists that was on the rise, Desiigner and Phresher. To see them two have the success they having now and being apart of their beginnings was really dope.  L: How Many Hours A Day Do You Spend On Blogging?  J: As of now, I'm going to put myself on a blogging schedule. I used to blog full-time, but now I'm part-time, therefore I'm going to start posting ...

Want to gain more website traffic without even having to write a new blog post? Easy! Republish your old posts and bring them back to life! It's so easy for our old posts to get lost within our blog. I have more than 3,000 blog posts on my entertainment blog, which gives me a lot of archives to dive through.  Every now and then, old things need to be updated and this includes your blog. This will also help extend the life of your content AND bring more eyeballs to your site without you even having to come up with new content.  My blogger boo Brittany over at Believably Me was recently monitoring her blog stats and noticed readers wh...

Are you ready to create and share more Instagram content? Instagram already pulled away a lot of Vine users and now it looks like they're trying to steal away some Snapchat users as well! The mobile photo/video-sharing app has rolled out a new sharing feature for us bloggers to learn, utilize and master! - Instagram Stories - which pretty much mimics the entire Snapchat theme. Instagram posted to its blog on Tuesday: "Today, we’re introducing Instagram Stories, a new feature that lets you share all the moments of your day, not just the ones you want to keep on your profile. As you share multiple photos and videos, they appear toge...

TGIM! New Goals To Set And Work On It's the beginning of a new week and also a brand new month which means a fresh start to set new goals and work towards completing them, whether you're setting mental, physical or spiritual goals.  I personally like to look at every Monday like it's a fresh New Year for new beginnings!  Tell yourself that you WILL accomplish your weekly goals, not that you THINK you will accomplish them. Set those goals, write them down every week so you have a visual reminder, and speak your goals into existence to take action TODAY! My blog goals for August include: - Continue working on growing my social m...

I waited forever to finally add my entertainment blog on Instagram because I didn't understand how posting a bunch of pictures on an app would benefit my website in terms of gaining more web traffic.  In October 2014, I finally made a page and didn't think much of it. Now, a little over a year and a half later, I have more than 100,000 followers and counting. Plus, I make extra blog money off of my IG page alone AND this is the No.1 social media site that helps drive a significant amount of traffic back to my website. So, How Did I Get All Of These Followers?  I put in some serious WORK!  To be clear, I never bought followers a...

Outline Of Topics In This Post: What The Hell Is A Snapchat & Why Is It So Popular? My Typical Snap Story & What I Like About Snapchat Promoting Your Snapchat  Different Blog Ideas For Snapchat A Couple Of Dont's When Using Snapchat To Promote Your Blog If you're a blogger, vlogger or business owner and not utilizing Snapchat yet to promote your brand then 1) you're late and 2) you're missing out!  What are you waiting for?  Stop what you're doing and jump on there now! Let me tell you why... What The Hell Is A Snapchat & Why Is It So Popular? Using Snapchat for your blog and personal brand is very smart. Snapchat and Instagr...

The Dream: Starting Your Own Biz And Working From Home. Your Gifts & Talents = Income! Last night, I was on a group conference call with the amazing author, entrepreneur and ultimate boss chick herself, Tressa Azarel (she's also the owner of several businesses).  Tressa is such an inspiration and she got me so pumped up last night during the conference call. She said something very important that stuck out to me ... if you have a gift or talent, something you're good at (you don't even have to be an expert), then you too can run your own business! Becoming successful at entrepreneurship doesn't mean you need to have a lot of money in...

TGIM! Here's your Monday reminder that you can do anything you put your mind to, let's have a productive week! You're more likely to get where you want to go if you set a goal and commit yourself to it.  What are you working on today to make sure you reach your future goals?  Check me out on: Instagram  Twitter  Pinterest Follow ...

Maybe it's time to give your blog a quick sweep through to make sure everything is still in order. So, here's your early reminder on a couple of things you should be looking out for and double checking on your own website: Add Your Social Info Make sure people can easily find you around the web! Your social media pages and subscribe buttons shouldn't be hard for a reader to find on your website. Don't assume everyone knows your social media handles or know how to subscribe. You have to carefully guide your readers who may be new to your site.  My BFF and blogger buddy Brittany who is the creator of BelievablyMe recently came across a...

Whether you're new to the blogging world, thinking about starting a blog or if you're one of those Instagram bloggers looking to expand your brand with having your very own website, then this post is for you! When I first created Ooooooo La La! and started blogging in 2011, I had no idea what I was getting into and I didn't know what I was doing. I used to read NecoleBitchie, That Grape Juice, Bossip and all of these urban celebrity gossip blogs religiously and I thought if I just mimicked their style, then my blog would blow up as well. Well, it didn't.  I've learned instead of mimicking other people's styles, it's better to ...

The path towards success is never an easy one. You will hear a bunch of No's, there will be haters, there may be copy catters, you will have the non-believers and people telling you "you can't do that" ... there will also be days when you may even doubt yourself and think about quitting. But, never forget why you started.  Work at your dream every day, even on the days when you get off of work and you're tired. Push yourself to get a little bit accomplished every day. Never let anyone stand in the path of your goals.  And, a good circle of 2-3 friends ... friends who uplift you, friends who listen to your goals and dreams and friend...

The new Instagram analytics tool is a HUGE benefit for bloggers to learn more about their audience - great for potential customers! Instagram recently rolled out a new feature called Insights which provides analytics about a user's account (sort of like what Facebook pages already has). Before signing up for Insights, Instagram asks that you sign in with your Facebook page.  Insights can be found right on the top right hand corner of your Instagram page, next to the settings button. BUT, not all IG accounts have the new feature yet as Instagram is still currently testing out Insights. I noticed the update on my blog a couple ...

Yeah, it's cool to use social media just for fun, to post your beautiful vacation photos, to check out what your friends are doing or to spy on your ex (lol), but what if you could monetize your platform and get paid to post? Instagram has become an effective platform for brands to market themselves through influencers (bloggers like YOU!) It has recently been confirmed that the Instagram community has grown to more than 500 million Instagrammers - more than 300 million of whom use Instagram every single day! Woah! The advertising possibilities on Instagram are endless! Selling My First Instagram Ad  I sold my first Instagr...

TGIM! What goals do you set for yourself each day to be successful?  When you set goals for yourself, it is important that they motivate you ... this means making sure that they are important to you, and that there is value in achieving them. Monday is a perfect day to start. I LOVE Mondays and you should too!  Write your goals down Tell someone your goals  Take action  Let's have a productive week!  Subscribe to Blog Like A Boss! Make sure to follow on: Instagram  Twitter  Pinterest Follow ...

Welcome To My New Website: Blog Like A Boss Think like a boss and blog like one too! Hello! My name is Lanette Espy (also known as La La) and I'm the creator and writer of Ooooooo La La!, an entertainment blog that I started as just another hobby in 2011.  My website is currently growing into a little side business and has been mentioned as a source on a number of credible websites, including VH1, Bossip and Centric TV.  If you're thinking about starting your very own blog OR if you already have a blog and just need some additional pointers, post ideas, some motivation, and/or social media tips, then this website is the spot fo...