Take your blog from Meh to Awesomeness

                                


When I started blogging about 5ish years ago, if I wanted to figure out how something was done I had to Google it and then sit for hours banging my head against the computer screen to get it to work.

And I have a computer degree!

I began this course last week and have been working through it a little each day.

The info on SEO proved to be invaluable to me. I've done a little research on my own concerning SEO and the best ways to optimize it, but the course really broke it down step by step. I was able to go through each step and perform recommended tasks to ensure I am doing the best I can to keep my pulse on stats.

SEO (search engine optimization) is key to getting your website to show up on the first page of a search. Trying to figure it out? Mind-hurting. But this course makes it so easy! I wish Blog Awesomeness was around when I was just starting out, but even though it wasn't, it is now, and I found a ton of useful tidbits within each section.

And who couldn't use a few email subscriber tips?

The course includes in-depth look at:

• Website Optimization
• Branding
• Email Subscriber Tips
• Analytics (Know how and where to look up your stats on social media and Google)
• Design and Strategy
• Affiliate Help and tips on offering opt-in freebies

And SO much more!

                           

If you want to try it for yourself at the introductory price of $19.99, do it now! The price jumps up to $29.99 tomorrow! Work it at your own pace on your schedule. Do a little bit each day like I did and it helps absorb the information.

The course is easy to understand and the information available is what you are looking for if you need help understanding blogging lingo.

I would definitely recommend if you are a newbie, but even someone who has been around like me learned some new tricks :).

I hope you take advantage of this gold mine of a resource. It will be the best $19.99 you ever spent, or $29.99 if you wait until tomorrow :). (This is an affiliate link)

Buy now, thank me later.

A Letter To My Younger Self

If I could write my younger self a letter I imagine it would go something like this:

Dear Younger Me,

I wish I could tell you everything that I have learned so far. It would save you so much worry and heartache. Things would be much different.

I can't decide if I should tell you to not fear and chase your dreams or tell you heart to heart, you do make some bad decisions, but then, those bad decisions made me who I am today.

Don't worry, I know you are nervous about your grades and what you should major in at school and aren't sure where your life is going. Guess what? You still don't! (Ha!)

You think you have to have everything all figured out in order to move ahead and be successful. You fear failing. You fear looking like a fool.

And I guess in writing that last part I realized exactly what I need to tell you. Let it go. Let go of the fears: the opinions of others, the fears of failing, looking foolish, making the wrong choice. 

Let it all go.

Please click here to continue reading the rest on God-sized Dreams

Is it Holy to be Happy?

I just finished up my last summer reading book, The Happiness Dare by Jennifer Dukes Lee.

Maybe like me you have heard it's our goal as christians to not seek to be happy, but holy or,

God doesn't care about your happiness only your holiness. 

But, Jennifer takes a different viewpoint and asks us to stop choosing between holiness and happiness. We can have both, and I like that!

"When I discovered happy holiness, it felt like fireworks were going off inside my chest. I had come to understand this truth: Our inner desire for happiness isn't a sin. It's a desire planted in us by God himself." Jennifer Dukes Lee, The Happiness Dare

Do you ever feel guilty for saying, "I just want to be happy!" or when you find yourself in a happy moment chastise yourself for feeling happy and tell yourself to tone it down? Like, Jennifer, I've gone through periods in life when I thought, "I'm not happy, but I guess that's ok, at least I'm holy and that's all God cares about anyways."

Somewhere along the way I figured God doesn't really care about my happiness, as long as I'm holy and joyful, I'm okay.

"Holiness isn't separate from happiness. It's a part of it." 

Huh.

I liked that the book wasn't all rainbows and sunshine, sure, it's nice to be happy, but let's be real. Life is NOT always sunny.

And I appreciated that she wrote, "Happy people cry. Happy people are familiar with the feel of thunderclouds building up on their insides. Happy people are the people who know it's a waste of effort to show up somewhere with the plastered-on Sunday smile."

I feel like I was not only given permission to be genuinely happy, but to also feel the gray clouds when they come rolling in as well.

Happy and holy are compadres. It's time to reclaim our happy and stop denying that we want to be happy! It's how we were created.

And check this out, Jennifer created a Happiness Style Assessment, find out what makes you happy...for Free!

I discovered I'm a thinker and experiencer. When I'm thinking and experiencing this makes me the happiest.

I hope you will check Jennifer Dukes Lee latest release, I think you'll be as inspired as I was.

"Happiness isn't a destination. It's a journey. And sometimes the journey is hard. Sometimes the journey looks intimidating and downright impossible."

(I was happy to be a part of Jennifer Dukes Lee's book launch team for The Happiness Dare. I was given a free pdf for my participation, however all opinions of the book are my own.)

About the book:
Would you like to be happier?

No matter who you are or how you feel, chances are you would answer yes. And Jennifer Dukes Lee was no different. For years, she wrestled with a constant nagging sense that she wasn’t as happy as she could be. At the same time, she felt guilty for wanting something so “shallow.” After all, doesn’t God only care that we find joy in our circumstances? Or is it possible that God really does want us to be happy?

Determined to get answers, Jennifer embarked on a quest to find out whether our happiness matters to God and, if so, how to pursue it in a way that pleases him.

In The Happiness Dare, you’ll learn what she discovered, including how to:
Understand the five happiness styles and maximize yours
Overcome the four biggest obstacles that stand in the way of your happiness
Find your happiness sweet spot―the place, relationship, or activity that gives you the greatest sense of well-being
Discover what you can do in just five minutes a day to be happier

Will you take the dare?

Join Jennifer in the pursuit of your truest, most satisfied, and most faith-filled self.