The last one doesn’t usually appear in the photo album, but you know how real it is. Throw a tight budget, frantic travel plans and loads of people you only talk to once a year all in one pot, and you’ve got a recipe for serious anxiety.
The biggest culprit? Money. Nearly half the respondents cited finances as the greatest cause of stress during the holidays.
We understand — this time of year comes with a lot of added expenses.
Here are some tips for reducing your money-related stress as Christmas draws near:
1. Organize a Secret Santa
Skip the stress of figuring out what to buy everyone in your extended family and how you’ll possibly afford it. Instead, organize a gift exchange.
Set up rules and pick a comfortable price range for everyone. For example, on one side of my family, we do a Secret Santa exchange among the adults for $50 gift cards. On the other side, everyone brings one gift worth about $25 for a white elephant exchange.
These systems allow us to have a little something under the tree at Christmas and to give something to other family members — without spending a fortune!
The guidelines eliminate the stress and politics among family members with different budgets and priorities.
2. Give Up the Gift Exchange
The holidays are a wonderful time to see and appreciate all the people you love.
But once you start running the numbers, you might wish you didn’t love quite so many people.
Outside of your kids, nieces, nephews, parents, spouse, cousins, aunts and uncles… you also have circles of friends, co-workers, clients, the mail carrier, your doorman, the kids’ teachers…
Your shopping list can get overwhelming pretty quickly.
Guess what? So is everyone else’s.
Don’t be afraid to be the one in the office to suggest a “no-presents” policy, or suggest a dinner with friends instead of a gift exchange.
Friends and co-workers are probably just as stressed as you, wondering where to find the money for all these gifts. Most will probably thank you for bringing it up. (If it doesn’t fly, try to find free gifts they’ll actually want.)
When everyone is on the same page, you can skip the expense of extra presents without the stress of feeling like a jerk.
3. Or Just Make All of Your Gifts
Instead of pressuring a group to spend money on gifts, only exchange handmade items.
This can be a fun way for everyone to contribute their unique talents to the group. Your resident baker can bring treats for everyone, the painter can make personalized paintings, the writer can write everyone a poem, etc.
Even if you don’t have an agreement with everyone, you can still save money by hand-making all of the gifts you’ll be giving.
As long as you can create something the people on your list will actually want, your gift could come with real value and be one-of-a-kind.
4. Organize a Potluck
Do you usually make the holiday meal for everyone?
Relieve the pressure and save yourself tons of money — organize a potluck!
To reduce stress and cost, don’t just ask everyone to bring “whatever.” Make sure all the major dishes and/or courses are assigned. Otherwise, you’ll end up cooking too much to make sure the basics are there.
Get invites and information out early to make time to adjust assignments for everyone’s interests and availability.
If everyone attending your party has an account, a Facebook event can help you coordinate without a string of emails where information is easily lost.
Watch your budgeton whatever you make for dinner, too. Plan ahead, and check your grocery store’s weekly ads to see where you can save money, even cooking for a lot of people. The strategies you used for Thanksgiving dinner apply here, too.
5. Save Money on Kids’ Gifts
For kids, half the Christmas fun is having a bunch of boxes under the tree to unwrap. But piling presents under the tree can get pricy!
Fill in some of the extras with low-cost items the kids will still love.
If you shop for the adults on your list at the dollar store or thrift shop, you’d probably wind up gifting a bunch of junk nobody can use. Kids’ toys, however, can come cheap without losing their usefulness.
The toddlers in my family are among my favorite to buy gifts for — their tastes are pretty simple.
Thrift stores are great for fun dress-up clothes for kids. I had an amazing old prom dress when I was young! I also found small items like plastic jewelry and play makeup at Dollar General last year that my niece still loves.
Be selective with where you cut costs on kids’ gifts, though. If they’re asking specifically for a set of Shopkins toys, don’t stick a cheap knockoff under the tree. It’s not the same, and they’ll tell you!
Generic toys like dress-up clothes, balls and coloring books, however, don’t have to be Frozen-branded to be fun.
6. Create a Shopping List and Plan Ahead
Some of the greatest financial stress around the holidays comes from expenses you forgot to consider. Curb this by planning ahead.
We’ve created a simple holiday budgeting worksheet to help you keep track of your holiday shopping lists and expenses.
In addition to your gift budget, look ahead to increased day-to-day expenses in the weeks surrounding Christmas.
Will you spend more on gas for added trips to the mall, grocery store and events? Do you want to buy a new dress for holiday parties? Will you buy stamps to send out Christmas cards?
These hidden, small expenses can quietly eat away at your wallet if you’re not paying attention. Look ahead, and figure out how you can stretch your money for more than just presents.
When I’m traveling — flying or driving — one of the biggest stressors is finding food. You seem to have to choose among going hungry, eating terrible food or spending a ton of money.
Unless you plan ahead!
You may not be able to take beverages through security at the airport, but you canpack your own food. Throw in a few packets of powdered flavoring to add to your water bottle, and save money on soda.
Secret Santa is basically the Olympic Games of gift giving.
You’re generally restricted to a low dollar amount, limiting your options right off the bat.
There’s also a good chance you won’t know the person very well, so you might have to keep it generic (but not lame). Oh, and it’s also holiday time, when you’realready overwhelmedwith shopping for the other people in your life.
So what’s a secret Santa to do?
We’ve rounded up 12 fun ideas to keep your gift exchange interesting, thoughtful and under budget.
Now anyone can learn the ancient art of reading tea leaves.
This is perfect for the coworker who’s never far from his cup of Earl Grey. The set comes with a special tea cup and saucer, plus a book for interpreting your fortune based on the pattern of your tea leaves.
Apparently a heart shape near the edge indicates love in the future — a cake shape hints at exciting events in the future. There’s probably a certain amount of subjectivity involved in reading tea leaves, though.
Aside from the shock value of the title, there’s a lot to love about this game.
First, it was the most-backed project in Kickstarter history.It also features illustrations by the hilariousOatmeal.
This works for all manner of secret Santa participants: the game enthusiast, the cat lover, the cat hater, the web comic fan — and the person you don’t even know.
Who even knows what half of the cheeses are at any given party. She can jot down the names with the chalk to take the guesswork out of the the cheese at the New Year’s party.
Help your friend stay cozy this winter with a woodsy firestarter kit.
This handy gift helps them start a toasty fire in the fireplace, at a cook out or in a wood-burning stove.
But instead of the chemical smell from lighter fluid, the 100% biodegradable firestarters give off a nice, woodsy, pine aroma.
Your Turn: Will you be using any of these as Secret Santa gifts?
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. We would have shared them with you anyway, but a true “penny hoarder” would be a fool not to take the company’s money.
Lyndsee Simpson is a writer and editor living in Washington, D.C. Her secret Santa gave her acollection of hot saucesthis year.
As a parent, you’re probably already spending more money than you’d like. From essentials like diapers and baby shoes to the electronic toys and cool new clothes your kids beg for once they can talk… no matter how thrifty you are, kids can be pricey.
That’s why you’ll appreciate this sweet deal:A chance to get a whole year of Parents magazine for free!
Then, find Parents in your mailbox every month in 2016 — and have fun with their tips, tricks and info!
Your Turn: Will you get this free subscription to Parents magazine?
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. We would have shared them with you anyway, but a true “penny hoarder” would be a fool not to take the company’s money.
Jamie Cattanach is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. She also writes other stuff, like wine reviews and poems — you can read along athttp://ift.tt/1RiB7sH.
It’s the scenario every parent fears: The baby’s crying, the toddler’s squirming, you reach for a clean diaper and… the box is empty.
Cue the horror movie music.
If you subscribe toAmazon Mom, the online shopping giant’s parent-focused service, you can avoid this problem — and get great deals.
What Is Amazon Mom?
It’s a program that offers you15% off items on your baby registry and 20% off diaper subscriptions.
Amazon Mom delivers the goods right to your door, a service that sleep-deprived new parents will appreciate. It also provides age-based recommendations and special deals.
And despite its name, the service isn’t just for moms.Any parent, grandparent or caregiver can take advantage of Amazon Mom.
What You Get With Amazon Mom
When you subscribe to order your diapers, you receive a 5% discount as part of the Subscribe & Save program. Then you’ll save an additional 15% for being a part ofAmazon Mom.
Membership includes Amazon Prime benefits, such as free two-day shipping, streaming movies and TV, book-borrowing through the Kindle Owner’s Lending Library and music.
You’ll also get access toAmazon Household— it lets you share digital content and free shipping services with others in your household.
You can even sign up for afree 30-day trialto test out the service.And if you’re already a Prime member, you can add it on for free. After your trial, you can join for $99 per year.
There’s one thing to keep in mind, though.If you’ve ever taken advantage of a free trial from Amazon Mom or Amazon Student, you aren’t eligible to receive another free trial. But you can sign up for the paid service anytime.
Is Amazon Mom Worth It?
Does it really add up and save you cash? Is it worth the $99 per year?The Unexpected Daddecided to find out.
“Compared to regular Amazon prices and Wal-Mart online prices,Amazon Mom subscription discounts, in conjunction with savings on two-day shipping, will easily make up for the $99 annual subscription costs in less than three months,” he said.
“Purchasing the same items in-store at a local Target, I’m looking at a savings of $10/month, so it would take 10 months to make up the $99 annual fee, saving a total of $20 a year,” he added.
Your Turn: Would Amazon Mom help your family save cash on baby gear and diapers? Will you try the service?
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. We would have shared them with you anyway, but a true “penny hoarder” would be a fool not to take the company’s money.
Kristen Pope is a freelance writer and editor in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Would you shop at a dollar store to save money during the holidays?
At first thought, it might sound tacky. Are you picturing cheap toys, decorations that fall apart after a few days and Christmas dinner on plastic dishes?
Saving money doesn’t have to look so cheap.
Everything adds up this time of year, asKiplingerpoints out.You have a lot of opportunities to cut costs on those extras you might not think aboutwhen considering your holiday budget.
Dollar stores like Dollar Tree, Family Dollar and Dollar General may not supply the bulk of gifts on your shopping list.
But they’re great sources for the extra items like cleaning supplies and cookwarethat are easy to forget about when you’re budgeting for the holidays.
Added visitors and lots of cooking means extra cleaning before and after the holidays. But it doesn’t have to be an extra expense.
Load up on one-time-use cleaning supplies at the dollar store to prepare for the task.
You may have to use a little more, because some cheaper cleaners are more diluted than their name-brand counterparts. But they’re just as effective and can be an affordable solution during this busy time of year.
2. Disposable Bakeware
Only cook this much once a year? If you don’t have the space to keep the variety of bakeware you need to prepare a holiday meal, buy disposables for a buck apiece.
What a stress reliever it will be to just ball up that giant roasting pan and toss it in the trash after dinner! No more worrying about how to clean it, where you’ll store it — or how you’ll afford to get it in the first place.
3. Gift Wrap and Bags
Beautiful presents in fancy wrapping make a lovely sight under the tree. But then…that expensive wrapping is torn apart in a matter of minutes and thrown away.
Go to the dollar store for affordable wrapping paper and gift bags you don’t mind throwing in the trash.
Instead of splurging on the expensive paper, make those gifts beautiful with some personal DIY touches. Decorate your own gift bags or let the kids color pictures or write personalized messages on the wrapping paper.
4. Holiday Decorations
The dollar store is a great place to find pieces for DIY holiday decorations at a fraction of the cost of even Walmart.
Find ribbon, bows, candles and candleholders for $1, and deck your halls without breaking the bank.
5. Holiday Greeting Cards
The important part of a holiday card is the message inside, right? Unlike (maybe) the gifts or food, your friends and family aren’t judging your holiday greetings based on the caliber of card you send them in.
You can pick up a box of 20 cards with envelopes at Dollar Tree. That’s versus $10-$20 for a similar-sizedbox of cards at Walmart!
For more affordable Christmas gifts and holiday supplies you can find at the dollar store, read the full article onKiplinger.
Your Turn: What is the biggest expense on your holiday shopping list? What tricks have you found to cut costs?
Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more.
At long last, we’ve found a benefit to procrastinating on your holiday shopping:Free Shipping Day.
Today only, you can get free shipping at more than 1,000 online retailers — including big names likeAmazon,Walmartand Target — with a guarantee the items willarrive by Christmas.
So if you’ve been slacking on your gift-buying, today might be the day to get your butt in gear.
Visit theFree Shipping Daysite to see a list of participating retailers.
Your Turn: Have you bought your presents yet? Or do you plan to take advantage of Free Shipping Day?
Disclosure: We appreciate you letting us include affiliate links in this post. It helps keep the beer fridge stocked in the Penny Hoarder break room.
Susan Shain, senior writer for The Penny Hoarder, is always seeking adventure on a budget. Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.
Content marketing growth isn’t always explosive, but should it beslow?
No, it shouldn’t.
You should have steady, measurable growth on a monthly basis in most cases.
That’s why it pains me to see so many marketers create content and be satisfied when barely anyone sees it.
You don’t need tens of thousands of views for a new piece of content to make a difference, but you should be aiming for at least a thousand, even when you’re just starting off.
If you’re not getting many views on your content, something is wrong.
It could be one of many things:
not a good topic
weak writing
overall mediocre content
not enough promotion
low quality promotion
In this post, I want to dive deeper into one of these elements: the content aspect.
There are things you can do to instantly expose your content to a larger audience. In fact, I’m going to show you 5 of them in this post.
If you’re looking to get hundreds or thousands of extra views on your content, this is a post you’ll want to read closely.
1. Influencers can help you inmanyways
In order to grow your site’s traffic and readership, you need to put in a ton of consistent hard work.
However, there are ways accelerate the growth. They involve getting a few big influencers in your niche on your side.
Imagine that someone sent an email to thousands of their subscribers, linked to you in a blog post seen by tens of thousands, or shared your content on social media.
Depending on how much of an influencer that person is, it could lead to you gaining dozens of subscribers immediately.
If you could just find 5-10 influencers who wouldn’t mind helping you promote your content once in a while, you would grow your blog several times faster than you currently are.
It’s a simple plan, and it works.
However, it’s not so easy to actually get influencers to share your content.
Influencers don’t share mediocre content, and getting them to take the time to look at your content in the first place is difficult as well.
Again, though, there are ways that you can increase your chances of getting a positive reply and action from an influencer.
You can’t ever guarantee that a particular influencer will help you promote your content, but you can greatly increase the chances with these four tactics.
Option #1 – Get them to contribute to the article:Why should someone help share your article?
There are a few main reasons someone might want to:
because they want to be nice
because they think their readers willloveit
because it makes them look good
The first one is nice, but completely unreliable. Influencers often get several (hundreds for some) share and link requests each day. Even the nicest guy can’t say yes to all of them.
That leaves us with two reasons.
Option #1 focuses mostly on the second main reason.
The idea is to ask them to contribute a small bit of content to the post, whether it’s a short story, quote, or piece of advice.
If they contribute to something, they’ve essentially given it their “stamp of approval.”
Throughconfirmation bias, they are more likely to overvalue the quality of your content. And since they think that it’s great, it follows that their readers would as well, which makes them more likely to help promote it.
If theydoagree to contribute, you don’t need to ask them to promote it. Just thank them for helping you out, and send them a link an hour or so before you publish the post.
Most influencers understand that you would also appreciate any mentions to their audience, but asking for it can put them off.
The hard part, therefore, is getting them to contribute in the first place.
Here’s a sample email you could send:
Hi (first name),
I’m the head content creator at (site) and have a quick offer for you.
I’m putting together an incredibly comprehensive (describe the content) for our audience of X,XXX subscribers.
I guess this isn’t the time to be humble—it’s going to beamazing. I know you wouldn’t waste your time contributing to sub-par content, and I wouldn’t waste your time if this was the case.
My offer to you:I’d love to feature a quick piece of advice from you in the guide—it’d be the icing on the cake for my audience.
If you’re in, here’s what I’m looking for:
(ask them one specific question here).
But if you’re too busy, no worries, I won’t take it personally.
Thanks so much for your time,
(Your Name)
You wouldn’t want to go any longer than that.
The key part is your question has to be specific. If they don’t think they can answer it in under 200 words, most aren’t going to bother.
For example, ask them a question like:
What would you say is the best thing a beginner marketer can do to begin their education?
But obviously tailor it to your topic.
Option #2 – Giving input always makes someone care more:If someone came up to you and started complaining about not being able to find a job, you might sympathize, but you probably wouldn’t care very much.
But how would you feel if they asked for your advice on finding a job?
All of a sudden, you’ve taken on the role of a mentor/teacher. In this role, you have a natural inclination to care about your student’s success.
If they actually listen to you and apply your advice, how likely are you to help them more?
Very likely.
You’d probably try to set up interviews and introduce them to any relevant people you know to help them network.
Content promotion is pretty similar.
If you can get an influencer to offer advice on your content—and you actually apply that advice—most will be happy to share the content when it’s ready. They willwantto see it succeed.
How do you get an influencer to offer you advice?That’s the hard part.
There are two keys to getting a decent response rate:
Genuinely ask for feedback
Have a really cool idea
The first key is self-explanatory. If it seems that you just want them to share your content and you don’t really care what they think, they’ll delete the email immediately.
The second key is something most marketers don’t stop to consider.
If you send me yet another “guide to SEO,” I don’t care how good it is, it’s not interesting. Besides myown guide to SEO, there are hundreds of others.
You need to have aunique andinterestingtake on a topic (or an entirely new topic altogether).
Let me show you an example of a great email to help illustrate my point.
Groove HQ launched their content marketing strategy just under 3 years ago, but they launched it with a bang.
Their first post got them over1,000 new subscribers. Seriously. Some blogs take months or years to reach that number.
And they did it using this one tactic.
First, they identified several key influencers who might be interested in their content marketing project. Then, they sent themthis email:
The key part is that long second paragraph, the main paragraph, where Alex explains the project.
The idea he presented was for Groove to reveal everythingabout growing their software startup.
At the time, this was completely unique, and, of course, many influencers found it intriguing.
They offered to give real feedback on the post.
After Alex took action on that feedback, he produced an article that immediately got comments from plenty of huge influencers likeGary Vaynerchuk.
Option #3 – Give them a great reason to care:The final reason why an influencer might care enough about your content to help promote it is because it makes them look great.
In simple terms, you feature them in a good light.
This has worked for years, but like most tactics in content marketing, it’sevolved.
You used to be able to simply link to someone’s site and then email them to let them know about it. When you told them you loved their content so much you had to link to it in your post, a decent percentage were happy to share your post.
That doesn’t work so well anymore because many marketers adopted that strategy.
Influencers now get many similar emails, and the content doesn’t even make them look good (it’s just a link buried somewhere in the article).
But you have an opportunity to get ahead of the curve again.
With this final option, I recommend not only linking to an influencer but giving them a few surrounding paragraphs where you paint them in a positive light.
Here’s an example from one of my past Quick Sprout articles:
I used Brian Dean’s content as a“great example”of a concept I was trying to explain.
By doing this, not only did I include a useful example for my readers, but I made Brian lookreallygood.
Imagine if I sent him an email after and included the content in the above picture in it? Automatically, I’d stand out from dozens of other similar emails he gets.
Another way you can show someone that you want to make them look good is to interview them.
Many bloggers successfully start podcasts just to build relationships with theinfluencers they interview.
For anyone, an influencer or not, being able to grab someone’s attention for 20-40 minutes during a podcast is an amazing opportunity.
Why wouldn’t I promote an interview of mine if I felt like my audience would enjoy it?
Tools to help you find influencers:One of the most important steps for all of these different options is to target the right influencers.
If they aren’t a good fit for the content you’re proposing, why would they contribute?
If you email me for advice on how to bake a pie, it’s going straight to the trash (the email, not the pie).
If you’re familiar with your niche, you might already know all the big influencers and can simply list people you’d like to connect with.
However, if you’re somewhat new or aren’t confident that you knowallthe influencers, you can find them in a few different ways.
The first is a simple Google search for “top bloggers (your niche),” which is a great starting point.
Most of the time, you’ll be able to find 50-100 fairly popular blogs, and you can then figure out who the people behind the blogs are.
They attract attention; readers love them; and they break up content.
But many marketers don’t make the connection between images on their sites and shares on social networks.
If youdounderstand this connection, you have an opportunity to increase the social shares you get on an average article by a substantial number.
Size comes first:One of the most common mistakes I see is creating an attractive image to include in a blog post but making it an awkward size for social networks.
Even if a reader shares it, it will end up distorted or cut off, so it won’t get much attention.
If you don’t know which social networks to optimize for, head over toBuzzSumo again,and type in a niche keyword. Typically, one or two results will dominate the search:
Even better, if you have a fairly high traffic blog, you should be able to check the number of shares past posts have had on each network by plugging them into asocial share checker.
From there, just make sure all your blog images fit within the optimal size range.
Once you know the right size for an image, you need to figure out which types of images to include. There are a few types of images that attract more shares than others.
Type #1 – Informational images:An image that includes actual practical information will get more attention than a plain photo.
An infographic would belong to this group, but so would other images like short tutorial pictures:
You can see how the above picture would naturally attract more shares and likes than a picture of just a makeup brush.
Type #2 – Quote images:Another type of image that absolutely kills it on social media in most niches is a quote image.
Such images consist of a simple patterned background with a meaningful quote laid over top.
This is a type of picture that gets shared a lot but can become boring if used too much.
I recommend including no more than one of these per article.
Type #3 – Plain beautiful pictures:I often get asked how I get such great pictures to use for the featured images on Quick Sprout posts.
The truth is my designer creates them or finds amazing pictures that others have created.
Yes, they cost more than most stock photos, but they not only attract more reader attention but also result in more social shares.
Add image sharing buttons to your images: This small tweak will immediately produce a significant increase in shares.
In this case, I’d recommend using Pablo when possible—an image creation tool created by Buffer.
It’s specifically designed to create images that are optimized for social media, which saves you a lot of time.
You don’t need an account to get started, and it’s completely free.
Start by picking the image size on the right sidebar (it shows you which one is best for each network):
Your canvas in the middle will adjust to that size.
Then, you can pick a background from the left sidebar:
Finally, you can click in the textbox and edit the text as you’d like. You can also drag the text around if you think it’ll look better in a different location.
3. Feature something other than an influencer
We know that people are more likely to share something if they are featured in it, especially in a positive way.
That’s why featuring influencers can produce some pretty impressive results.
But influencers aren’t extremely likely to share your content even if you do feature them. Sure, a decent percentage will, but not as many as you’d like.
But what if you could feature a typical reader who isn’t an influencer? They’d bereally excited and be very likely to share it with everyone they know.
The problem here is that they have a small number of people they could send it to.
If only there was a way we could feature hundreds or thousands of typical readersat the same time.
Do you see where I’m going with this?
You can feature people not just by including their names but by featuring groups they are a part of.
And this is really powerful.
When people are heavily invested in a forum or a community sitelike a subreddit, they identify with that group.
If you feature that group, they’ll want to talk about it and share it because it makes the group as a whole look good (and therefore themselves).
To do this, pick any active community in your niche, and feature it in a post.
You can simply use the group as a good example for something, just like I did when I talked about influencers earlier, or you canmake the whole article about them.
Even better, compare two or more of the leading communities together, and it could start a discussion within each community about which one is actually better:
4. Create content specifically for a community
This tactic piggybacks on the last one, so make sure you understand that one first.
The idea here is to recognize a common problem within a community and then solve it. This is content marketing 101.
The best example of this happened on Reddit years ago.
At the time, most image hosting services sucked because they would constantly crash, load slowly, or be filled with ads.
One Reddit user took this opportunity to create their own minimalistic image hosting service calledImgur.
The interesting part is that all the promotion that was needed was a few posts by the creator within the community (Reddit).
From there, the community was the one that spread it. They excitedly mentioned it at all opportunities, and power users flocked to it.
Even today, many years later, Imgur is still thought of as the Reddit image host even though it’s a completely separate business.
Get as specific as possible:I’m not suggesting that you need to create the next Imgur to use this tactic. It’s unlikely that you’ll see a huge problem within a big community and be the one to solve it (although possible).
But what you can do is find a problem on a small, niche community site and solve that.
For example, a forum member on a popular poker tournament forum noticed that many other members were struggling with staying focused and energetic during long tournaments.
So, he put together a really interesting and practical post for the members of the community, calling it his “gift to MTTC” (the community).
It’s gotten over 400 replies and tens of thousands of views. I’m sure it gets linked to all the time from other parts of the site.
Ideally, your gift would be a tool or some content on your own site. However, even if your content was posted just on a website of that community, it would still instantly elevate you to the status of a highly respected member.
You could then use that standing to promote your future content with a lot more support from the community.
5. Pick topics with the potential to go viral
You want any piece of content you create to spread as fast and as wide as possible.
In other words, you want it to go viral.
But content marketers often don’t understand that they can’t just add words like “surprising” to theheadline and hope the article will go viral.
Certain topics are doomed from the start.
A review guide about lamps is never going to go viral.
While you can never guarantee that an article will go viral, you can at least give yourself a chance if you understand the three factors behind viral spread.
Factor #1 – Positive feelings:Fractl conducted anin-person research studyto analyze how people felt when shown a variety of different viral images.
They found that there were three significant factors behind the popularity of those images, and one of them was positive feelings.
The study found that when shown a selection of viral images, most participants felt a positive emotion.
This suggests thatpositive emotions spread more easily than negative ones. It doesn’t mean that posts that evoke negative emotions can’t go viral; they can—just much less likely.
For you, this means that you should create content that makes your readers feel good.
Factor #2 – Emotional complexity:If you see an image and smirk, you probably won’t be in a hurry to share it.
However, if it has you smiling from ear to ear, you’d want to share it so that others can feel that positive emotion too.
The second main finding from the study was that the viral images were associated with a wider range of emotions in the subjects (extreme emotions), while non-viral images had a narrow range of emotions (mild emotions).
Not only did the subjects feel strong positive or negative emotions, but when shown the most viral pieces of content, they feltboth!
This is a good thing for you because it means that even if you’re creating content around a negative topic, it can still go viral. Just make sure to end it on a positive note.
Here’s an example of a video that starts negatively but ends positively. It went viral and now has over 3 million views on YouTube alone:
It starts with a heartbreaking story about a dog who was chained to a spot and left in poor conditions for 10 years.
However, it ends with the dog being rescued, taken into a caring family, and doing much better.
Neither of these two parts of the story would get too much attention by themselves, but when you combine extreme emotions on opposite ends of the spectrum, you drastically increase the story’s chance to go viral.
If there’s an issue in your industry that’s really sad, create content around the way you fixed that issue (even on a small scale).
Factor #3 – The element of surprise:While surprise can be categorized as a positive emotion, it can also be a negative emotion.
First, you’ll need to get yourreader to become curious about the topic. Then, you need to show them something that they never expected, which gets them to feel the emotions we’ve looked at.
All of this isn’t easy, but you give your content a much better chance of spreading when you focus on these three emotional factors behind viral sharing.
Conclusion
Content can help you achieve a positive return on your investment only if it’s reaching an audience.
The bigger the audience it reaches, the better the results.
If you’re having trouble reaching a large enough audience with your content, start by trying out one or two of these content creation tactics.
They will help you expose your content to new readers, and if the content is good enough, they will stick around for more or help you share it.
Some of these tactics are fairly difficult, so don’t expect to get them perfectly on the first try. As long as you see a positive result (better reach than usual), continue refining your use of the tactic, and I think you’ll be surprised with the results.
If you have any questions about any of these tactics, let me know in a comment below, and I’ll try to clear things up.
Right now, Sarah and I are planning to have early retirement fully on the table approximately two years after our youngest child enters college. At that time, assuming that our older children take five years or less to earn a bachelors degree, they’ll be fully on their own.
That’s our assumption, anyway. Of course, our whole assumption regarding our children and their lack of financial reliance on us is predicated on our parenting style, which is based on our own experiences with college and leaving the nest.
Let’s rewind to the mid-1990s, when Sarah and I graduated from high school. Both of us were raised to be fairly self-reliant and when we went to college, the idea was that we were training for a career and this was a period where we were separating from our parents and that we would not be moving back home after college. It was expected that we were going to sink or swim on our own, and our parents believed (and rightfully so) that they had taught us the skills to do just that.
Now the scenario is reversed and we’re the parents. Our goal? We’re trying to teach our children the skills they need to sink or swim on their own. Even now, with our children in primary school, we’re encouraging as much independence as we can. We’re encouraging savings skills. We’re teaching them household tasks. We’re strongly encouraging self-determination and open-ended projects. We’re strongly encouraging individual responsibility.
Are we perfect at these things? No. But those are the principles we’re acting on as parents.
The real question, though, is this: is it a safe assumption to assume that our plan as parents – to have our children be fully independent after college – will actually happen? Should we prepare financially for the possibility that it won’t be?
Basically, I see four potential outcomes: whether or not our children are independent, and whether or not we provide financial outpatient care.
Scenario 1 – They’re Independent, We Help Them Get Started
This is a situation where my children follow an independent track during and after college but we still provide them with money in order to make things easier for them.
This scenario that simply won’t happen. My parents stopped providing significant financial support when I left for college, and eliminated what little help they still gave after a few years of college. It was easy for them because I had a giant independent streak, but it was also the right move for them. If my children choose a path of independence, you better believe I’m going to let them do it and take off the financial training wheels as early as possible.
Scenario 2 – They’re Not Independent, We Help Them Get Started
In this scenario, they’re not able to make it independently after college, so we give them a lot of help. Perhaps we allow them to move back home, or maybe we provide direct financial aid so that they can have an apartment while they search for work.
This is the situation I worry about. If my children aren’t able to spread their wings and fly after college, will I end up helping them in this way? My ideals say that I wouldn’t, but on the other hand the thought of my children struggling to eat or keep a roof over their heads turns my stomach.
Scenario 3 – They’re Independent, We Don’t Help Them Get Started
In this scenario, the children graduate from high school and follow their own path into their adult life without any help from us. They struggle, as we all do, but they manage to make it on their own without help from us.
This is my ideal scenario. They’re independent, they don’t need our help, and we wouldn’t give it anyway. This is the scenario we’re aiming for with our savings goals and our parenting strategies.
Scenario 4 – They’re Not Independent, We Don’t Help Them Get Started
In this scenario, our children struggle mightily after graduating from high school. Perhaps a personal difficulty gets in the way of their goals. Maybe they find themselves failing to graduate or completely unable to find a job. Whatever the case may be, in this scenario, we simply don’t help them out. We let them struggle on their own, even if they sink.
This is the most difficult scenario, personally. Could I actually do this? Could I not offer aid to my children if they were really hurting?
Scenarios and Saving for the Future
Since the first scenario simply won’t happen, what we’re looking at are scenarios two, three, and four. Scenario three is the ideal one – it’s the one we’re shooting for.
The real question is what exactly Sarah and I will do if our children struggle. Will we help them and, if so, how much? The outcome of that question has a significant impact on our savings for the future.
Let’s say, for instance, we assume that we will have to help our children in the future. They move back in, which requires us to stay in a larger house. They eat our food, which drastically increases our food budget. We even slip them a little spending money and help them out with things like rides to interviews and so on.
That’s going to cost a significant amount of money. Our monthly budget in our fifties is going to be a lot higher than if we do nothing.
The reality is that this outcome – having to financially support our kids in adulthood, even partially – would simply postpone our dreams of retiring early. If we expect to support our children at that point, we simply aren’t going to be able to retire nearly as early as we want to because our annual cost of living will be too high. Our target number that we need to be able to retire would go up substantially because our annual cost of living would go up substantially and that means it will simply take longer to get there.
Great, so what’s the problem today?
The problem today is figuring out an investment strategy that manages to make early retirement possible if things turn out that way but won’t leave investment returns on the table if we find ourselves helping our kids in adulthood.
Let’s start by looking at our investment plan for early retirement. Our plan is to have aggressive investments up until the ten year mark before we think we might retire early, then start switching our contributions to more conservative things. We don’t want everything to be conservative, mind you, but we want a more balanced approach than what we’re doing now.
Now, what happens if one or more of our children winds up receiving some form of financial support from us? As I mentioned earlier, our annual budget goes up accordingly, which means that we won’t have enough money at that point when we originally intended to retire (when our youngest son is partway through college). Because of that, we’ll have to wait until later to retire, not only because we’re not at our target number yet, but also because we’re not able to save as much per year as we otherwise would.
Our target date for early retirement slips closer and closer to the date of what would be our traditional retirement, in other words.
The problem is clear. If we save as though we’re going to retire very early, that means we start moving into conservative investments earlier. If we then are unable to retire early, our investments spent years in less aggressive investments, meaning that our investment choices are also holding us back. We need to be pretty aggressive up until fairly close to retirement, and moving back our retirement date leaves money on the table.
On the other hand, if we save as though we’re going to have to support our kids and then we don’t have to, we’re going to be in aggressive investments right up until close to the day when we could retire early. We’ll either have to live with aggressive investments in retirement or deal with potential tax consequences from shifting into more conservative investments (this is somewhat mitigated by retirement accounts, but not entirely).
In other words, if we guess wrong, we’re leaving money on the table at best and delaying our retirement by years at worst.
So, what’s our game plan, then?
We’ve decided to plan under the assumption that we’ll probably have to help at least one child. What that means is that we’re going to stay really aggressive with our retirement savings until it’s really clear to us that our children will be independent and we can actually retire early without worrying about supporting them. At that point, if it comes, we’ll downshift quickly.
This is a great example of how “real life” mashes up with nuts-and-bolts financial decisions. Our children’s future is heavily tied with our own retirement plans and how we save for them, and knowing that and considering it has changed how we’re going to save and plan for retirement. We’re going to assume an outcome we might not prefer and be joyous if a better outcome occurs. Sure, we’re playing it safe, but we find it far better to do things this way than to bet on retiring early and find ourselves in a tricky family spot.
When it comes to getting ahead financially, there are two main schools of thought. One says we should pick up a side hustle, take on a part-time job, or climb the corporate ladder to earn as much money as humanly possible. The other, however, says we should sock away as many dollars as we can — you know, “a penny saved is a penny earned” and all that jazz.
While both strategies can help you get ahead in life, it’s easy to overlook the importance of saving money as a financial goal. After all, saving money and living a frugal lifestyle aren’t nearly as sexy as earning a ton of money, right? When most people think of “getting rich,” flashy cars and diamonds are what come to mind — not cutting coupons and shopping garage sales.
The thing is, saving money is just as useful — if not more useful — than earning extra money. Any dollar you save is one you never have to earn, and you don’t have to pay income taxes on it, either. And at the end of the day, a dollar in your pocket is worth the same whether it was earned or saved.
10 Things You Should Never Pay For
That’s why it’s important to look for new ways to save money all the time. When you’re not paying attention, it’s easy to continue paying for services or items that became free somewhere down the line. And as we all know, there are plenty of items and services that people should never have started paying for to begin with (ahem, like bottled water).
Here are 10 things most people can avoid paying for altogether:
No. 1: Most Extended Warranties
Whether you’re buying an automobile, a television, or a computer, most stores will try to sell you an additional warranty that will replace your item for a certain length of time after the manufacturer’s warranty expires.
Most of the time, these warranties offer the worst of both worlds, however — overpriced coverage and a claims process that make replacement impossible. Why? Because these warranty companies exist for one reason: to make money.
“The only way a warranty company can make money is to bring in more than it pays out,” says financial coach Debbi King. “This means that you are going to pay them more than they are going to give you.”
Instead of forking over the money for an extended warranty, King suggests saving the replacement cost for your item instead. “If something happens to your item or your car needs to be fixed, use the money you would have given to them to pay for a replacement/repair.”
And if you don’t like that strategy, you could always see if your credit card offers extended warranty coverage on big-ticket items. Some of the top rewards cards out there do, and they offer this coverage for free.
No. 2: ATM Fees
In a world where most banks offer a huge network of free ATMs, it’s pretty amazing that people continue to pay to access their own money. A little planning and the wherewithal to swing by your free ATM while you’re out can go a long way toward helping you save. And if your bank doesn’t offer very many free ATMs, you could always change banks, right?
Kendal Perez from Coupon Sherpa says most people can avoid these fees altogether if they analyze their cash needs weekly and withdraw that money with no out-of-pocket cost whenever possible.
“I don’t understand why anyone would pay upwards of $5 to access their money,” she says. “Withdrawing cash from your bank before you go or adding a cash withdrawal to your grocery store or drugstore purchase gives you free access to your funds.”
With a little forethought, you should never have to pay an ATM fee. Photo: InfoCash
No. 3: Coupons
Coupons are supposed to save you money, right? So why do people buy them? Sadly, Googling “coupons for sale” will turn up a gaggle of coupon resale sites where people actually turn a profit on coupons that were free to begin with.
Free coupons exist everywhere on the Internet, says Kyle. And if you do a Google search for “[name of store] coupons” instead, for example, you’ll be inundated with free offers.
Another tip from Kyle: “If the store you need a coupon for doesn’t currently offer one, no worries — simply hit up their live chat feature via their website and politely ask the operator for a coupon.” If you ask politely, Kyle says this trick works around 80% of the time.
For example, the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card offers primary rental car coverage as a cardholder perk, and you don’t even have to pay for the privilege. This enhanced level of coverage can work in place of your own traditional auto policy, says Chase. According to the Chase website: “Decline the rental company’s collision insurance and charge the entire rental cost to your card. Coverage is primary and provides reimbursement up to the actual cash value of the vehicle for theft and collision damage for most rental cars in the U.S. and abroad.”
Other popular travel cards also offer this coverage, as well as secondary collision damage waiver coverage. Before you rely on your credit card’s policy, make sure you know what it is and how it works. Either way, you should never have to pay for it.
No. 5: Cable TV
Thanks to a slew of new technologies, traditional cable television packages are on their way out — or at least they should be. If you’ve ever heard of Netflix, Hulu, Sling, or Roku, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
We’ve written about this multiple times, but the truth is, most content is available legally through other, much cheaper means. “The average person has no need to pay for cable TV at this point, says Chris of Cut Cable Today, a.k.a. “Mr. Cable Cutter.”
To see if you can make it without cable, Chris suggests trying these new technologies, starting with Sling TV, which offers access to ESPN, AMC, CNN, HGTV, and many other core cable stations normally reserved for those who pay a lot for the privilege.
Other options include buying a Roku box, then hooking it up to a variety of free or inexpensive streaming services. Or you could even break out the dinosaur of television history: an antenna.
“As long as you live close enough to town, odds are you can get good reception of the major networks with an antenna,” says Chris. “Over 90% of the top shows come on one of the big four (Fox, CBS, ABC, NBC), plus you’ll get pretty much all the football you can handle.”
Whichever way you go, you shouldn’t have to pay for a full-fledged cable package for long. Chances are, one of the newer (and less expensive) technologies out there will work just fine if you give it some time.
No one should ever pay for their credit score or credit monitoring, says Harrine Freeman, financial expert and owner of credit restoration company Freeman Enterprises. Using AnnualCreditReport.com, says Freeman, consumers can “obtain a free copy of their credit reports once every 12 months.”
And since you can get a free copy of your full credit report from all three credit reporting agencies — Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax — that means you can get a snapshot of your credit every four months. That’s sufficient for most people who need to keep an eye on their credit report to ensure nothing has gone awry.
Further, sites like Credit Karma and Credit Sesame offer free services such as ongoing credit monitoring and monthly credit updates. You don’t have to pay a cent to see an estimated credit score each month, and you can score all of these perks just by signing up for a free account.
No. 7: Credit Card Interest and Fees
Credit cards can be valuable tools if used wisely, but absolutely destructive if not treated with care. Either way, you can completely get out of avoiding credit card interest (and fees) if you’re disciplined enough. You just need to get into the habit of paying your credit card in full every month, and even a few times per month if that helps.
According to Andy Brantner, Certified Financial Planner from StartInvestingOnline.com, you shouldn’t really have a credit card if you can’t manage charging only what you can afford to pay off every month anyway. Further, there are plenty of excellent 0% APR balance transfer offers available for people already in debt. If you want to dig your way out without paying interest, these offers are definitely worth pursuing. (Read Best Balance Transfer Cards for 2015.)
No. 8: New Clothes
In a world where secondhand clothes — and even upscale attire — can be purchased for pennies on the dollar, it’s pretty amazing that people still buy new (full-price) clothing on a regular basis.
Chad Reid, director of communications at JotForm, sees this phenomenon in his area all the time, and it absolutely blows his mind, he says.
“I live in a big city, and maybe I’m spoiled, but there are so many thrift shops with awesome, cheap duds that paying for new clothes somewhere would be foolish,” he says. And yet people do it year in and year out — even changing out their outfits to keep up with emerging (and often fleeting) fashion trends.
We’ve written on this topic here at The Simple Dollar almost ad nauseum, but only because it’s that important. Imagine never buying a new piece of clothing again, yet still being as stylish as your friends — and saving thousands in the process. If you’re interested in exploring what it means to buy used clothes instead of new, these posts can help:
While most people know you can check out books for free at the library, knowing this and actually doing it are two entirely different things. It’s far too easy to pick up a book at the airport, grocery store, or Barnes & Noble, only to forget about it completely once you’re done.
The thing is, your local library offers plenty to keep you coming back for more, and most selections are no longer limited to physical, printed books. Most modern libraries now offer Kindle editions of many of the books they have in print, along with other media like video games, movies, and documentaries.
And let’s not forget audio books, says Paul Moyer of SavingFreak. “The vast majority of people only listen to the book once and spend way too much on them,” he says. “Check with your local library, since many now have downloadable books or at least books on CD that you can check out.”
No. 10: Checks and Banking
If you’re paying for checks, forking over a monthly fee to keep a checking or savings account, or paying a fee to use your debit card, it might be time to find another bank, says financial writer Trever Ewen.
“Online banks and credit unions want your business,” he says, “and they will give those services for free to get it.”
Thanks to increased competition and the introduction of Web-based and mobile banking, free checking accounts can be found almost anywhere. If you want a bank that rewards you for entrusting them with your money, look for a new bank altogether. You shouldn’t have to pay them to keep your money for you.
While it may feel like life is getting more expensive, there are plenty of things we could cut out if we wanted to. As Trent Hamm expressed in his post on “Unnecessary Necessities” recently, as humans, we tend to elevate certain “wants” to “needs” over time — creating havoc in our lives and emptying our wallets in the process.
The painful truth is this: Almost all expenses are negotiable to some extent. While you must have a roof over your head, food in the fridge, and your basic needs taken care of, almost everything else in your life is optional and even avoidable if you are able to tell yourself “no.”
And when it comes to truly getting ahead in life, identifying things we shouldn’t have to pay for — and eliminating them — is one way to speed up the process.
What is the one thing you never pay for? How are you cutting your expenses this year?
Thousands of npower customers will receive a share of £26 million – the amount the energy provider has been fined for causing widespread billing and complaints handling problems.
Thousands of npower customers will receive a share of £26 million – the amount the energy provider has been fined for causing widespread billing and complaints handling problems.
