Blogger Interview # 87 : Amber Edwards

Can you tell us a little about yourself and your blog?

I'm a mom and homemaker for my little family. My family comes first and my blog second. JadeLouise Designs is a blog designed solely to helping others create a healthy, happy, and enjoyable family life. It's a Family Lifestyle blog. 

Are you a full time blogger? How did you get into blogging and why?

I guess you could say I"m a full time blogger, as I work on my blog for long hours each day, except I take weekends off. I got into blogging at first as a way to promote my handmade fashion accessories from my Etsy store, but soon discovered I loved blogging even more than crafting, so I turned my focus onto blogging instead of crafting and I haven't looked back. 

If someone was interested in blogging, what would be a few things you would suggest?

I'd suggest to search out all the information you can before you begin blogging. There are many bloggers, (myself included) that have created blog posts aimed at helping new bloggers get started. With tips, tricks and our suggestions from what we've learned along the way. Find these articles and read them and have a clear picture in your mind of what you want your blog to be and where you want it to go. Next I'd suggest finding an amazing blogging community to join, and draw support from. The community I learned the most from was Voiceboks.com 

How do you build a community around a blog and social media?

To build a community you have to be involved yourself. If you aren't online and interacting with your followers, you can't expect them to hang around and follow you blindly. You have to make a presence. Be active on other blogs as well. This is where you can get noticed. Form relationships with fellow bloggers. Don't think of them as your competition. Think of them as your lifelines that will help you learn and better your blog. Join blogging networks and events to draw more attention to your blog from new readers. And create great SEO posts that will draw in Google Search readers. If you have great content then hopefully those readers will stay. Be sure to reply to comments on your blog posts, and on your social media sites. 

What are your three favorite blogs to read? What makes those blogs special?

• Sunshine and Sippy cups

• Clever Housewife

• Made By Marzipan

I love these blogs because not only do they have great deals and reviews, but they are also chalk full of great content that I, as a mom can use in my daily life. It's not all about coupons or signing up for the next biggest deal to get you money; but offers real information that is well written and enjoyable. 

Which one plugin would you suggest all bloggers to have?

Akismet! I get tons of spam comments each day. Akismet filters those out and doesn't let them display on the blog posts yet still allows actual comments to be visible. Nothing is more irritating when I"m reading a blog post than to see it over ran with spam commentors. I close out and never visit that site again. A lot of those spammers have very crude and horrible content in their comments.