Month: May 2022

Pinterest

Pinterest is all about inspiration and discovery. That means it’s not only a great way to connect with current customers; it’s a great place to find new followers—especially since Pinterest passed the 250 million monthly active user mark. More than 70 percent of Pinners find new brands on Pinterest, and 78 percent say they find brand content useful.

Factor in Pinterest’s sales power—it’s the number one shopping platform among millennials—and knowing how to get more Pinterest followers becomes an even greater value proposition. Follow this step-by-step guide to pin your sights on success.

Real ways to get more followers on Pinterest

1. Know who uses Pinterest

A good appreciation of Pinterest’s user base will help when it comes to crafting content for your profile.

Here are a few stats to start with:

  • The majority of Pinterest users are women. Only 30% of its users are men, but that figure is growing.
  • Pinterest reaches 83% of women aged 25-54 in the U.S. That’s more than Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter.
  • Millennials are Pinterest’s most active age group. One in two U.S. millennials visit Pinterest every month.
  • Almost half of Pinterest users live in the United States.
  • Pinterest is the only major social channel in the U.S. with a majority of suburban users.
  • Find even more Pinterest stats that marketers need to know, as well as more Pinterest demographics.

2. Engage with what’s popular

Take a look at what’s already performing well on Pinterest by browsing the Popular feed. Take notes, evaluate commonalities, and consider how you could apply these ideas to your own content.

When you come across compelling content, consider re-Pinning to one of your boards, following the user, or writing a thoughtful comment. All of these actions will increase your brand’s exposure on Pinterest.

But don’t overdo it. Too many comments may be flagged as spam. Instead, focus on writing a few sincere comments that go beyond one- or two-word remarks like “Cool!” or “That’s awesome.”

3. Join relevant group boards

Search for the top Pinterest boards in your company’s categories and ask to join and contribute. In some cases the board administrator will include instructions on how to join the group’s description. If not, contact the board owner directly by email. You can usually find them by looking for the first person listed under the board’s followers.

4. Post fresh and original content

Pinterest favors originality. Pinners use the site to look for new ideas, inspiration, and products, so make sure your own Pins are super fresh.

Skip standard stock photos and clichés. Instead, Pinterest recommends that you “highlight any elements of novelty or newness to get people excited about your ideas.”

5. Stand out with beautiful visuals

According to Pinterest, the best performing pins have three things in common: They’re beautiful, interesting, and actionable. In that order.

Pinterest is first and foremost a visual platform, so make sure you use eye-catching images.

Here are a few Pinterest picture pointers:

  • Use high-resolution and high quality images.
  • Use lifestyle images, which tend to be more alluring than standard product shots, according to Pinterest.
  • Avoid images that are too busy.
  • Favour vertically-oriented photos over horizontal ones. A whopping 85% of users search Pinterest on mobile, which means vertical images have much higher impact.
  • Don’t make images too long, or they’ll be cut off. The ideal aspect ratio is 2:3 (600px wide x 900px high).
  • Consider showing multiple products in a single Pin. Pinterest finds that Pins with multiple products can appeal to different tastes and spark curiosity. It’s best to maintain a four-product limit per Pin so as not to overwhelm.
  • Try video! If you have the resources, short videos have the power to stand out among even the best photos. If you don’t, check out Hootsuite’s social video toolkit.

6. Include detailed descriptions

Your beautiful image may have captured attention, but to keep that attention you also need a stimulating caption. Go beyond short, single-sentence descriptions and provide information that would compel users to take a deeper interest in your brand.

Remember, the most effective Pin descriptions are interesting.

7. Add relevant keywords and hashtags

Pinterest is essentially a search engine, so your content should be optimized for discoverability. Make sure your descriptions are keyword-rich and include relevant hashtags so that you appear in relevant searches.

How to find the right keywords and hashtags:

  • Use guided search. Start by putting a few keywords in Pinterest’s search bar, and take note of the automatic suggestion.
  • Note the key word bubbles that appear in the search results header.
  • Look at the hashtag suggestions and usage stats as you add hashtags to your Pin descriptions.
  • Search a relevant hashtag, and look at the tags and keywords being used by Pinners using that hashtag.
  • Look at the trending hashtags in your category (only available on the mobile app).

8. Name Pinterest boards thoughtfully

Boards can also be optimized for search. Make sure your board names are specific and accurately describe their contents. Use appropriate keywords in the board name and description, and add relevant hashtags to the description, too. If you’re not sure which category to put your board in, look through the categories to see where yours fits in best.

9. Organize with board Sections

Pinterest recently added Sections to help organize boards. For example, if you have an expansive board category like Home Décor, you can now create separate sections for each room.

Doing this can add credibility to your brand and make it easier for prospective followers to navigate your content. Again, be descriptive and use keyword-rich language for your sections. 

10. Be positive and helpful

Entice followers by describing the benefits associated with your products or services. Positive sentiment goes a long way in showing how a Pin from your business can help [Pinners] in their lives. Get personal and use “you” or “your” in the copy too so that users know you’re talking to them.

11. Set up Rich Pins

Rich Pins add additional details to your Pin using metadata from your website.

There are four types of Rich Pins you can add to your account, including app, article, product, and recipe Pins. If your brand sells products, Rich Pins will display real-time price and availability details. Article pins are great for publishers or bloggers as they display a headline, author and story description.

12. Post consistently

The reach of content on Pinterest accrues over a longer period than it does on other platforms. Play the long game by publishing content consistently over consecutive months. According to Pinterest, this is the best way to grow an engaged audience.

13. Publish at the right time

Maximize your content’s reach by making sure you Pin at the right time. Most Pinning happens between noon and midnight, with 11:00 pm as the most active hour of the day.

14. Schedule Pins in advance

Since Pinterest is very often used for planning, it’s a good idea to stay ahead of the calendar. Pinterest recommends that brands share seasonal content up to 45 days before a holiday or event. Sometimes Pinners even plan three to four months in advance of events.

15. Hop on the holidays

Pinners are known to generate a flurry of activity as they get into the holiday spirit. Mother’s Day attracts more than six million users, pinning upwards of 12 million gift and celebration ideas each year. Christmas, of course, is always a major event, drawing 33 million Pinners and generating 566 million pins every year.

Get in on the holiday action by planning with Pinterest’s Possibilities Planner. Create on-brand holiday content and share it with relevant keywords and hashtags. Pinterest includes popular search terms for each event in the planner.

16. Use the Follow button

Make following your company easy with the Follow button. Install the button on your website, in newsletters, in email signatures, or really anywhere online that you think you might attract followers.

In other situations, you can also use the Pinterest P icon to promote your brand’s profile. Make sure to also link to Pinterest in the bios of your other social accounts.

17. Add the Save button to your website

You can also make your website visitors aware of your brand’s Pinterest presence with the Save button. With the Save button, visitors can also share any image from your website on Pinterest, making them ambassadors for your brand.

18. Verify your website

To make sure your profile picture shows up alongside the Pins users are saving from your website, you need to claim your site’s authenticity with Pinterest. Doing this will also provide website analytics, allowing you to get a better sense of what visitors are saving from your website.

19. Build a widget

Another way to integrate your Pinterest account with your website is with widgets. In addition to the Save and Follow button, you can embed Pins, showcase your profile, or display a board on your website. Website visitors who have Pinterest accounts will be more compelled to follow you after seeing these previews of your Pinterest content.

20. Connect offline with Pincodes

Much like QR codes, Pincodes are designed to help people find your company on Pinterest while offline. Pincodes can be added to business cards, brochures, print ads, packaging or any other merchandise. A quick scan with the Pinterest camera will bring them directly to your Pinterest profile, board, or pin.

21. Promote your Pins

If you have a social media budget to work with, Promoted Pins are a great way to increase exposure. Choose a Pin that’s already performing well and target it to reach new prospective followers. Your Promoted Pins will appear just like regular pins in the feeds of more Pinners.

22. Find your audience

Pinterest’s ad targeting capabilities allow you to find new audiences based on interests and keywords. It’s a great way to discover users who might be interested in your brand.

Actalike targeting will help find users that reflect the interests and behaviours of your most valuable customers.

Engagement targeting is a good way to connect with Pinners who have already engaged with your brand. Retargeting these users with a follow call-to-action may be what’s needed to forge the bond you’ve already been forming.

Don’t forget to search for pre-existing customer audiences, too. Brands can upload website visitor lists, newsletter subscriber lists and CRM lists to connect with pre-existing customers on the platform.

23. Run a Pinterest contest

Create a contest with a follow on Pinterest as an entry requirement. Consider creating a hashtag and a shareable image so participants can encourage more followers to join. Always make sure your rules of entry of clear and comply with Pinterest’s contest guidelines before getting started.

Here are key Pinterest guidelines to keep in mind:

  • Don’t require people to save a specific image.
  • Don’t allow more than one entry per person.
  • Don’t imply or suggest Pinterest sponsorship or endorsement.
  • Follow all relevant laws and regulations.

24. Test, evaluate, adjust, repeat.

Any good social media marketer knows that trial and error is a fundamental part of the job. Pinterest analytics offers several tools and actionable insights that help you see how your audience is engaging with your content.

Whether something is working or not, it’s always good practice to take a step back and evaluate why. After you’ve learned why something works, it will be easier to apply in the future.

Northern Lapwing

Northern Lapwing: Large, unique plover with black breast, face, crown, and long upright head plumes; back is green-tinged purple and copper. Belly and sides are white, uppertail is white with a black tip, and undertail coverts are rich rufous-orange. Wings are dark with white tips; legs are pink. Sexes are similar. Winter adult shows less black on face and has white edges on dark back feathers. Juvenile resembles winter adult but has fine spots on dark back, and shorter head plumes.

Range and Habitat

Northern Lapwing: This species is found in a wide variety of open areas with bare ground or low grasses. It is widespread in Europe and Asia; this bird occasionally wanders in the autumn to eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, extreme eastern Quebec, and the northeastern United States from Maine to Maryland.

Breeding and Nesting

Northern Lapwing: Breeds in a wide variety of open habitats ranging from wetlands to pastures and old fields. Lays four or five brown eggs with black markings that are primarily incubated by the female for 26 to 28 days. Chicks are independent soon after hatching but are guarded by one or both parents.

Foraging and Feeding

Northern Lapwing: Feeds in open fields and areas of bare ground, where it hunts for insects and small invertebrates by sight. Will run a few steps, pause and probe in ground, run a few steps.

Vocalization

Northern Lapwing: Call is a plaintive whistle “peewit.”

Similar Species

Northern Lapwing: Rare vagrant and unlikely to be confused with any species in North America.

Where and when to see them

Lapwings are found on farmland throughout the UK particularly in lowland areas of northern England, the Borders and eastern Scotland. In the breeding season prefer spring sown cereals, root crops, permanent unimproved pasture, meadows and fallow fields. They can also be found on wetlands with short vegetation. In winter they flock on pasture and ploughed fields. The highest known winter concentrations of lapwings are found at the Somerset Levels, Humber and Ribble estuaries, Breydon Water/Berney Marshes, the Wash and Morecambe Bay.

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Ultimate List of Get Paid to Blog Sites

 Are you looking for the best blogging sites that pay for your writing? You’re in the right place where you’ll find a HUGE list of sites where you’ll be getting paid to blog .

Finding the RIGHT sites is NOT easy and it takes a ton of time. 

Best Technology Sites for Getting Paid to Blog

Are you a tech nerd? Do you love writing tutorials related to programming languages such as Java, PHP etc? Or do you want to get paid for writing CSS tutorials? Here are few of the best technology sites that pay you for your tutorials along with the instructions on how to get paid to write for them.

1. Layout By Flywheel

It’s a daily online design publication which mostly talks about latest design trends, programming, coding related tutorials etc.

Topics ‘Layout By Flywheel’ cover:

  • CSS
  • Coding
  • Programming tutorials
  • Social media audits

What’s the procedure for getting paid to blog on their site?

Go through this link to write for them. Once it gets published not only you’ll get paid for your post but it will also get shared on their social media platforms and every now and then they take most favorite posts and turn them into ebooks.

2. Site Point

Site Point is one of the largest websites that usually creates content for web developers, designers and entrepreneurs.

Topics ‘Site Point’ cover:

  • HTML, CSS
  • Sass
  • Developer tools
  • Git, GitHub, and open source
  • Performance
  • Browser stats/trends
  • Task runners (Grunt, Gulp, etc.)

3. iPad AppStorm

iPad AppStorm is majorly a review site which talks mostly about everything related to the iPad including reviews, roundups, how-to posts and tutorials etc.

Topics ‘iPad AppStorm’ cover:

  • iPad apps
  • Reviews related to iPad products and apps
  • How to tips on iPad
  • iPad tutorials etc

What’s the procedure for getting paid to blog on their site?

You can use this page for more details. Or just go read their AppStorm writer’s guide where you’ll find out all the details. Once you’re done with it, you can simply email them at editor@appstorm.net with your post ideas.

If they accept your post ideas, you can start writing on your ideas and they’ll give you WordPress details and a link to a few WordPress instructions, so you can log in and write your article.

4. Envato Tuts+

Envato Tuts+ offers a ton of courses related to programming, design, apps etc where you can also teach people with your programming related tutorials.

Topics they cover:

  • PHP
  • Ruby
  • Server-side JavaScript
  • HTML5
  • CSS
  • Document-based database systems

5. Linode

Linode is a great platform that talks about local tech and entrepreneurial resources which also pay you great paychecks if you write top notch tutorials for them.

Here’s the list of topic ideas that you can write currently.

  • Manage a Docker Cluster with Kubernetes
  • Introduction to the Kubernetes Scheduler
  • Build and Manage Applications with Dokku

6. PXL Eyes

They mainly talk about photography, graphics and art in general. Every day new photoshop and photography contests are posted to compete in. They have one weekly drawing contest and one weekly 3D contest along with paid writing gigs.

Topics they cover:

  • Photography
  • Graphics and
  • Art

7. Tutorial Board

It covers all the tutorials related computer graphics related things like Photoshop, Maya, After effect etc.

Topics they cover:

  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Adobe After Effect
  • Autodesk Maya or
  • Any other industry standard CG software

8. Compose

It’s a cloud database platform which is run by IBM where you’ll find content related to cloud hosted, fully managed databases etc.

Topics they cover:

  • Anything related to databases (management, creation etc)
  • Tutorials on Deploy MongoDB, Elasticsearch, Redis, PostgreSQL and other databases

9. Indeni Ltd

Indeni is a great site if you want to get paid for tutorials that are related to technology, software, architecture advice etc.

Topics they cover:

  • Blue Coat
  • Check Point
  • Cisco ASA/PIX
  • Fortinet
  • Juniper SSG/ISG/SRX
  • Palo Alto Networks (PAN)
  • Sonicwall

10. Digital Ocean

It’s one of the best online platforms that has a ton of comprehensive collection of tutorials about open-source software deployment, configuration, and development which also gives you an opportunity to earn money by contributing to their site.

Topics they cover:

  • Linux
  • Programming
  • Coding etc

Best Finance Websites That Pay You for Posts

Not everyone can afford a personal finance advisor. Luckily, there’s a lot of great blogs that talk about finance, savings, investments etc. If you think you’re good at writing finance related articles or if you’ve vast finance, investment or savings related wisdom, here are some of the best finance websites that pay you great amounts for your posts.

1. Elite Personal Finance

It is one of the most trusted finance blogs on the web that mostly talks about personal finance, loans, business, making money online etc. They spend more than $30,000/year in high quality content so you’ll have a great chance of getting paid to write on their site.

Topics they cover:

  • Personal Finance
  • Business
  • Make Money Online
  • Save Money
  • Loans
  • Credit Cards
  • Identity Theft
  • Credit Report

2. Doctor of Credit

They talk about credit cards, bank accounts, card bonuses, discounts, savings etc on their site to educate their audience better about credit cards and finance.

Topics they cover:

  • Free money opportunities
  • Bank sign up bonuses
  • Credit sign up bonuses
  • Credit score information

3. Money Pantry

It offers excellent personal finance tips to help you make and save more money so you can become debt free. You can also find 100s of money making ideas on their finance website.

Topics they cover:

  • Saving money
  • Earnings
  • Investment
  • Finance related etc

Best Blogging/Marketing Sites to Get Paid to Write

Do you have blogging experience? Want to write for blogging and marketing sites and get paid for it? Here’s a list of all the best blogging and marketing related sites that pay you good amount for publishing your content on their sites.

1. Income Diary

It is one of the incredible blogs that has great amount of quality articles which is run by Michael Dunlop, mostly you’ll find blogging, marketing, SEO related stuff which is read by thousands of readers every day.

income diary blog

Topics they cover:

Here are some of the topics that you can write on their site.

  • Creating content
  • Interviews with experts
  • Buying/Selling websites
  • Driving traffic to websites
  • SEO
  • Creating awesome websites
  • Blog design features and functionality
  • Creating information & digital products
  • Making money from websites, blogs and forums
  • Affiliate marketing and selling things through websites as an affiliate
  • Social media

2. Webloggerz.com

It’s a WordPress tutorial based blog where you’ll find a ton of information, tutorials, guides and reviews related to WordPress.

You can also mention in your email that you want to get compensation for your article along with your price per words.

Topics they cover:

  • Only related to WordPress
  • WordPress Guides
  • WordPress Reviews
  • WordPress Plugins or WordPress Tutorials
  • What’s the procedure for getting paid to blog on their site?

You can find more information from here where you’ll find their guidelines, email address and other specific details about how you can get paid to write for their site. After your post is accepted, it may take upto minimum 4 days and maximum 2 weeks for your post to get published depending upon the post queues.

Best Travel Sites That Pay for Your Posts

There are a ton of bloggers who travel around the world and get paid on the go. Literally they make money by travelling around the world. Also there are a huge number of travel websites that pay you for writing posts on their sites and here’s a compilation of some of the best travel sites that pay for your content.

1. Great Escape Publishing

It talks about everything from traveling on a budget to making money online while travel blogging.

Topics they cover:

  • Travel blogging
  • Photography
  • Running your own tours tips etc

2. Nevada Magazine

Nevada Magazine is the official state tourism magazine and most of their readers are active travellers so you get a chance to write for a high quality magazine where you can find enthusiastic audience who read your published content.

Topics they cover:

  • Related to Nevada
  • You can also pick stories for Nevada’s larger cities, such as Elko, Tonopah, Fallon, Reno, Las Vegas, etc
  • You can pick stories for Nevada’s rural towns and regions

3. Transitions Abroad

It is one of the widely read travel sites which gets over 8,000,000+ visitors yearly so you get a great exposure for your content along with payment.

Topics they cover:

  • Adventure travel
  • Budget travel
  • Family travel
  • Festival travel etc

4. Desert USA

It’s a regional publication which focuses on travel, wildlife, geology, desert lore, cultural and natural history related to the North American Desert regions.

Topics they cover:

  • Travel
  • Wildlife
  • Geology, desert lore, cultural and
  • Natural history related to the North American Desert regions

5. BootsnAll

It’s a great travel blog that talks about traveling on budget by providing a ton of information about tutorials, coupons, travel etc.

Topics they cover:

  • Travel blogging
  • Travel budget
  • Trips etc

Best Paid Blogging Sites In Writing Niche

Are you a writer and looking for some of the best writing related sites where you can enhance your writing skills by also getting paid for your blog posts? Here are some of the best writing related sites that pay for posts.

1. Funds for Writers

Funds for Writers is a great online resource for writers which has over 40,000 subscribers where you’ll find a lot of articles about getting paid to write. They also run writing contents where they usually pay $200 for winners.

Topics they cover:

Here are some of the topics you can cover to get published on their site.

  • Tips on winning contests
  • Unique ways to develop an income with words
  • Success stories with ideas for others
  • Talk about profitable business practices related to writing
  • Affiliate marketing
  • Grant success stories
  • Nonprofit partnerships
  • Unique markets (knitty, Amazon, or any niche that’s unique for their audience)
  • Unusual writing income ideas
  • Anything to help a writer make a dollar penning words

2. Women On Writing

This is a great blog on writing that’s been running since 2006 (over a decade) and has some outstanding contents around writing, getting paid online, interviews etc.

Topics they cover:

  • Writing
  • Getting paid
  • Making money online etc

3. Make A Living Writing

It is run by veteran female blogger Carol who’s on a mission to help writers all around the world to make more money with their writing online. It’s also one of the best online platforms where you’ll find incredible content around getting paid to write online.

Topics they cover:

  • Online sites that pay
  • Productivity
  • Blogging
  • Social media marketing success stories etc

4. Long Reads

It’s a great online platform that mostly contains long form of articles through the world which was founded in 2009 and is dedicated to helping people find and share the best storytelling in the world.

Topics they cover:

  • Interviews
  • Personal essays
  • Research
  • Writing etc

5. SFWA

SFWA is known as Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America which is an organization for published authors and industry professionals in the fields of science fiction, fantasy, and related genres and founded in 1965.

Topics they cover:

  • Science fiction
  • Non fiction
  • Fantasy etc

6. Writer’s Weekly

It is one of the oldest and most respected sites on freelance writing. It has been published continuously since 1997.

Topics they cover:

  • Corporate writing
  • Writing for markets of a specific genre (with links to those markets’ guidelines, and information on how much they pay)
  • Unique book marketing ideas

General Topic Sites That Pay for Your Posts

Here’s a list of some of the general topic sites that pay for your posts and these sites usually include all kinds of topics ranging from humour to parenting to general advice.

1. Back2College

It is a news and information resource for adult re-entry students pursuing professional development or an advanced degree. They usually talk about obtaining financial aid, on campus and online education, finding the right program, graduate school, or attaining academic excellence etc.

Topics they cover:

  • Obtaining financial aid
  • On campus and online education
  • Finding the right program
  • Graduate school
  • Attaining academic excellence etc

2. A Fine Parent

It’s an online community created for parents that gives you the tools and awareness to become an awesome parent.

Topics they cover:

  • Parenting
  • Relationships
  • Mindset etc

3. Knitty

It’s one of the longest-running free knitting online magazines on the web where you can enjoy their huge selection of free knitting patterns and tutorials.

Topics they cover:

  • Everything that’s related to knitting
  • What’s the procedure for getting paid to blog on their site?

Find more information from this page.

4. List Verse

List Verse is one of the widely used online platform that serves over 30 million pages a month to more than eight million readers.

Topics they cover:

  • Sports
  • Self-help
  • Personal stories or gaming

5. Model Railroad Hobbyist

It’s an online magazine that publishes scale model railroading content in its online magazine that’s forever free to model railroaders.

Here’s the breakdown of their standard rates.

$10 per landscape spread of text (about 350 words)

$10 per photo

$25 per virtual reality image (3D click-n-spin)

$25 per minute of video or audio (5 min max – contact us if more because we have size limits)

Topics they cover:

6. Cracked

It is one of the most popular humor websites with over 300 million monthly page views and the site was founded in 2005 sharing amazing news, facts and articles.

Topics they cover:

  • Humour
  • Philosophy
  • Life advice etc

7. BGD blog

This is a widely popular blog that talks about racism, humour, comics etc which is featured over 300 diverse writers from 3 countries and reached over 7 million readers from every populated continent on earth.

Topics they cover:

  • Comics
  • Humour etc

You definitely need to know some proven tips if you want your posts or paid posts to get accepted on those sites (especially when you’re new to blogging). So here are some of the amazing tips that you can use to get your posts get published easily.

Lear how to create exceptional content within less time

One of the major things that you need when you’re looking for ways to get paid to blog and write for other sites is that you need to learn the art of creating quality content quickly.

Here are some of the quick tips that can help you do that.

  • Break up your topic. Use Google Docs for writing (as it will save your content offline too which will be really helpful if there’s any sudden wifi issues while writing). Break your main topic into various sub headings. This makes it really easier for you to create even longer blog posts really fast.
  • Make it appealing. Use screenshots, graphs, images to make your content look appealing. Add data points, research references and give credits to the original source. This makes your post both compelling and engaging.
  • Pick one topic per post instead of trying to cover too many topics.
  • Show, Don’t Tell
  • One of the most common mistakes most people make while writing posts or paid posts on these paid blogging sites which are mentioned above is: they give random advice. They tell instead of showing. I’ll explain about it briefly.

It’s easier to say “SEO audits” are really important to boost SEO.

But what’s the use for your audience who read your posts or content? Instead of telling them, show them how “SEO audits” can be done with a tutorial or illustrations. That way your content gets more chances to get approved on any blog where you want to write paid posts.

Go through their guidelines

Each and every site that pays for your tutorials, content or posts provide particular guidelines that one should follow to contribute to their sites.

As a writer, it’s your #1 job to go through and read each every guideline they posted on their site before even coming up with an idea or writing paid posts for them (if you want to improve your chances of getting your posts on these get paid for blogging sites accepted).

Also make sure to ignore the sites that don’t have a “write guidelines” instructions or page because most of them are either outdated or fake.

So avoid them at all costs if you want to save your time. If you’re linking to someone else or using images from another source, make sure to give credits to them (by linking to the original sources). That way everyone’s happy!

Content Length is important

Did you know that 2000+ word blog posts work extremely well in terms of social shares and search rankings? Yes, long form of content works really well. So make sure to write in-depth articles when you’re trying to land on other blogs with your posts.

Yes, it takes time to create long form of articles but once you start getting better results, you’ll be doing more of it. Also learn to write compelling headlines by using free tools like Portent headline generator.

Don’t sell your products or services

One most important thing you need to remember while writing posts or paid posting is that don’t try to sell your products or services. It’s bad. Self promotion can hurt your reputation as a blogger or writer.

If someone’s paying for your posts, you get money along with recognition, additional traffic, applause for your content from their audience (if your content is good). So why self-promote to spoil your brand?

Instead of promoting yourself, your brand or products, try to add a link to your personal blog or website. Then, you can do all the selling from your site (if you want). That way your content gets more attention without actually looking like a sales guy.

Research, research, research

Writing high quality articles becomes so much easier if you’re doing proper prior research. Do research before you write even a single word. Come up all the top 10 posts that are ranking for the topics you want to cover.

Make a list of all the great tips and tricks that you find in those top performing articles so that you can beat those sites with your content. Also make sure to give credits to the best performing relevant content so that you can ask for a link back or social shares once your content goes live.

3 Networking Tips for Writers And Bloggers

If you want to use the above mentioned paid blogging sites to earn more money from your writing, here are a few rocking tips fo ryou.

Don’t make the mistake of running after money. It sucks and you’ll find it really hard to make money in the process.

It’s the reason why you need to start networking with other bloggers and writers so you can achieve more. Here are few reasons why you should give #1 priority to networking before you even jump into paid freelance writing or paid posting.

  • Helps you build a brand for yourself
  • Helps you build strong relationships with other bloggers and writers
  • Helps you make extra income for your writing

That being said, here are 3 quick networking tips for every blogger and writer who wants to grow their income and brand online.

1. What’s in it for them?

Give, give, give, give before you ask anyone a favour. That’s how you can be a top guy in your industry. People who are starting out often make a mistake of asking for help blindly.

Why should someone help you when they don’t you? You can drastically improve your chances of getting help from someone when you offer help first. That’s how reciprocity works. They are also obliged to help you when they see you’re offering value or help to them in the first place.

So in what ways can you help other bloggers or writers?

Well, if you’re a designer, you can offer them web design for free. If you’re a logo designer, send them mind boggling logo ideas for free.

  • You can offer to host events for them
  • You can review their books
  • You can buy their products or services

And so on..

2. Use the power of social media

Social media provides you the biggest platform to meet your favorite authors, writers, experts and top bloggers no matter what niche you’re in.

Make use of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc to connect with other bloggers. Retweet their stuff, follow them on Facebook and talk about them to start building relationships with them.

If possible try to do interviews with them (webinars, podcasts, video interviews or text interviews) as it will not only increases your relationships with them but also your website traffic.

3. Do it for free in the beginning

When you’re starting out, you’ll have zero online reputation with minimum writing or selling skills as a blogger. So why not offer free posts in the beginning? It will give you enough confidence and you can easily hone your writing skills.

Once you get the momentum, you can start hitting the blogs that provide paid to blog opportunities (the list is always in your hands in the form of this post). You’re doing it for free to build better relationships with other bloggers and writers.

Once you have enough followers and get to know top bloggers in your industry, it becomes really easy for you to get you posts accepted on paid sites that provide you payment for your content.

Goldcrest

The goldcrest is the smallest bird in Europe, weighing on average just 5-7g (1/4 oz). With a characteristic dull olive-green top and white underbelly, the goldcrest is famed for the gold stripe on its crown, giving it a somewhat striking appearance. It is very similar to the Firecrest bird. Males and females differ only slightly. On the male, the crest stripe is orange; on the female, it is yellow.

Goldcrests are very quick birds, which makes them hard to spot. They tend to scurry from place to place, and do so on branches and around tree trunks. They can be distinguished by their high pitched calls. 

Goldcrest Feeding

Goldcrests feed mainly on insects and spiders, and as such are ground feeders. It is rare for goldcrests to venture into the garden and feed from bird tables; however, on very cold winter days, goldcrests can be found feeding from bird tables. It is worth bearing this in mind if you want to feed goldcrests from your garden table. Bread crumbs and small bits of cheese will attract them to the table on these cold winter days.

Goldcrest Breeding & Nesting

Goldcrest nests can often be located on conifer branches and buried among ivy. Typically, the goldcrest nest is made of moss, spiders webbing and lichens and is usually found to be lined with feathers.

Goldcrests eggs are a dull-white colour with light brown speckles. Breeding begins in late April; the incubation period lasts between 14-17 days and consequently there are around 19 fledge days. Both parents help to feed the young.

Simple Tips for Boosting Sales on Amazon

As a retailer, it is important to meet customers on their preferred shopping channels and to form strategies around boosting your sales on those channels. 

Since 2016, ecommerce has accounted for around 50% of all growth in retail and is projected to continue this growth in upcoming years. Perhaps what’s most important for a retailer to note is that of all the ecommerce sales each year, nearly half of those sales take place on Amazon. In 2018, 49.1% of all ecommerce sales took place on Amazon, which is more than the next nine largest e-commerce channels combined.

This means that a key focus for retailers moving forward should be figuring out how to increase sales on Amazon. The following guide provides nine simple tips for you to do just that and to put together a profit-boosting Amazon sales strategy.

1. Resource

If you want to increase your sales on Amazon, you need to differentiate your brand from competitors, boost product awareness, and attract your target customers. One way to do this is to leverage yourself and your brand as a resource.

Online consumers spend a lot of time researching before making a purchasing decision. If your brand provides consumers with the information they are looking for, you will build their trust in your brand and ultimately become a more successful Amazon retailer. Here are five steps on how to turn your website into that trusted resource:

Step 1: Think about the value you can provide to others. Think about the knowledge you have about your product and industry that customers would benefit from knowing. Next, create content that educates your customers in those areas.

Step 2: Create a place to publish and share that value. Set up a blog on your website and start sharing your knowledge with weekly blog posts. The focus of these blog posts should be around providing answers to questions your customers frequently have about your industry or product.

Step 3: Start sending traffic to the content you create. To increase the number of people who see the blog posts you create, try running Facebook ads, targeting useful keywords, and sharing your content with any other social media channels your users frequently use.

Step 4: Capture email addresses and start nurturing leads through email marketing campaigns. Create tools and incentives for people to provide their email addresses before or after reading your blog posts. This way you can generate more leads and start an email marketing campaign to move those leads further down your sales funnel.

Step 5: Include a compelling call to action in each blog post or email. Guide readers directly to your product listings and brand page on Amazon by crafting compelling messages around why they should find you on Amazon and how.

2. Influencers

When consumers research a product, they often look for reviews from trusted sources such as social media influencers, industry leaders, and even celebrities who use the product. In one study of a large group of consumers, 49% of respondents said they take recommendations and advice from influencers when deciding what products to buy. That being said, another great way to increase your sales on Amazon is to connect with and leverage the help of well-known influencers in your industry.

With over 42 million followers, LeBron James is a huge influencer in the athletic apparel industry. Nike leverages LeBron’s fame and influence to reach a larger audience than they could on their own. However, not all influencers are as famous and inaccessible as LeBron James. Any business owner can connect with relevant influencers using one of these three approaches:

Approach #1: You can work with influencers through the Amazon Associates or Amazon Influencer Programs.

Approach #2: You can handpick influencers and reach out to them manually via email and offer to pay them for creating and sharing sponsored content about your products. For advice on selecting the right influencer for your brand and collaborating with them, check out this guide.

Approach #3: You can connect with influencers on different social media channels using influencer network tools like Shoutcart, Grapevine, or FameBit.

3. Try a Sponsored Products Campaign

As with many other channels, you can find more success on Amazon if you’re willing to pay to play. Creating Sponsored Products ads on Amazon can help make your brand more visible than your competitors. Here’s how it works:

You choose the products you want to advertise, how much you’re willing to spend per click on each ad, and any keywords that you’d like to connect to your product.

Amazon will create ads that appear in high-visibility spots like the first page of a shopper’s search results or at the bottom of a product details page.

Wilson Sporting Goods, for example, paid for an advertisement to appear at the top of a search results page for anyone who searches for ‘basketball shoes.’

For more information on how to get started, check out this guide from CPC Strategy. The guide contains information about the different types of Sponsored Products campaigns you can run through Amazon as well as tips on how to ensure you get your money’s worth from them.

4. Drive More Reviews

Getting a lot of good reviews from your customers and making those reviews visible to potential buyers is a great way to build trust in your brand and by extension increase sales on Amazon. In order to accomplish this, you need a strategy for getting more customers to leave authentic and helpful reviews on your product listing pages.

If you try to influence the tone of the review too much, the reviews will come off as disingenuous. You are better off trying to get a high volume of reviews so that potential customers get a full and accurate picture of your offerings.

This review about the Amazon Echo Dot, for example, is not a full endorsement of the product, but it provides the customer with a thorough and honest review, so buyers know exactly what they are getting and can trust their purchasing decisions more. Here a few ideas on how to get customers to leave reviews:

Idea #1: Follow up with customers via email. After you have received notification that your product was delivered to its intended recipient, follow up over email and ask if they’d be willing to write a review about your product on the Amazon listing page. Make sure to let the customer know how important their review will be to your business.

Idea #2: Include a note in the package you send your products in. You can also include a handwritten note in your package that thanks customers for their business and asks them to write a review about your product on the Amazon listing page. It’s a small gesture, but you’ll find that people respond quite positively to handwritten notes.

Idea #3: Remind people on social media. Every so often, invite your social media followers to review your products on Amazon. Don’t offer any incentives, just explain why reviews matter and why you’re asking for help. Transparency is what will make this tactic successful, so just be honest and open with people.

5. Optimize for Search

Getting your products to show up closer to the top of a shopper’s search results can be a significant leg up on your competition. Figuring out how to optimize your product listings for Amazon’s search engine then is essential for increasing your sales on Amazon.

When it comes to Amazon search optimization, there is a lot to learn. The following blog posts are great places to start learning about optimizing your Amazon listings:

Once you’ve spent some time learning about Amazon search optimization, start updating some of your product listings with relevant keywords and SEO features. Make note of performance before you make any changes — you want to be able to track your progress and success along the way.

6. Create an Unmatched Buying Experience

As is the case with other selling channels, on Amazon, creating a great buying experience for your customers is a way to stand out amongst competitors. While there is no single equation for creating a winning buying experience, there are a number of things that you can do to help build your reputation and make people more likely to buy from you than from a competitor. Here are a few ideas:

  • Be transparent: Customers should never have to guess about the quality of your products, how they were made or manufactured, what your shipping and return policies are, etc. Help your customers feel like they know and can trust you as a brand.
  • Share your story: Help people understand who you are and why your business exists. Share stories about your products, your partners, the manufacturing process, your employees, etc., to build trust and excitement with your target audience.
  • Personalized communication: Engaging with your customers on social media, sending personalized email follow-ups, and even including handwritten thank you letters in the packages you send can go a long way toward differentiating yourself from competitors and building positive relationships with customers.

Sharing a story about your founders and/or company values helps buyers build a more personal connection with the brand they are buying from. Instead of competing with businesses on price alone, make an effort to build a personal connection with your customer at the buying stage, so your company values and culture can become a competitive advantage.

7. Write Winning Product Descriptions

If people are visiting your listing pages but not following through with a purchase, it could be because your copywriting and language are not compelling enough to get people to take action. Making small changes to your product descriptions can have a huge impact on the amount of shoppers you convert to customers and subsequently increase your sales on Amazon.

If you’re not sure how to approach product descriptions, spend some time going through these helpful resources:

A word of caution: try not to change too much at once. Start small by testing different words in your headings and body, but don’t completely rewrite your product descriptions. Doing so could actually have the opposite effect on your sales.

8. Leverage Video

In addition to reaching customers through multiple channels, it is also important to reach them through multiple mediums. Supplementing your written content with video content, for example, is a great way to increase sales on Amazon. When you use video effectively, it helps your brand stand out, builds a more personal relationship with customers, and also leads to increased sales. One study on ecommerce sellers found that using product videos increased sales for online stores by 144%.

The following types of videos are particularly useful for helping ecommerce companies optimize their listings:

1. Product Promotion Videos: Highlight a specific product and its features.

2. Production Videos: Show how your products are made.

3. Customer Story Videos: Film a customer testimonial or case study.

4. Brand Storytelling Videos: Interview the company founder or employees.

5. Educational Videos: Show customers how to use a product or how to fix a problem a lot of them have.

6. Live Videos: Let customers interact with an event in real time instead of watching retroactively.

Giving shoppers the option to read about a product or learn about it through video makes your content less likely to be skimmed over or ignored.

9. Find the Products That Sell Best, Then Double Down

Finally, the best way to boost sales on Amazon is to figure out which of your products are selling best and double down on them. If you’re struggling to gain traction, try reducing the number of items you’re selling and create a more targeted marketing strategy that you can use for just a few of your products. If you start seeing the kind of numbers you’re looking for after executing on your strategy, you can slowly introduce more items again and develop new strategies based on what you’ve learned along the way.

Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild

 Benjamin Myer Fogle,  an English broadcaster, writer and adventurer, best known for his presenting roles with British television channels Channel 5, BBC and ITV.

I come to know about him by his new show on BBC Earth called Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild, that  follow the stories of people living in the wild and isolated from society.

I have watched three different episode of this show, and let me tell you , this show is made for those people who are finding meaning of life, in search of peaceful life, want to do something better and different in life and most important want to spent time with nature.

So every time when Ben fogle show some good scenes with nature , about particular persons achievement , hurdles and after that accomplishment and at the same time show that still there much more awaiting for them. This is good but meaningful show because its not sum up with good things only but focus on difficult parameter too. So its more about how you can find balance between problem and solution because this is life and you will never satisfy with what you have . you can understand as ” Life must go on” concept.

So i cant stop myself to search some details about show and yes about host too. Im the kind of person who is always fascinated with the people and specially about their profession , when its give new life lesson and most important motivate you to keep going. 

The program shows, in a series of unconnected episodes, Ben Fogle meeting people who have adopted ‘alternative’ lifestyles that are primarily ‘off the grid’ in some of the more remote locations on earth. Fogle hosted a spin-off series in 2015 called New Lives In The Wild UK with families in British locations, while 2020’s Ben Fogle: Make A New Life In The Country is of a similar premise. As of 2022, the UK-based program and Return to the Wild spin-offs have been brought under the main New Lives in the Wild name in the press, on EPGs and My5, with these episodes not being part of a separate series.

The series follows adventurer Ben Fogle as he meets people who have given up the rat race to live a simpler life in remote corners of the globe, often without modern amenities. In each episode, Ben immerses himself in their lives to explore their motivations and highs and lows whilst living in tough and harsh conditions in the wild.

So it just three episodes till today and i start dreaming that what possibilists are there for me to follow such path but finally to have a simpler life. Life where you can stay in touch with nature and specially stay away from those amenities those things which somehow at last making your life miserable . 

Every episodes focus on inner peace that may be its possible that they have go out of path but at least they make a step for better future . even they focus that they should do something productive so every person on this earth can feel it and get benefited . 

What i can sum up from all those three episodes is that nature is the one which can help you to heal from any problem. That is the reason after every some hectic schedule people wants to spent some time with mountain and trees etc. So if we are taking from nature we should workout something to return as well . 

Nature is the one which also help you to learn new things. Last episode was about a couple that processed  their own charcoal . And to safe the forest as they work in open place so its there duty to work alternatively  Than at the same time they focus to develop new trees and forest as well.

There first priority is that nature does not loose its real identity. 

Its never matter that where you are living , with whom you are spending your life but what is more important that you wont loose your happiness.

Struggle are everywhere , difficulties would be always there if you stay alone or with family but in that process of living you should not force to change yourself.

Always be real and stay connected to the roots to nature.

Thanku Maa

Today while i was working on my laptop , my mother handover me a newspaper and focus on specific column and told me to read it once. My mother is  my strong pillar support and i dont even remember that  she ever abate me to do or not to do something.

  Your life becomes easy when you have at least one person, whom with you have full surety that to this one person you dont have to explain anything , and thats my mother. Touch wood , our bonding is like that where we can understand things with eye connection . 

 She never pressurized me for my studies, job expectation and my living style. I always have freedom to do anything in life specially which my heart accept. So today when she handed me this newspaper ,at first i was surprised .

 She mention that , ” this specific column is bit confusing for her so she need my help to better understand it.”

So i said ok , ” no problem but after some time, as i was busy at that time”.

And whole day passed with work environment, around 5:45 in evening when i tried to get some fresh air , i caught this newspaper and read that column , for which my mom is saying.

So this is ” Rajasthan Patrika – Wednesday MOTHERS day ” specials addition.   

And that particular column is of  Female writer / poetess  Mrs Pratibha Katiyar .

लाडो मेरी …..

First let me tell you after reading this whole post  of writer , my eyes become teary . My mom  who always stand by my side , and tell me to experience new things . Specially when i see my relatives and society than i get idea that its definitely difficult situation when you take responsibility to help your daughter to accomplish all of her dream.  

  This poetess dedicate this post to her daughter so basically my mom who cant express her feelings directly, wants me to read it and specially to feel the love and affection she have for me.

So very first Thanks and apologies at the same time to poetess Pratibha Katiyar , if i make any mistake understanding her article. But im writing here thanks note by considering her and my mother.

Its begin with ….  When she says that my dear daughter you become 18 now and i can see that you are now friend of butterflies . She can see courage like sky in her cute little one daugher eyes. This view of your eyes is so beautiful that she want whole world to be as beautiful to her daughter eyes 


She mention that those were the days when you have number of question in your mind and i always replied you with that i will answer you on right time. And now i feel that correct time is here but what i can see that now you dont have any questions left with in your mind.


The poetess mention that every person in this world should have some patience in his lifestyle. We all have puzzled life and so that we have number question in our mind and at the same time we want answer to all our question but this is not the way to deal with life.  


But we should practice do to live with all those questions. At the same time and keeping busy ourselves in growing new questions.  Because some time to those we are treating as question is not a question. Question is something else and we wasted our time on wrong path . 


Actually question are the reason why we living. These question needed for our existence and survival . Sometime these questions itself help us to find answer . Answer grows like new seeds between our questions. 


My dearest daughter , possibilities is very beautiful word which get its beauty from courage. I am happy that you  are aware with this concept. Those seeds of possibilities which we sowed together , are now visible in your eyes. 


Your eyes with full of dream , makes this world more beautiful place for everyone. I know that the way you gave me new things, the way you give new view points to see the world. Even whole world is waiting for same things.
Now when the first time when you are going away from me, than how many things of ” First time” comes near to you. The very first time you will realize  whole sky is on your palm. 


You will get to know about facts of flowers laugh that how they get courage and how they feel in  strong light of sun. 


First time you will fall down and get up at own  and specially you will learn new ways so you can be safe from those new hurdles you will about to face. The very first time you will find yourself to be covered with white bubbles. Same like this , i  to experienced in my whole life. The first time i will see your departure and eagerly waiting for your arrival as well. I want to kiss your palm and your forehead but i am feeling helpless as im unable to do so.


You can walk in future with full of happiness to accomplish your dreams  without any pressure of proving anyone else. Away from all burden with all of near your heart and with top priority to making yourself happy.

When i read this whole post i feel so connected, because this is how i got guidance from my own mother. And im so amazed that  with this world full of strict limitation to daughters there is someone who is giving them beautiful life.

  The Mother..

Thanku maa , my first teacher . You gave me this beautiful life and specially gave me wings to fulfill all my dreams. I am glad that you gave me different perception from this whole world , where i can breath without any burden and stress.

And i promise that just like you , i will try to make this place better for each and every daughter. 

Variation wizard on Amazon Listing

 Not all customers will have the same preferences when shopping on Amazon. Some may prefer a particular color over another or require a different size. This is where Amazon product listing variations, or parent-child listings, come into play. 

Adding variations to your listings can significantly improve your customer’s experience. By providing customers with various buying options in one place, you are making it much easier for them to find what they’re looking for on your listing instead of browsing through the crowded search results.

This can help increase your product discoverability and conversions. 

What is a listing variation?

In simple terms, variations are multiple related products available for sale under one listing. This means you can offer multiple sizes and/or colors of a shirt, different flavors of pet food, etc.

According to Amazon, a listing variation relationship consists of three components: 

1. Parent ASIN

The “parent” listing acts as the holding place for the variants and is a non-buyable entity (for example, a t-shirt).

2. Child ASIN(s)

“Child” ASINs are the actual variants of the parent which you can purchase. You can have multiple children under one related parent listing (for example, a small, blue, short sleeve t-shirt).

3. Variation theme

The variation theme is the type of variation and defines how related products differ from each other. Examples of different variation themes are size, color, flavor, etc. 

You may only use one variation theme per listing, but in certain categories, there are themes that combine two variations. 

For example, if you want to sell a t-shirt in multiple colors and sizes, you would use the ‘SizeColor’ variation theme, which would allow you to offer multiple sizes and colors on one listing. With this variation theme, you can always go back and add/remove variations if needed. In the example below, there are four variations:

  • Small blue t-shirt
  • Medium blue t-shirt
  • Small green t-shirt
  • Medium green t-shirt

If you offer more colors or size options down the line, you can easily add to this variation family.

Here is what the variation looks like on a clothing listing:

This seller used the ‘ColorSize’ theme for their listing. As you can see, there is a drop-down menu to choose the size and below that is where you can easily choose the color you prefer. 

The concept of a parent-child listing is simple, but actually creating a variation listing or adding variations to your existing listings can be a confusing topic for some. 

In this post, we’ll provide you with everything you need to know to properly set up and optimize your Amazon product variations. 

What are the benefits of listing variations?

Creating a brand new variation listing or adding a variation to an existing listing can be very beneficial to your overall selling strategy on Amazon. 

Increase conversions

The biggest benefit to adding a listing variation is that customers have multiple options available to them immediately without having to click in and out of multiple product listings to find the size/color/flavor etc. they’re looking for. This increases conversions. 

Increases discoverability for each child listing

Pair low-performing or brand new products with higher-performing products to increase the discoverability of the new or poor-performing products. For example, say you launch a new cat food flavor. Instead of creating a brand new listing without reviews, you add your new flavored product as a variation to an already established cat food listing.

Combines reviews for each child listing

No matter which variation your customer purchases, reviews of the variations will be cumulative and all will be listed under the same parent listing. Going back to the previous example, this is especially powerful when adding a brand new variation to an existing listing with reviews. 

Combined sales history

Each sale that has taken place on your parent-child listing, no matter the variation, will go towards the overall sales history of that listing. This will help increase your organic search ranking as well as your overall Best Sellers Rank.

How to create your variation listings

First, not every category will allow you to create variations so please make sure to double-check before deciding you want to sell multiple variations of a product. 

Typical categories that allow variations include Toys & Games, Sports & Outdoors, Grocery, Health & Beauty, Pet Supplies, Clothing, and Accessories & Shoes.

1. Creating a brand new listing variation

There are two ways you can create a brand new listing/parent-child listing on Amazon. You can do it manually through Seller Central or you can fill in and upload an inventory file.

In your Seller Central dashboard hover over ‘Inventory’ and then click ‘Add a Product.’

Next, click on ‘I’m adding a product not sold on Amazon.’

In this section, you can either browse through the categories to find your product or scroll down to the search function. Once you’ve found it, select your matching category.  On this next page, you will just fill out the ‘Product Name’ (title), ‘Brand’, and ‘Manufacturer’ sections. Since you will be adding multiple variations, leave ‘Product ID’ blank.

After you fill in the ‘Vital Info’ section, click on the ‘Variations’ tab and select your ‘Variation Theme.’ Remember the theme will be the type of variation your product is. For this example, I chose ‘Color Name’ since my product will only vary in color.

Enter in all the colors you will be selling and click on ‘Add Variations.’

Then, enter the product ID, product ID type, condition, price, and quantity. (If selling FBA, make the quantity zero.)

After you enter all the required information, you can click ‘Save & Finish.’ After about 15 minutes, your parent-child listing will be in your ‘Manage Inventory’ section!

And that’s all it takes to create a brand new variation listing from scratch.

2. Creating variations using an inventory file

Alternatively, some sellers suggest using an inventory file so you can easily update, delete, or add to it as needed.  If you would like to create a parent-child listing using an inventory file.

To start, in your Seller Central dashboard, hover over ‘Inventory’ and then click on ‘Add Products via Upload.’

Next, enter in your product, chose the correct category, then click on ‘Generate Template.’

The template will look something like this:

As you can see at the bottom of the spreadsheet, there are various tabs. Fill in all of your product information in the ‘Template’ tab. Amazon provides you with a lot of supporting information to ensure you fill out the template correctly.

Filling out the inventory file can be a daunting task, but just take your time and follow the instructions so no errors pop up when you upload. We suggest clicking the ‘Example’ tab to see how you should enter variation information. 

When you look under “Example 2” in the file, Amazon states this regarding parent-child relationships:

“This is an example of a “parent” with two “children.”  The parent (the one listed in the first row of this example) is not a sellable product; it is a description of a set of products.  

“Note: don’t enter a size, color, count, type, parent sku, relationship type, or quantity for the parent product, but do enter an image URL.  Do not enter data such as price, time-to-ship, weight, etc., for the parent product, since these are overridden by the child product data. Be sure to put the price, weight, size etc., in the child products, since this will be different for each.”

3. How to combine two ASINs into one variation (parent-child) listing 

Amazon lays out these steps within their Variation Relationship FAQ but we explain the steps in detail here.

If you would like to combine two or more similar ASINs together into one variation family, the process is fairly similar to what was laid out above. 

Here is the information given to you directly from Amazon:

1. Download the appropriate category template for your category using the Product Classifier or Templates for Specific Categories. Refer to the Valid Values tab in the template to see what variation themes are available.

NOTE: If no variation theme is listed, you cannot create a product with variations in that category.

2. In the inventory template, create parent and child SKUs.

3. On the parent item:

Enter values for required fields, including SKU. This can be any alphanumeric string of 40 characters or less but must be unique (i.e., must not duplicate any of your other SKUs). Sellers often append “-parent” to their base SKU to remind them that this is a parent SKU.

  • Leave the ‘Parent SKU’ column blank.
  • Enter a value of “parent” in ‘Parentage’ and enter a valid value in ‘Variation Theme.’
  • Leave ‘Relationship Type’ blank.
  • Leave all other non-required fields blank.

4. For each child item (ASINs to be combined into one family):

Enter values for required fields.

Fill in the ‘Parent SKU’ field using the value from the parent’s SKU (value will be the same for all child items).

Enter “child” in ‘Parentage,’ and enter “variation” in ‘Relationship Type.’

In the ‘Variation Theme’ field, enter the same value that you entered for ‘Variation Theme’ on the parent (value will be the same for all child items).

After you fill in all of the required fields, check the file for errors using Step 1, then upload the completed file.

4. Add to or update an existing variation family using Variation Wizard

Variation Wizard is an interactive tool that allows you to create parent-child variation relationships in bulk using an auto-populated inventory file template — and it makes adding, deleting, or updating variations a lot easier. 

To use the Variation Wizard tool, hover over ‘Inventory’ and then click ‘Add a Product.’

On the bottom right-hand corner, you will see ‘Create variations using Variation Wizard.’

Once in the Variation Wizard, you will see two options. 

The first option you will simply enter in a child ASIN you’d like to update or a parent ASIN you would like to add to. Follow the steps and fill in all of the required information.  Once completed, click ‘Generate Template’ to get a pre-filled inventory file template, which you can upload to add the new variations.

The second option will give you the steps we outlined in the “How to combine two ASINs into one variation (parent-child) listing” section above.

5. How to add a new variation to an existing parent listing created by another seller

There may be an instance where you would like to add a variation to a listing in which was created by another seller. Note, you cannot add a variation to another seller’s private label listing if the brand is not exactly the same. 

This would apply if you are selling a similar item using the arbitrage or wholesale method.

From Amazon’s help page: 

1. Look up the product details page for an existing parent item and find its ASIN. The parent ASIN # is generally located in the Product Detail section on the detail page of any child ASIN.

2. In your inventory file template add the new child ASIN’s information and fill in fields exactly as if it were a child within a parent-child variation set.

Note: Be sure to match the Variation Theme field to the existing parent.

3. Add the parent item and fill in the fields that create the parent-child relationship with the new child item and that mirror the variation theme of the child item. In the Parent item row, please keep in mind the following points:

In the SKU field for the parent row, you may leave the field blank (if you wish the system to auto-generate a SKU number) or you can choose any alphanumeric string of 40 characters or less, but must be unique to your listings (i.e., must not duplicate any of your other SKUs).

Specify the parent ASIN in the Product ID field.

In the Product ID Type field enter “ASIN”. This will associate your new child item with the ASIN of the existing parent item.

4. In the Update/Delete column, enter the following:

Update – for the parent SKU (since we are creating this parent in your inventory from scratch)

PartialUpdate – for the child SKU(s), provided these child SKUs are already present in your inventory.

Note: If the child ASIN is already present in your inventory, use “PartialUpdate.” If not, use “Update.”

5. Validate and upload the completed inventory template. Make sure to enter all the mandatory (*) information in the inventory template.

Best practices when creating or adding variations on Amazon

There are some sellers who have manipulated the variation system in order to grow sales on new products or gain reviews on an unrelated product. If you attempt to manipulate a variation onto a listing it does not belong to, Amazon will remove your product listings if they do not remain compliant.

According to Amazon’s Variation Relationship Overview:

Not all related products are valid variations. The following questions can help you to determine whether certain products are valid variations:

Are the products fundamentally the same (i.e. the similarities of the ASIN’s design and function are so basic as to be hard to alter, resolve, or overcome)?

Could the products share the same title?

  • Do the products vary only in a few, specific ways that do not alter the core essence and nature of the item (such as color or size)?
  • Would customers expect to find these products together on a single product detail page?

Do not list different products together:

  • Example 1: A cell phone charging cable and a portable charger, while related, are not the same product and should not be listed on the same detail page.
  • Example 2: A laptop bag with handles and a laptop bag without handles are two different product styles that should be listed on separate detail pages.

Do not use variation themes incorrectly; they should only be used for their defined purpose.

Example: A color and size variation theme must not include any information other than color and size respectively. Different phone models, for example, should not be listed within a color theme.

TVD

What is it about this show that keeps me wanting more (and more and more and more)? Below, my some crazy thought analysis of what makes TVD so deliciously desirable.

 Newbie vamps may have some out-of-control bloodlust, but The Vampire Diaries fans can totally give them a run for their money in the cravings department. We know all too well how addictive this show can be. Season breaks are endless and even the miniest of hiatuses is torture. Thank goodness for reruns, but still. It hurts.

All You Need Is Love

No matter what team you’re on— Delena, Stelena, Forwood, Klaroline, etc. — the roller coaster relationships in this show are totally irresistible. Sure, it sometimes makes you insane when a love story doesn’t go your way, but that’s exactly what keeps you hooked: You can’t help but care about these crazy kids and their sometimes un-beating hearts.  

Action, Action, Action

 Some shows take ages to resolve a conflict, which can really bog down a plotline, but TVD always keeps things moving. Hybrid sire bond? Oh no! Broken. Cure for vampirism? What?! Located. Terrifying immortal being who will bring about the end of the world on the loose! Umm, jury’s still out…

Hot Scenes

They’re really good. Do we need to say more?  

Death Around Every Corner!

Unlike many other TV dramas, The Vampire Diaries’ showrunners have made it perfectly clear that life in supernatural-magnet Mystic Falls is actually dangerous. When a character is in danger, you worry that they will actually die. Unlike other shows where you think, “Please, they’d never kill him/her,” they will. People die, people are turned into vampires against their will, and things don’t always work out in a happily ever after fashion. Dramatic? Hell yes.

Good vs. Evil

Whether it’s Katherine, Klaus, or another TVD villain, there is something so juicy about watching a bad guy just be, well, bad. And comeuppance is a beautiful thing, and one worth waiting for.  On the other hand, TVD is careful not to make anyone all good or all evil, which makes them so much more enticing to watch. Evil can be justified, and good can be selfish. Conflict = interesting. Fact.

Fun Flashbacks

Mystic Falls is a pretty small place, so options are pretty limited. We can’t go to the Mystic Grill literally every night, right? Luckily, TVD always knows when to throw in a well-timed road trip or, better yet, a flashback full of quaint period costumes and hilarious hairstyles.

Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley…

As the titular vampires, the Salvatore brothers really are the soul of this show, and they could easily fall into the good vamp Stefan vs. bad vamp Damon trope. But that would be boring. Thanks to Paul and Ian, they are so much more than that. Stefan is sweet and brooding, but he’s capable of unspeakable evil. Damon is snarky and selfish, but he shows incredible care for those he’s close to (even if he won’t let them see it). Oh, and they’re both sexy and their love triangle with Elena is hot with a capital HOT. No big deal.

And Nina Dobrev

One of the pitfalls of being in the human female heroine in a vampire story is ending up as a helpless pawn in supernatural games. Say what you will about TVD’s Elena, she’s never been a spineless, swooning damsel-in-distress. In fact, she’s ballsy to a fault when it comes to protecting her friends. She just happens to have a problem deciding who she’s in love with… and we can’t wait to watch her try to figure it out.

And Joseph Morgan, and Candice Accola, and Claire Holt, and…

The list goes on. The Vampire Diaries does a lot of things really well. Casting is very high up on that list.