Berries and Cream Blog Design Affiliate Program

Commitment to Customer Satisfaction

We love our Berries and Cream Blog Design clients. Both Linda and I do our best to make your design dreams become a reality. Because we are committed to customer satisfaction, we offer no-limit revisions and a 100% guarantee so that there is absolutely no risk on your part. If we can’t create a design you love, you get your money back. End of story.

Because of our commitment to client satisfaction, we have many, many happy clients who recommend us to their friends and readers. Matter of fact, a good bit of our business comes from word of mouth. That makes us beyond happy. And it got us started thinking. Why not reward those who send business our way?

Affiliate Program

We are happy to announce that we will be doing just that. We have set up an affiliate program and would love to have you join us.  Here are the details:

• The affiliate program integrates directly with our store – all affiliate sales are automatically credited to the referring affiliate’s account.
• We pay a 10%  commission on all sales.  You can choose from multiple payment methods: PayPal, check, or store credit (which will be issued in the form of a gift certificate).
• You must have at least $10 to receive payment.  Payouts are made on the 1st of each month, provided the 1st is not on the weekend.  If the 1st falls on the weekend, payouts will be made the following Monday.
• You may select from multiple advertising tools (banners, buttons, text links, text ads, and e-mails) which can be accessed in our affiliate program members area.  These tools include pre-generated code that will include your unique affiliate link.  Just copy and paste the code into your blog or website.

If you do choose to sign up for our new affiliate program, please remove any RS Designs or Berries and Cream Blog Design buttons currently on your site and replace them with the ads from the affiliate program members area to ensure that you receive your commission for any purchases made through your site.

We are excited about this new aspect of our business and are thrilled to be able to reward those who help us.  Please let me know if you have any questions about this new opportunity.

Cream of the Crop: Bargain Briana

Welcome to this week’s edition of Berries and Cream Blog Design’s Cream of the Crop series. We hope that you will enjoy today’s featured blog, Bargain Briana, a blog devoted to bringing you the best in bargains.

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Bargain Briana is where I learned the most effective way to use coupons. I had tried using coupons one time before, and after saving a few cents on a name brand product but still paying more than I would have paid for the store brand that I usually bought, I gave up, figuring that coupons weren’t worth my time. Boy, was I ever wrong! Since finding Bargain Briana’s instructions, I have consistently saved 40%-60% on my grocery bill and am able to purchase better food and more of it for less money.

Because of my experience with her site, I was thrilled when Briana agreed to answer my questions.

Please tell our readers a bit about yourself.

I’m Briana Carter of BargainBriana.com and a mother of four active children ages 2-10. By day, I utilize my Master’s Degree in Accounting as Controller for a Plumbing & HVAC contractor. After work, practices, dinner, showers, and the kids are in bed, I blog and love every minute of it!

I started my blog this past summer (2008) in response to family and friend’s interests in my bargains. I don’t consider myself frugal by nature because I love to shop! Finding bargains, deals, freebies, and cheapies are a great way to curb my spending. I save money in one area so I can spend it in another. If it is a bargain, BargainBriana.com (http://bargainbriana.com) covers it!

My goal is to teach others to save money while shopping by utilizing effective coupon methods. I always knew about coupons but never really knew how to use them. This is not something that can be learned overnight and the savings usually start to show after you have a nice stockpile of your basic items. When I first started “hard core” couponing in 2006, my family was resistant. Once they realized how we really could buy more for less, the whole family is involved with saving money. From the kids looking for coupons at the store, clipping coupons, or helping me shop, saving money is a family project. Being called a “Coupon Freak” is a term of endearment in our household.

For struggling families or families who just want to save more while shopping, Bargain Briana, can help. Come visit me at BargainBriana.com for the latest coupon match ups, freebies, and bargains!

Why do you blog?

To share my fabulous deals!

What do you normally blog about?

Bargains, deals, and money saving tips!

What is your favorite post?

How to Make Your Own Free Ringtone!

What are some of your readers’ favorite posts?

The 15 days of Couponing Series. It is a basic guide to couponing. [Note: this is the series that taught me how to coupon.]

As a blogger, what is the best piece of advice you ever received?

I don’t remember anything specific but I love reading Blogcoach.org to get fabulous tips on a regular basis!

Thank you, Briana, for taking the time to share a bit more about yourself. If you aren’t already familiar with her blog, stop by Bargain Briana and find out for yourself how much help it could be to you.

Featured Friday: Spacky (Free Keyword Research Tool)

Have you ever needed to do keyword research but couldn’t find a good, free tool?

I’ve tried several free research tools. If you have a Google AdWords account, you can use their Keyword Tool. There are a couple more tools that I have used together to get a clearer results picture than I could get using just one, but, frankly, that is a pain.

That is why I was so happy when I heard about and tried Spacky.com. No longer do you have to guess what targeted keywords you should be using. And you don’t have to pay for that information, either. Spacky gives you monthly keyword search volume for Overture, Google, and MSN. Sorry, but apparently Spacky is no longer in existence.

For example, I want to rank on the first page of a Google search for specific keywords, but I was just guessing at what people might be searching for. Once I found Spacky.com, I discovered that people are search for blog design more than for blog designs, for blogspot design more than blogger designs, and for blog designer more than blog designers.  That’s valuable information for me because I would have picked the lesser-searched keywords as the more popular.

If you need to do keyword research, give Spacky.com a try.  You just might find valuable insight of your own. Sorry, but apparently Spacky is no longer in existence.

A Bad Day

I guess we can’t make everyone happy, no matter how hard we try.

Luke 6:28 “Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.”

So I’m praying.

Cream of the Crop: Seeryus Mama

Welcome to this week’s edition of Berries and Cream Blog Design’s Cream of the Crop series. We hope that you will enjoy today’s featured blog, Seeryus Mama.

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Sky of Seeryus Mama is another blogger who has become more than just a client, and I am so pleased to be featuring her blog today. I appreciate her taking the time to answer my questions.

Sky, please tell our readers a bit about yourself.

I’m the 30 year old mother to two. Johnny is 9 and Pea is 19 months. I’m a part time library lady and I also volunteer as the Public Relations Coordinator for the Miss Nebraska Scholarship Pageant.

When did you start blogging?

I started blogging seriously in March of 2008.

Why do you blog?

Blogging has brought so many wonderful people into my life…I don’t know who I’d be otherwise!

What do you normally blog about?

I blog about my kids and product reviews and giveaways.

Do you have any upcoming events or posts that you think our readers would like to know about?

I have a lot of exciting giveaways coming up! Stay tuned!

As a blogger, what is the best piece of advice you ever received?

Just be yourself! And you know, it’s true!

Thanks, Sky, for letting us get to know you a bit better.  You always review great products, and I love your giveaways at Seeryus Mama.

Cream of the Crop: Shady Side Farm

Welcome to this week’s edition of Berries and Cream Blog Design’s Cream of the Crop series. We hope that you will enjoy today’s featured blog, Farming in the Shade, and its corresponding Etsy store, Shady Side Farm .

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I admire those who make a living from agriculture and livestock.  My husband’s grandparents have a small herd of cattle and plant a large garden every year to provide meat and vegetables for the family.  I know how hard they work, and I cannot begin to imagine the amount of work it would take to make a livelihood from a similar source.  Yet that is what Lona and her family are doing at Shady Side Farm.

I had the opportunity to find out more from Lona about her family farm.

I’d like our readers to get to know you a bit better. Please share some background about yourself, your blog and store, and anything else you’d like others to know about you.

I started blogging in June of 2007, and opened the Etsy shop in November of 2007. We’ve been full-time farmers for 13 years and have become more concerned about the lack of accurate information about farming in America. We’ve also felt the economic pinch brought about by the “get big or get out” reality of agriculture. It was our hope that the internet could be a tool to help put a face to one American farm family.

Why do you blog?

To help people understand farming better.

What do you normally blog about?

I blog about our daily life on the farm (with photos), some fun farm facts, farming struggles, fiber arts, a smattering of politics and sometimes an inspirational post from the Bible.

What is your favorite post?

I think my favorite post was an early one–Farming in the Shade. It has a lengthy excerpt from a novel “Jayber Crow” by Wendell Berry. It captures better than I ever could some of the worry I see among those who work the land and tend the animals.

What are some of your readers’ favorite posts?

I get the most comments from our shearing day and baby lamb blog posts. Hard to compete with cute!

What will people find in your Etsy store?

Our etsy shop includes wool items made from the wool from our sheep. You’ll find wool yarns and roving for knitting, spinning and crafting. In addition, you’ll find wool socks knitted by Mike on his antique hand crank sock knitting machine, and rag rugs handwoven by Lona on her antique floor looms.

What is your favorite item in your store right now and why?

My favorite item is a set of 3 socks–it is definitely a unique item!

What are the top sellers in your store?

The hand cranked wool socks are our biggest sellers at this time. People love the whole sheep to sock concept, and once they’ve tried our socks, they are really impressed with how warm and soft they are!

Can you share some products that you are planning to put in your store soon?

I am working on some felted wool balls to use in your dryer in place of dryer sheets. They don’t make your clothes soft, but they do reduce the static cling problem, and without any chemicals at all! They can be used over and over again, and don’t leave any nasty residues on your clothing or the inside of your dryer.

As a business owner, what is the best piece of advice you ever received?

Do what you love and love what you do.

Thank you, Lona, for sharing more about yourself, your blog, and your business.

Cream of the Crop: Sisterly Savings

Welcome to this week’s edition of Berries and Cream Blog Design’s Cream of the Crop series. We hope that you will enjoy today’s featured blog, Sisterly Savings, where you will find great ways to Save More and Spend Less.

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Sisterly Savings is owned and published by Jennifer, with whom I have worked on several projects. Because of our frequent contact, she has become a friend, not just a client.  I don’t, however, think I am biased when I say that Sisterly Savings consistently offers its readers great ways to save money.

I asked Jennifer to share a bit about herself and Sisterly Savings.  Here is what she had to say.

What prompted you to start Sisterly Savings?

Sisterly Savings began in January 2008 as a blog by two sisters who shared a passion for finding deals and saving money. With a desire to help other families reduce their household budgets while still enjoying life, my sister and I began detailing our couponing adventures as well as educating our readers about how to use coupons strategically to save the most money.

I’ve seen several different blog authors at Sisterly Savings. Does your sister still write there, too?

As the demands of life took their toll, writing and maintaining the site became my sole responsibility.  With coupons in hand, I rose to the challenge.

Although my sister no longer writes for SS, I have consistently reached out to other bloggers by offering them the opportunity to guest post, and several of those guest posters now are featured editors, regularly contributing articles that compliment and enhance the mission of SS.

What is the purpose of Sisterly Savings?

Sisterly Savings is dedicated to the idea that it is possible to save more while spending less. From weekly drugstore and grocery store sale and coupon matchups to online deals to advice for living a more frugal and organized life, I constantly strives to bring the hottest deals to my readers while sharing real examples from my own life of how I’ve cut costs, re-organized, saved with coupons, and earned extra cash through legitimate online endeavors.

Giveaways are a popular way to reward loyal readers and entice new readers to stop by. Do you ever have giveaways?

Sisterly Savings has partnered many times with small businesses to promote their products through Bloggy Giveaways hosted at SS. These giveaways not only create buzz and word-of-mouth advertising for the products, they allow my readers a chance to win the featured product.

Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?

I maintain a Facebook page so readers can better connect with me on a personal basis. I also have a presence on Twitter to leverage the power of instant communication to promote what’s new at SS.

Thanks so much for telling us more about your blog, Jennifer.  If you are not familiar with Sisterly Savings, I highly recommend your stopping by to check it out.  I myself have benefited from Jennifer’s tips on several occasions.