How AI is Affecting Blogging and Influencers (+ Tips on AI-"Proofing"* Your Blog!)

AI (Artificial Intelligence) programs have progressed by incredible leaps and bounds over the last year and will only continue to improve and become more integrated into our daily lives. I’ve been blogging for the past 10 years and have noticed a big change in the blogging world, for myself and acquaintances in the industry. Here I thought I’d share some of my personal observations as well as tips that will hopefully help preserve your blog against AI.
DISCLAIMER: This posts shares personal opinions/observations and predictions on how to help your blog in this changing world. I am not an expert and you should do your own research on these matters and use my tips at your own discretion/risk. Please also keep in mind that AI is rapidly evolving and observations and predictions shared in this post may not apply in the future.

How AI is Affecting Blogging + Influencers

Decreased Traffic

With people utilizing AI more and more these days, they tend to visit websites less. This is especially obvious with the integration of Google’s Gemini (AI feature), among others. Now when you Google something Gemini will often give you a summary of the best or most common answers at the top the search results. This might answer your question enough to keep you from clicking around at the rest of the search results.

Decreased Ad Revenue

This one is pretty straightforward… less traffic = less ad revenue. After all, websites get paid for ads based on how often an ad is viewed or clicked on and if there’s less traffic to a site, there will be less ad revenue.

Decreased Affiliate Link Clicks

Again, this one is pretty straight forward - if you have less traffic to your website, less people will be seeing and clicking on your affiliate links, meaning less affiliate income.

The decrease in traffic is really hitting ad and affiliate link revenue HARD for so many websites, not just regular blogs.

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How to AI-“Proof”* Your Blog

*It’s worth noting that I don’t think you can truly 100% “AI-Proof” your blog - AI tech is really good and only getting better — HOWEVER, I do think there are steps you can take to help preserve your blog, traffic, and income. They include:

Gain a Loyal Following

Try to gain a loyal following of people who read your blog regularly. Some ways you can do that is to regularly post engaging content to keep them coming back for more - maybe a regularly occurring series (like making over a room step-by-step or chronicling your decluttering or healthy-lifestyle journey). Or regularly posting new, great recipes to try. Try to find your niche and your followers will continue to check back in for more.

Keep a Loyal Following Across Multiple Social Media Channels

These days they best way to see and be seen (and have your blog be seen), is to post on social media. This is how a lot of people will discover your blog in the first place - but don’t put all your eggs in one basket! It’s important to try to gain a following across all social media platforms, that way if one goes down (or gets banned.. like TikTok may) you still have a reach across other platforms.

Write Detailed Posts with LOTS of Pictures (Especially for How-To Articles)

Right now for the most part AI is great at summarizing and giving general answers - but if people want specifics, especially for a how-to post, they will want lots of details, step-by-step instructions, and PICTURES. This is especially true for any kind of hands-on craft or DIY or home improvement project with a lot of nuances. Provide a lot of details and pictures and your post will continue to be more useful than a summary would be.

Utilize Keywords + Long-Tail Keywords

Keywords and long-tail keywords are important for your blog to place high in search results. After all, you want your blog post towards the top of search results if possible - even if AI has a summary of answers at the top. That way if people want to read a little more on the subject and scroll down a bit your post will (hopefully) be one of the top options to choose from to read more.

Keywords are straightforward words that describe your post, for example: “how-to”, “declutter”, “cleaning”, etc, - they are important but it’s easy to get lost in search results with just regular keywords. This is why it’s important to also include long-tail keywords which are the specific phrases that people might actually type into the search to find your post, for example: “how-to declutter your house with small kids”. In general, long-tail keywords give you a better chance at placing higher in search results.

Consider a Pay Wall to “Hide” Your Best Content

If you have REALLY good content that people would want to pay for, consider implementing a pay wall for readers to access it. Examples of this could be having readers pay for a course on your website or pay for access to an exclusive newsletter that offers info and content that they couldn’t find on your website otherwise.

I hope this post gave you some food for thought on how to preserve your blog and blog income in this rapidly changing world. Best of luck!

DISCLAIMER: This posts shares personal opinions/observations and predictions on how to help your blog in this changing world. I am not an expert and you should do your own research on these matters and use my tips at your own discretion/risk.
*I don’t think you can truly 100% “AI-Proof” your blog - AI tech is really good and only getting better — however, I do think there are steps you can take to help preserve your blog, traffic, and income. Please also keep in mind that AI is rapidly evolving and observations and predictions shared in this post may not apply in the future.

PERFECT FIT Oval Frames for Disney World Silhouettes - on Amazon!

We recently came back from the most amazing and magical trip to Disney World! It was our family’s first trip and we had such a wonderful time and learned so much along the way (separate blog post coming soon to share more on all that we learned). One of my top must-dos for the trip was to get a silhouette portrait of our girls done as a souvenir. | This post contains affiliate links |

At the time of writing this post, they currently have Silhouette Artists at Magic Kingdom and at Disney Springs. We tried twice at Magic Kingdom to get them done but the first time we went was towards the end of the day and the line was long and our kids were tuckered out so we had to skip that day. The second time we went to Magic Kingdom during the middle of the day and it was a success - a short line that moved fast and it was so amazing to watch the Silhouette Artist work! The subject sits in a chair across from the artist (many artists can also work from a side view picture if it’s a good one - they can even do pet portraits this way), and then they get to work snipping the paper with sharp little scissors. They cut two sheets of paper at once and you end up with two sets of portraits (mirror imaged). The artist did both our kids within minutes and it’s a perfect likeness to them, I was so impressed!

Afterwards when it's time to pay you have the option to buy the frames there if you would like. I had every intention of buying oval frames there but at the time they were sold out of ovals and only had rectangular frames which I just wasn't interested in. So we got our silhouettes to-go in a little gift bag (tip: it would be a good idea to bring a large ziplock bag to protect the silhouettes a little more).

When it came time to pack up and go home at the end of the week I was actually very thankful we didn't buy the frames in Disney - we traveled with carry-ons only and there was no way we would have had room for the frames in our carry-ons.

| Oval Frames that fit Disney World Silhouettes (they also come in other colors too!) |

Once we got home I shopped around online to find oval frames that fit the silhouettes. After reading a lot of mixed reviews I ordered several different frames to find the one that fit best. After some trial and error I found the PERFECT FIT oval frames for the Disney World Silhouettes right on Amazon - and they come as a set of two! It was meant to be ;)

I recommend taking out the plexiglass piece and using that as a guide to trace and cut out your silhouette to fit in the frame (I did not use the oval mat that came with the frame - and don’t forget to remove the protective plastic film from both sides of the plexiglass). It worked perfectly for us! We kept one portrait for ourselves and gave the other one to the grandparents as a thank you for house sitting for us. It’s such a special souvenir that we’ll treasure!

Disclaimer: I found that these frames fit the Silhouettes we got this year (Fall, 2024) at Disney World perfectly. I would think they should also fit the Silhouettes from Disneyland and Disney Springs too, but I cannot confirm that because I haven’t tried it yet myself.

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Cheers to 10 Years!

10 years ago today I launched this blog/business. I was a new mom looking for a creative outlet. Over the years I’ve had some pretty amazing opportunities - being mentioned in Martha Stewart Living Magazine and New Hampshire Magazine, being a contributor for an article in Food Network Magazine, getting interviewed for a lifestyle article by The Wall Street Journal. Also working with some huge brands for features like The Home Depot, L.L.Bean, Nûby USA, Lovevery, Safety 1st, and others - not to mention countless amazing local brands.

Despite all that this business has never “made it big” and that’s okay - I’ve really enjoyed this outlet and will continue to work on it and keep it fun. I have so many ideas for products and projects and will continue to make progress towards those ideas as real life allows.

Thanks so much for following along and supporting me these last 10 years - here’s to 10 more of Birch Landing Home!

Best,
Sarah

PS - to celebrate 10 years everything in our Etsy Shop is 10% Off through August 10th.

Giving Tuesday 2021

Happy #givingtuesday! Did you know I donate a percentage of profits from Birch Landing Home to charity at year-end? So every time you visit my blog or purchase one of my crafts that donation gets the chance to grow. Last year I was able to donate to Gather and The Nature Conservancy.

I haven’t decided where this year’s donation is going yet so if you have a favorite charity please share it below!

PS - today is the last day of our sale too!

I'm Back!

Long story short - my computer has been out of commission for the last five weeks but I’m finally back! I have a handful of posts I need to get posted soon to catch back up so please bear with me while I work through those.

On one hand taking a break from the computer was nice but I am ready to get back to work - I definitely missed updating the blog :)

The view from one of our most recent hikes.

Why I Purged Who I'm Following on Social Media (And Why You Might Want to Too)

If you’re like me you probably get sucked into your phone too often, falling down the rabbit hole of continuously scrolling Instagram and Facebook. But it’s a New Year, new beginnings right? I recently took a good look at who I’m following on my personal and blog Instagram accounts and did some purging… in fact between my accounts I unfollowed thousands (previous to this I had never really unfollowed anyone!) and in doing so it greatly simplified my social media checking routine, spending less time online.

Who I Unfollowed

First, I know I personally feel a little hurt when I realize someone unfollowed me (why don’t they like me??) - but if you’re reading this and I unfollowed you please realize it’s nothing personal at all. Over the many years I’ve had social media I have followed thousands of accounts, but I’ve never actually reevaluated their relevancy to me as time went on and cleaning house was long, long overdue.

Here are some types of accounts that I unfollowed:

Accounts that are “Dead”: As I went through my lists, I found hundreds of accounts that have been “dead” for years… blogs or business accounts that have gone out of business or people that for one reason or another have just stopped updating a particular account. While these accounts aren’t cluttering up my feed, they aren’t doing anything for me either so I unfollowed them.

Accounts that Don’t Reflect Our Current Stage in Life: And then there’s accounts that used to be relevant to me but aren’t anymore… for example years ago when we were first starting our family I followed lots of baby-centric accounts and businesses. However our kids are all past the baby stage now and I just don’t need to know about the newest bottles or baby carriers these days. It’s definitely bittersweet closing the door on that stage in our lives but the practical reasoning is we just don’t need to be up-to-date on baby trends anymore. So any irrelevant accounts to our current place in life were unfollowed too.

Accounts that I was Following “Because Everyone Else Is”: There were plenty of accounts I was following strictly because they were big-name brands/companies or ultra-popular influencers or bloggers. I was mostly following them because I felt like I should be, even though most of their posts were essentially ads and I didn’t find following them enjoyable myself. I’m personally not a huge fan of impersonal/overly-commercialized posts so I unfollowed a lot of these types of accounts too.

Accounts that I Follow in More than One Place: I have both a personal and blog-related Instagram account and realized there were quite a few accounts that I was following in both places… this was kind of redundant as I was often seeing the same posts twice. I really didn’t want or need to see the same things over and over so I would decide where made the most sense for me to follow an account and would then unfollow it from my other account.

Accounts that Bring Me Down: Do what’s best for your mental health and your self esteem! Are there accounts that you follow that are too pessimistic? Or too perfect and it makes you devalue yourself subconsciously? Get rid of them. You don’t need that kind of negativity in your life - only follow accounts that raise you up or inspire you in a positive way.

Accounts that I Don’t Enjoy: As I went through my lists of who I’m following I realized something - I honestly don’t enjoy fashion bloggers (no offense to any fashion bloggers out there!). As much as I love a good outfit inspiration I am not into “fast fashion” and I’m not someone who constantly buys clothes or the latest styles. I actually think it’s really bad for the environment to constantly consume clothing and accessories that will only be worn a few times (and a lot of these influencers will only wear items for a post or two then get rid of them). Fast fashion isn’t something I condone or enjoy so I won’t passively support it by following all those influencers.

Important Note: Don’t Try to Purge in One Day!

I made this mistake myself… when I first decided to clean house I stayed up really late one night and was determined to work my way through my list and clean it out in one go - but then Instagram blocked my account for 24 hours. If you do too much of one action in a short amount of time (like unfollowing other accounts), Instagram will flag your account as spam and lock you out temporarily… and apparently if you keep it up they will keep locking you out for longer each time, potentially banning you permanently (so scary!). Getting locked out for 24 hours was very frustrating, but it made me realize I have to tread lightly moving forward. When you’re purging, make sure to never unfollow more than a few accounts at a time and make sure to continue to use Instagram as you normally would (liking, commenting, engaging with others like usual). Purging your feed will be a work-in-progress for a while and will take time.

Who I Muted

Did you know you can “mute” accounts too? That way they don’t show up in your feed but you’re still following them. There were some accounts that I was following that I still wanted to follow to show some support, but were totally cluttering up my feed and driving me nuts… for example maybe you have an old school friend who has taken an endeavor into MLM sales. As much as you might love this friend and want to support her, you don’t want to see ten posts a day on essential oils, or fake nails, or eyelash serum or whatever it is that she’s constantly pushing. You’ll still show as a follower to her and it would be good idea to make a note to occasionally hop on over to her account to engage in a post here and there - but it’s not going to constantly fill your feed with stuff you’re not interested in anymore.

Turn Notifications OFF

If you haven’t already, it’s also a great idea to turn off Notifications Off across all your platforms. Seeing those little “dings” constantly come up when friends post, like, or comment can be overwhelming and drag you into checking your phone every few minutes. If you turn these off you’ll be less tempted to constantly check your phone - and make a point to only check it at certain times during the day. I have already had my notifications turned off for years now (it’s something I made a point to do a long time ago), and I will continue to keep them off.

Why My Social Media Experience is Better and More Efficient Now

After you’ve made sufficient progress purging who you’re following, you’ll notice that your feed is full of things that you actually want to see - no more “junk” that you used to waste time scrolling past everyday. Your feed will be full of accounts that you find positive, intentional, and inspiring - not to mention following less accounts will make it quicker and easier to catch up on recent posts every day.

And another positive side effect of my purge? It seems to have reset the algorithm for what I typically see in my feed. There were a lot of accounts I was following that I honestly had totally forgotten about because I hadn’t seen any posts by them in my feed FOR YEARS. But as I made progress purging who I was following I started to see those long-lost-to-me accounts in my feed again and it was so refreshing! I was able to re-discover a lot of accounts that I used to love following and it’s wonderful to finally see their posts again in my feed and reconnect with them. (And if you rediscover an account you want to see in your feed again, make sure to like and engage in their posts so Instagram will learn to continue to show them.)

Going Forward

Going forward this is something I definitely want to keep up with. I had neglected reevaluating who I was following for years and since I had let it get out of hand it took weeks for me to slowly purge since I had so much catching up to do. From now on this is something I’ll plan on revisiting at least once a year (I even put a reminder in my calendar for next January as part of my New Year’s Resolutions). Your social media feed should be enjoyable and inspiring, and it should be more efficient to check - by actively managing it hopefully you will see an improvement in your social media experience too.

So far I’ve really only tackled Instagram but I am planning on working to purge who I’m following on my other social media accounts too (especially Facebook and Pinterest) for the same reasons.

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Happy Giving Tuesday 2019! (+ Coupon Code)

Happy Giving Tuesday! Did you know we donate a percentage of profits from Birch Landing Home at year-end? So every time you place an order or visit my blog that donation gets the chance to grow. Last year I was able to donate to The American Cancer Society and Susan G. Komen.

I haven’t decided where this year’s donation is going yet so if you have a favorite charity please share! 

And this week I’m giving back to you with a Coupon Code too! Use GIVINGBACK to get 10% off your Etsy orders through 12/11/19.

Why My Blog Will Never Make a Lot of Money (and why I'm okay with it)

First off, no disrespect to my fellow bloggers and blogger friends. Blogging professionally is HARD and so much work - maintaining a following, meeting deadlines, constantly creating and promoting content, and so much more. So many people work tirelessly on their blogs every single day in order to grow it and provide income for their families - and I absolutely applaud that. However, there are a lot of common aspects of blogging that I am personally not okay with… and while it holds me back from making this blog lucrative, I’m more than okay with it - and here’s why…

I Don’t Overshare

Most blogs with a dedicated following tend to share everything about their daily lives - what they’re wearing that day, what they did, what they ate, what silly thing their kids did, what personal roadblock they’re encountering, etc. And I like my personal life, well - personal. I won’t be constantly on Instastories narrating my life, sharing all the details throughout my day. And I confess, some of my favorite blogs to follow do just that - I’m guilty of enjoying their stories and living their life vicariously through them. It’s interesting and fun and a great way to get an engaged following - but I could never do that myself. I personally find it too intrusive and creepy to have so many people know so much about our personal life.

I Won’t Sell Out My Kids

Promoting kid and baby items/gear is a huge market in the blogging industry. So many brands seek out bloggers with kids and growing families and hire them to help promote their products. In turn, bloggers share tons of photos of their children wearing or using the products, along with personal stories to make it more interesting. For example, a blogger may choose to take a sponsored post about a potty seat. In doing so, she may choose to share photos and stories of her kids potty training… now can you imagine being that child and having that digital footprint/history when they grow up? It would come back to haunt him in high school or if he ever ran for Congress.
Now, I do work with some select kids brands and products - however I’m particular with who and how I work with them. I only share about products and brands we honestly love or use, and I limit the photos I post of our children. Typically when I share photos of our kids on the blog they are carefully cropped or edited to help protect their anonymity - this is super important to me but definitely limits the brands that want to work with me, as most brands want tons of personable photos.

I Follow the Rules

I always do my best to follow the rules regarding sponsored content and outbound links. There are a lot of guidelines out there from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on how sponsored content and affiliate links need to always be disclosed and outbound sponsored/affiliate links should be formatted as “no-follow” (in order to not falsely inflate a product or brand’s Google-ranking). Unfortunately there are a lot of unscrupulous companies out there that will solicit bloggers to create posts or add back-links that completely go against these rules. I have been solicited several times (and a few times by large companies that should know far better), asking me to add “do-follow” links or mention product without disclosures in exchange for compensation. I always turn these shady offers down (and scold them for being unethical).

I Have Standards

I will ONLY accept sponsored posts from products and brands we honestly use or are interested in. I will never accept a sponsored post from something that doesn’t fit my blog, my beliefs, or me. I have turned down many sponsored posts for products that do not fit my aesthetic or would have me promote a product we do not like or would never use.

I Don’t Live in an Instagram-Worthy House

We live in a very average house with very average finishes and furniture. Our kitchen is still sporting it’s laminate green (yes, green) counter tops and linoleum floor and our living room still has the very bold (and ugly) burgundy wall-to-wall carpet that were installed when our house was originally built. Would I love to renovate and re-do these things? Absolutely. But it’s not in our budget right now and not a priority, so we’re going to continue to live with these less-than-beautiful finishes. Many bloggers completely re-renovate or re-decorate the same rooms in their home over and over in order to keep up with the latest trends and to continue to land partnerships. And as fun as that might be, it’s also very wasteful and encourages a “throw-away society” that values consumerism and disposable items over value and longevity.

I Don’t Stick to a Content Schedule

Sticking to a content schedule is something I really should be better about. I already keep a blog calendar over my desk and pencil in a few blog topics or content I want to create over the course of each month. However, I’m terrible at sticking to it… life gets busy. Lately we’ve been keeping busy with family, sports, appointments, and school. Keeping up with the kids is most important and so I try to be flexible (arguably far too flexible) with the blog. Sometimes I don’t do a blog post or Instagram post for a week… or three! That’s as good as a death sentence for engagement, which is already SO hard to achieve these days with Instagram’s increasingly difficult algorithms.

So in conclusion, if you want your blog to be lucrative - consider doing the opposite of all I do. I’ll be over here, not making much money but content in my principles ;)