Cassie DeNisco

24 Things I Manifested Before Turning 24

February 28, 2022

Because this post is going live on February 28th, the night before my 24th birthday, I wanted to reflect on my life so far! I came up with this idea of 24 things I manifested before turning 24 as a way to look back on everything I’ve accomplished so far.

Manifesting isn’t this crazy concept. It’s based along the principle of speaking things you want in life into existence. You have to focus on specific ideas and the universe will help guide you towards them. I think making room to dream about your future is so important in helping you actually want to work towards it. You’ll see some of these things are huge goals, and others are just small daily things that make my life so much better.

24 Things I Manifested

1.My Puppy

2. The Blog

3. Paying off half of my college loans in cash right out of college

4. Purchasing a new car on my own

5. Able to dance & teach dance everyday

6. Working from home

7. My relationship 🙂

8. Ability to Travel

9. Financially Indepedent

10. Healthy Lifestyle

11. Time to read everyday

12. Being close with my family

13. Able to do something creative everyday

14. Managing stress and anxiety

15. Parents who support whatever I do

16. Time for hobbies and to explore other things that interest me

17. Brand partnerships from my blog

18. Creating a side digital marketing business

19. Toxic people leaving my life

20. Intentional with every action I take

21. Finding what makes me happiest

22. Letting go of things that don’t serve me

23. Ability to manifest & just let the universe move through you

24. Being grateful for everything no matter what

Wrap Up

As you can see, this list has all sorts of things on it. Whether you manifest, pray, or just set intentions they all do the same thing. Just focus so hard on what you want in your life and just let things take their course.

I am so grateful that I realized how powerful manifesting was and was able to have this list. Manifesting isn’t magic and you won’t over night be able to meet some goals. Living each day focusing on only what you want and letting go of things that don’t serve you will help you reach whatever you want.

I am so grateful to have built this community and am able to continue to share all my favorite things with you. Let me know in the comments if manifesting has worked for you!

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How to Build a Brand Online

January 17, 2022

Whether you’re a blogger or just starting some sort of business, how to build a brand online is important for audience acquisition and growth. This is truly something I wish I knew prior to creating my blog because I just jumped in and didn’t focus on the bigger picture of what exactly this blog would be.

Your brand is how people will see you for the first time and decide whether or not they are interested in clicking on your link or following your account. It’s important to find a clear voice for whatever you’re starting so that you have the best chance of turning people into loyal audience members.

As we enter into this new year, if you’re taking the leap of creating your own brand I wanted to create this post to tell you what I wish I would’ve known. I’m sharing my top 3 tips and some other important info in between on how to build a brand online!

Color Palette Matters

In the beginning days of my blog, I was honestly just posting whatever I wanted. It didn’t matter to me how it looked or getting some sort of template together. If you are creating a brand, I would take some time during the creation stage to get your theme content together. There’s nothing worse then posts with different colors or different flows of content.

You want your website or your socials to be seamless and attractive to potential audience people. If you’re using crazy colors that are different in every single post, you’re not giving the audience a clear image of what to expect. The same goes for templates or posts in general.

I personally always recommend neutrals or soft colors that aesthetically look good together but if you want a rainbow themed brand, make sure you use the exact same colors. You can easily find the color codes online which makes keeping and using the same colors so easy.

People love to be comfortable and know what to expect so using the same colors and templates just keeps the audience happy and coming back for more. One bonus tip I have is if you are creating a website, either hire someone to design it or purchase a template because if you’re website isn’t easy to navigate, you’re going to lose readers/clients/customers.

Name is Everything

If I could go back in time, I don’t think I would’ve used my name for my blog. Catchy names are what really sticks and stands out. You’re also stuck with your name so if it’s something you’re not sure about in the beginning, wait it out and see if you’re still interested.

Name recognition is literally the most important part of your brand these days. Because everything is so saturated, having a brand name that is easy to associate with your brand and people will immediately recognize is everything.

My brand has become my name and that has worked for me but I do wish I was a little more creative in the beginning. I was a college student blogging about life and fashion so between that I probably could’ve found a unique and creative name. I am not going to change my name though because I have built an audience around it so just knowing you’re stuck with it, means it has to be good.

Another topic along names is making sure whatever you decide is actually available. Whether you’re making an LLC or just need social media accounts, if your name isn’t available how you want it I would consider thinking about something else. It is so important to have instant name recognition with your brand and if you can’t have a website domain with it, then there’s a chance you lose people when trying to find you.

Consistency is Key

I like to write out all my posts for the year.

I can’t stress this tip enough, you have to be consistent. Whether it’s posting, uploading, inventory, answering calls, whatever it is you need to be consistent. People found you and the only way they’ll stay is if you are giving them what they want. They initially related to you and your brand for a reason so it’s crucial you continue to give them that.

Whether it’s a consistent product drop schedule or maybe weekly blog posts, you have to keep that up because people like the expected. I’ve found that I keep more loyal audience members the months that I commit to my posting schedule and make sure I don’t miss it.

My brand will never grow if I ghost the audience members that I fought so hard to get to begin with. It’s a lot and exhausting but you have to keep giving the latest and greatest versions of you/your product to keep the momentum growing. You don’t want the momentum to be stagnant, you want growth and sucess.

Your brand needs you to continue to work and improve on it. It’s so hard to figure out how to get in the groove of it but once you do, you’ll see the rewards. It took me a solid 2.5 years to get my blog seeing consistent views everyday. It was definitely discouraging in the beginning but I kept posting and kept going and now I have an audience that is a community and looks forward to my content.

Wrap Up

This post was a long one! I hope though you took something away from it to help build a brand online. I really love getting to work with my social media clients to identify their voice and build something that they are proud of online.

The tips I just shared with you are the exact 3 things that I think would’ve helped me in the beginning of creating my blog. I now share them with my social media clients in hopes they will help them build a brand online for themselves!

If you’re interested in more social media tips you can check out some posts here! P.S. I am a Social Media Manager with a BS in Digital Audiences from ASU!

Follow me on instagram @cassiedenisco!

My Top Secret to Drive Traffic to My Blog

March 19, 2021

I get asked all the time, “cute blog but does anyone actually read it?”. People are shocked to find out yes, actually a lot of people read it, not just family or friends. I learned early on that if I wanted to make my blog a source of income I would need many, many people to read my posts. This lead to months of research trying to find anything that I could do to get traffic to my blog. Read more of my posts on blogs here.

I soon realized, driving traffic and eyes to a blog is a little different for everyone. The one thing I kept coming back to was Pinterest in my research. I could talk on and on about Pinterest and let my social media manager side really come out but for now I will stick to the basics and how I use it as a way to get people to read my posts.

Pinterest Basics

In case you don’t know, Pinterest is a social media app where you can curate boards based on different topics or categories. Pinterest is unique because it is basically a search engine. You type something in the top like you would on Google and many many pins come up. You can click on the pins, save them, or go directly to the link of the website they came from. If you’ve mastered SEO tactics, using Pinterest to create pins that will lead back to your blog should be a piece of cake for you. You can follow me on Pinterest here.

Creating Pins

Every single blog post I create has a corresponding pin. This is super important because the pin is linked to the post on my website. People who see the pin then can click on the link to my website. As you can see from these example pins, I use the same template so that when someone comes to my account there’s a bit of cohesiveness.

Another thing I like to do is post just the images from the blog post without a template. I’ve found that some people on Pinterest like more organic pins and others like the template format. Also, I’ve heard really great things about people who post videos.

The Title, Description, Link, and Alt Text are crucial for you to fill out with keywords. This is where the SEO tactics come in. I do some research by typing in some of the keywords from my blog post in Pinterest and use the ones that generate content similar to mine. I fill my description with keywords and a few hashtags relevant so that people who are searching for my kind of content find it.

Scheduling Pins

One giant tip I have for you is to only focus your energy on one or two social media platforms. For me, I focus on IG Stories and Pinterest. I find I get the most interaction from them and they get me the most link clicks. To save time, I like to use the app Tailwind where it schedules and then posts my pins for me. This is game changing because I can have 20-30 pins going up every week to boost my engagement without me having to sit and do it myself.

Tailwind also has a feature where you can just loop your old pins. This helps my content to show more often. Good analytics and posting frequently is the key to getting your pins seen and links clicked on. Good engagement rates pull your content up higher when someone searches your keywords.

Realizing how useful Pinterest is to me was something that took awhile. I really had to build up my content and post consistently but I cannot reccomend trying it. I used to think that getting traffic to my blog was going to be so difficult with low followers but literally the game changed when I started focusing on Pinterest.

Let me know if you have any questions about Pinterest or if you have any tips for driving traffic to your blog!!

How I Plan and Create Blog Posts

February 5, 2021

With having my blog for almost 2 years now, I’ve truly started to get into the flow of how to plan and create blog posts. The first word that comes to mind when I think of my early days of blogging is overwhelming. In the beginning, it definitely was hard to figure out what to do first or how to even plan a post. This system didn’t come overnight but I’m going to walk your through my process and hopefully can help you out sooner rather than later.

Step 1: Brainstorming

If you were to look at my notebook of ideas, you would think I was crazy. I literally write down any and every thought that comes to mind of a potential post or content idea. Maybe I’ll use it or maybe it will just sit in the notebook forever but I make sure to always write it down. This has helped tremendously because I have a notebook of ideas now, something I didn’t have before. I can easily look at it and get the creative juices flowing for picking a topic.

Step 2: The Topic

Sometimes I already know exactly what I plan to post. Others, I have to refer to my notebook to get an idea. I like to think of my topics in terms of categories from my site. You can see here my posts are always put into a different category. Not only does this keep my blog organized but it helps to keep my topics within my niche. If I wrote last post about beauty products, I’ll try to make sure this post is a recipe or puppy related. This helps to narrow my choices and keep you, my reader, getting fresh content each week. Let me know if you’re interested in a blog post dedicated to just blog topics in the comments below!

Step 3: The Outline

I can’t start writing unless I have an outline. This isn’t necessarily something I write out but it’s a picture in my head of how I want the post to look. If you notice, I use a similar structure for recipes but a different one for product reviews. The photos and fonts are also something I like to starting imagining during this plan and create stage. One thing I never actually do is start with an outline that already has content. I like to just be able to write so I make sure that the outline in my head is ready and then I’m ready to write.

Step 4: Actually Writing

This step is absolutely different for everyone. When I plan and create blog posts, I want to make sure I am open for my content to go in a different direction. This is why I never have a set in stone outline. I take my theme and just get to writing it and seeing where the words and content take me. Whether it’s a recipe or a in depth how to, this step is one that you have to master . It takes a bit to get into a rhythm with writing and once you find a way to be productive, you’re all set.

Step 5: Images & other Visual Content

This might be odd, but I like to write my entire post but leave sections labeled {image} or {video} so that I’m able to just write. One reason for this is so that I’m not slowed down by uploading or downloading extras. If I need to take the pictures of products, I like to do so before I even write so that I can already know what I’m talking about. Images really help to bring your words to life so taking your time on these images will make a serious difference.

Step 6: Visibility & Scheduling

Ensuring your post is visible and will drive traffic is a crucial component to blogging. Once I have a pretty final cut of the post, I will go through and make sure I’ve hit SEO points (search engine optimization) and tagged this post properly. I want to make sure posts have everything they need in order to be ranked well on places like Google. On WordPress, I have an SEO plugin that helps make my life easier. Check it out in the image below. In addition, I’ll schedule the post for a time that I’ll be able to make social posts about it.

SEO and how to SEO — Yoast SEO Plugin- WordPress

Step 7: Promotion

Once your post is entirely finished and scheduled, I like to spend time creating the promotional posts for it. For me, this means a Pinterest pin, Insta stories, and an Insta post. My blog automatically goes out to Facebook and Twitter. This is so helpful so I don’t have to worry about them. I like to use websites like Canva.com to create these. Canva makes things so easy for you if you have no graphic design background, like me. If you’re interested in trying out Canva, use my link here for free Canva credit! I highly recommend taking the time to announce your blog posts on your social media platforms. This helps to to increase your traffic and visibility!

I really hope that this post gives you at least a few tips and tricks on how to plan and create blog posts. Blogging can be really rewarding but definitely overwhelming when you are starting out. This process is one that helps me produce the best content for you guys so I was happy to share just a bit of my knowledge.

Feel free to leave me any questions you may have below and be on the look out for my next post!

Tips on Starting a Blog from a Social Media Manager

August 28, 2020

Everyone absolutely love my post about things I wish I knew before starting a blog which you can read here, so I thought I would share more tips on on starting a blog. These are tips that I have helped me to stay successful and these tips on starting a blog also help you maintain your blog for the long haul.

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Instagram @cassiedenisco

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Twitter @cassiedenisco

Pinterest @cassiedenisco

Tik Tok @skythefrenchgirl

Website www.cassiedenisco.com

What to Know Before Starting a Blog!

May 15, 2020

It’s absolutely wild to think that my first blog post ever was posted 1 year ago. I can’t believe that it’s my 1 year blog anniversary! I decided randomly one day to launch a blog and it has been the craziest year since. In honor of my first year as a blogger, I put together my list of 5 things you need to know before starting a blog.

1. Have a Plan

I started out my blog thinking I would just write some posts and upload them but I soon realized so much more goes into that. If I could give one piece of advice to a new blogger, I would absolutely say make yourself a schedule. Write on one day, take photos on another, and then plan for a day to upload and also post on social media to announce it. To gain traffic, you need take your time and a plan will help you stay on track.

2. Use Social Media

In the beginning of my blogging days, I only posted on Instagram to announce blog posts. Now, I have posts on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and Pinterest as well. Social media is a great way drive traffic to your blog but utilize all of it. I focused so much on only one site that my numbers weren’t as high as they could be. Now I have over 100,000 monthly views on my Pinterest posts which drives direct traffic to my blog.

3. Invest in Your Blogging Platform

I had initially played around with Wix for hosting my blog. After just a little bit of research, I found out that even though it was somewhat cheaper, it would be hard to monetize. I then decided to pay for WordPress and I could not be happier. Not only does it help you easily monetize, but there are so many themes to choose from. I know when starting out you might want to do it on the cheaper side, but in the long run investing in your site will absolutely pay off.

4. Learn all you can about SEO

When I first started posting, I had no clue what SEO was. As I started to get further into blogging, I learned that “Search Engine Optimization” is the key to getting your blog post seen in places like Google. While you should always be creating authentic content, mixing in SEO rich phrases and terms will help you in the long run. I ended up installing a plugin that does most of the SEO work for me but since I am a Digital Audience major, I know there are plenty of online resources to teach you all about it.

5. Success Won’t Happen Over Night

After about a month or two of blogging, I hit a plateau in my viewers and site traffic. I honestly became really discouraged because I thought I was doing so well. One major thing to realize about blogging is that it does take time. You have to grow your readership and create connections. If you stay the course, you’ll be just like me, one year later with a lot of knowledge and viewers!

I hope these tips on what to know before starting a blog help you. I jumped right into blogging not knowing everything but I seriously wouldn’t have changed a thing. This was definitely a challenging year but it was so rewarding in the long run. I learned so much about building websites and website performance and loved every minute of it.

These tips on what to know before starting a blog are things that I know now would have absolutely helped me earlier on. Thank you so much for 1 year of readings my blogs and connecting with me! It has seriously been amazing writing and growing as a person. Here’s to another awesome year of blogging!

Follow me on Instagram: @cassiedenisco !