A Lifestyle, Grooming And Technology Blog



Always wondered if you could make money playing video games? Gaming is nothing more than a pastime for many of us – but for others it’s a livelihood. Turning gaming into an income isn’t easy. Such work is competitive and you may need a high level of skill. However, if you’re dedicated enough, you could get to make money doing the thing you love. Here are just several ways to turn gaming into an income.
Play online casino games
Online casino games are hugely popular. Earning money through these games is largely down to chance, but there are strategies to reduce the risk and lower your losses. Some casino sites offer free rounds and bonuses to new players. Using free slot machines with bonus rounds, you may be able to minimise your losses and potentially win more. Some players have earnt huge amounts simply by making use of these freebies and keeping to this strategy.  
Write video game reviews
Video game reviewers are paid to play and write critiques of video games. This can be a great job for gaming enthusiasts that also love writing. Having an English or Journalism qualification could help when trying to land a job at a publication. Most game reviewers spend many years first doing small gigs at lesser known gaming blogs and magazines. There’s also the option of starting your own gaming blog and building this up until you earn money through it (although this is no easy task).  
Create Youtube ‘Let’s play’ videos
Many of us watch ‘Let’s play’ videos on YouTube. Some YouTubers have made millions of dollars out of these videos. However, this involves getting millions of views and subscribers. To build up a successful channel, you need to have engaging content. Fortunately, starting a YouTube channel is easy – investing in a good quality microphone and editing software could be worthwhile, but you likely won’t need anything else.
Test video games
Another way to make money playing video games is to get into video game testing. Game developers often hire testers to help iron out bugs before releasing games to the general public. To become a video games tester, you’ll generally need a degree in computing or software development. An understanding of programming is often needed when looking for ways to find and fix bugs.
Become a professional gamer
There’s also money to be made by taking part in gaming tournaments. If you’re up for the challenge, it could be worth finding a tournament online and signing up. The bigger the tournament, the bigger the prize – although you can bet that most of the bigger tournaments will be made up of some of the world’s most highly skilled players.





If you’re a blogger, you’ll be all too aware of how difficult it can be to make money. It takes time to grow your blog enough to make money, let alone an income. However, with consistency and determination, it can be done! 
That being said, you might still have weeks or months where you’re not making a lot, so it could be a good idea to look into ways you can supplement your income. Below, you’ll find some fun ways to supplement your income as a blogger. Take a look and see if you can make more money! 

  1. Sell A Skill
Do you have a skill? Maybe you’re a talented artist, or you can write copy. You could potentially sell your skills using an online platform such as Fiverr or People Per Hour. It’s really easy to get started. Alternatively, you could sell your crafts using your own website, although setting up a real side hustle will take a substantial amount of time and this might stop you from focusing on your blog. 

2. Create An Online Course
Creating an online course to go on a site like Udemy can take time, but once it’s done, you can make money from it time and time again. You could create a course based on anything: tell others how to blog or write well, show people how to knit cardigans, whatever you like! 

3. Write An Ebook 
If you have knowledge around a certain subject, you could write an Ebook on it. Again, this is something you can put the work into once and then make money from multiple times. Some people even like to write numerous Ebooks so they can keep on making passive income. You could write a fictional Ebook if you wanted, but it can be much harder to sell these. Either way, marketing your Ebook will be important. 

4. Use Cashback Sites Cashback sites are a really simple way to have more money. Simply sign up and use them each time you go to buy something online and you can let the funds build up until you feel like withdrawing them.



5. Consider Matched Betting
Now, stay with me here. It sounds too good to be true, and so people automatically assume that it is. Matched betting can be tough to understand at first, but there are sites like Profit Accumulator that can walk you through it step by step - you can even sign up for free and make some money so you can see for yourself that it isn't a con. Of course there are drawbacks, and you do need to put time and effort into it. However, you can take advantage of free bets and make a decent amount of money when you do it right.

6. Make A YouTube Channel To Go With Your Blog
If you haven’t already got a YouTube channel, this could be a great way to make some money along side your blog. You will need to grow your YouTube channel and make regular videos, but once you monetise them you have the potential to make money from them forever.




Back in September of last year, the ASA issued this document called 'An Influencer's Guide to Making Clear that Ads are Ads'. It's only become a thing on social media over the past month or so because a number of high profile celebrities were called out for lack of disclosure but it's a case of better late than never as there is much uncertainty out there around influencer content and how exactly it should be represented to readers.


Today, I'm going to do a bit of an deep-dive into what these changes mean for us bloggers and influencers, what we need to be aware of and how we can ensure we're following them, as well as going a little into the background of why these guidelines have been put in place. I hope this is useful and if you have any other questions or concerns - please do let me know in the comments.

So it's all about making it absolutely clear to readers if a brand is driving content, either through payment or gifting or both. It also covers the usage of affiliate links, where the brand knows if a sale has come to them via an influencer and will pay said influencer a commission (typically 3-5%) through a third party, if the customer keeps that item.

Up until this, almost all bloggers would have used the word AD to indicate that a piece of content was being paid for. If an item had been gifted however, the guidelines were not clear about using the word AD. Nor was it clear in the case of affiliate links. It was always just good practice and fair disclosure to indicate gifting and affiliate links and most bloggers did this using words at the foot of the post or in the body of the text.

The guidelines aim to create a clear and consistent approach so it is clear when influencers are working with brands and on what basis. This means that consumers will know what to look for and will be informed right off the bat if they're consuming content that is a brand promotion or sponsorship. As many of us like to incorporate brand content seamlessly into non-branded content so it feels authentic to us, this makes it even more important to be clear on when consumers are being advertised to.


So what should you do? Well step one is to update or create a disclosure page for your blog, which allows you the space to explain the guidelines and how you will be complying with them. I personally also link this at the bottom of my posts that contain gifted items or contain paid-for content - it just directs people to more information without having to put paragraphs of text under each post! Even my own disclosure page needs work - I want to make everything clear and cover off any concerns or questions readers may have, but I'm not sure if my desire to address everything makes it messy and difficult to digest... It's definitely something I plan on revisiting regularly to ensure it's as clear and concise as possible.

Welcome back to my Vinyl Arrivals series! It's been a while but I've picked up some new records lately so wanted to share my thoughts on them. Most of them are from Amazon, as are 99% of the purchases in my life, which means they're all brand new but I really want to get into the habit of buying them second hand from places like Ebay or Depop. Somehow they just sound better once they've been played loads,  you really get that awesome vinyl crackle.

I also got a new record player for my birthday not long ago, which has inspired me to start shopping again (oops). The sound is great as it came with bluetooth speakers which have a much warmer tone than the stereo set that were in my previous set up. Ok let's get into what I've picked up over the past few weeks..

Eric Clapton - Unplugged (1992)

I'm a massive fan of acoustic blues and it doesn't get much more authentic than this album from Eric Clapton. Recorded in front of a live audience, it's a super stripped back sample of some of his greatest  songs. It's also on 180g meaning the sound is even richer than on previous recordings. My favourites are Layla and Tears in Heaven.

John Mayer - The Search For Everything (2017)

What can I say about John Mayer? He's the reason I got into playing guitar and his songs always feel like they're so personal and speak to you on so many levels. This album is so different, and in many ways shows his maturity from early pop-rock into full on soulful melodic blues. It's impossible for me to pick a favourite track from this album, but if you're unsure on whether to give it a listen then just go for it. A must for any blues collector in my mind.










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