If my very best friend was starting a blog, here’s what I would tell her…
First, you can do it. Really. Anything you truly put your mind to can absolutely be done.
Then I would ask her, what are you thinking about blogging about?
My guess is she would say something along the lines of… “I don’t know yet.” 😉
I’d laugh and tell her that my own blog has changed a lot over time. When I started I was sharing mainly healthy recipes and simple health & wellness tips, then it morphed to also cover kids activities and parenting, and now we also talk about how to make money from home. The bottom line is, blog about what you’re passionate about, what excites you.
The bottom line is, blog about what you’re passionate about, what excites you.
If you’re having a hard time narrowing it down, choose a name that is broad and can grow with you. The Realistic Mama let’s me cover a wide variety of topics relating to moms.
Choose a name that is broad and can grow with you.
Then our conversation would likely drift to time management and balance. How do you blog and take care of your kids and all your other responsibilities.
Great question.
Blog smarter not harder by focusing on the things that have the greatest impact and results.
I’d recommend focusing on ONE social media platform (or choose Google search engine traffic) for at least for the first 6-12 months. Learn everything you can about that ONE thing and do it extremely well instead of doing 4 social media platforms and search engine stuff with average results.
Choose whichever one excites you most, what do you want to stay up late learning more about… Facebook? Pinterest? Google?
For my blog, Pinterest is my main focus, brining in around 70-80% of my new readers. I attribute a large part of that to my LOVE for Pinterest. I spend a lot of time there, I love learning new strategies there and I love that Pinterest doesn’t require as much of my time as as other platforms, like Facebook, seem to.
Or maybe your topics would be best fit for Facebook. There are many bloggers I know who have HUGE success on Facebook. (Here’s a Facebook group all about Facebook growth strategies.)
Focus on ONE source to bring in pageviews.
Focusing on ONE thing means you have to be ok with saying NO to a lot of others opportunities and things that pull at your time. After 6-12 months of successfully doing ONE, it’s likely time to broaden to a SECOND.
Focusing on only one source for pageviews scares a lot of bloggers because you never know when a platform will change. Google changes it’s search engine rules. Pinterest or Facebook might change their algorithm again and suddenly your stuff isn’t showing up to as many people.
While this could happen, worrying about it is fear based thinking and will keep you from your biggest results. If something changes, simply change with it.
And most importantly, the entire time you were working on one platform extremely well and tons of people are stopping by your new blog MAKE SURE you are converting them to email subscribers because your email list is your most valuable asset of your blog.
Your email list will be the most valuable asset of your blog.
That’s the key.
Your email list.
Start an email list from day one, give your readers a great reason to join your newsletter list, treat them extremely well (AKA serve them) and your list will be the blood of your successful business.
If/when something changes on social media you still have a way to get ahold of your readers and turn them into clients/customers one day.
My last tip I would share with her is one word: NETWORK.
Network.
Get to know others who are doing the same thing you plan to do. Make connections. Learn from each other. There’s lot of Facebook groups for different blog niches: Kid Blogger Network. Inspired Blogger Network. Etc.
Immersing yourself into a blogging community will help you start to see, think and make smarter (not harder) blogging decisions.
Because in the end the goal is, well at least my goal is to… work less, make more, and spend more time with my hubby and kids. (And hopefully travel more too!)
I know I said networking was my last tip, but I’m sure as we ended our conversation she would likely ask one last question…
How do I start making money?
She knows that I made almost 6 figures last year working less than 20 hours a week.
First of all, think outside the box. When I first stated and didn’t have a large following, yet. I partnered with a bunch of small local business, including some friends (and local moms) who have at-home businesses. They paid between $5-$50 a month for an advertising space on my sidebar (and I also promoted them on social media and in some cases did giveaways with them). It was a great way for them to get exposure to new customers and a great way for me to have some “seed” money to start my blog with.
They were my advertisers for the first few months and then as my blog grew I slowly shifted over to Google Ads and then later having an ad network (AdThrive) help optimize all the ads on my site. Now our ads alone bring in a couple thousand dollars in revenue each month.
Or if you’re not big into advertisements, one blogger friend of mine makes over $50,000 a month in affiliate commissions! She has an awesome course where she explains how and what she does.
You can also create your own product: printables, an e-book, or a course.
Or look into sponsored posts, becoming a virtual assistant, freelance writing, selling on Amazon, and more.
There are so many ways you can make money blogging. Choose whichever one excites you most and start there. Don’t feel like you have to do them all at once.
You can check out my income reports if you need more ideas.
As you can tell, when my best friend and I chat, the conversation can get long. But the basic points, the “secrets” to success can be summed up in the following…
- You can do it. Anything you truly put your mind to can absolutely be done. Believe you can do it and you will.
- Choose a blog topic(s) you are passionate about (and keep the name broad if you’re not 100% sure on the topic).
- Time hack: pick ONE social media platform or Google search engine to learn extremely well and get the majority of your pageviews (new readers) from.
- Start collecting emails and creating a newsletter list from day ONE.
- Network with other bloggers, surround yourself with people you can learn from.
- Decide ONE money-maker to start implementing on your site, start implementing a SECOND once you feel ready.
xoxo,
Alida
P.S. If you’re looking for a tutorial on how to start a blog: I have a (free) step-by-step how to start a blog here. No tech knowledge required! 🙂
How to start a blog – click here.
Or pin this post for later…
P.S. Are you looking for extra side income? I make full-time income blogging part-time—check out this easy step-by-step tutorial on how start a blog (no tech knowledge required).Download My Free Family Organizer
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