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RedditFinding blogging tips that are useful and help with the actual process of starting and running a successful blog can be hard to find. Quite frankly, a lot of the tips are only things you can learn once you dive in. In this post I’m sharing everything I’ve learned since starting this blog.
In May it will be a three years from when I started taking blogging seriously and putting in hours of work towards making this blog a money making blog.There are a few things that I’ve learned on this journey.
If you are passionate about sharing knowledge and writing, blogging can be a really fantastic and enjoyable experience.
Who doesn’t want to make a living doing what they love? For me blogging is exactly that. I love every aspect of blogging. Writing, creating pictures, coming up with content, email lists, marketing, and all other aspects of blogging is something I genuinely enjoy.
Of course as with any new career blogging comes with it’s fair share of learning curves. In my first year of blogging, I’ve made mistakes and had quite a few successes. I’ve gone from $200 of extra income a month to it now making well into 5 figures a year. I want to share some of my biggest lessons with you so you can be encouraged to keep going.
Making Money Blogging Does Not Happen Quickly
For every overnight success blogging story there are 50 stories of people who it took years for them to make money from blogging. Building a money making blog is not an easy or get rich quick option. It takes time and dedication.
I’m almost 3 years in and while my story is a relatively a fast growth story compared to some people I can tell you it was not easy. I made building this blog a priority in my life to get here.
I woke up early, went to bed late, worked from sun up until bedtime on my days off in order to create more content and build this blog. I let the dishes wait, I stopped watching my favorite TV shows, and I even rearranged my work schedule to allow more time to commit to blogging.
Even then it took me three years to get my blog to this point. Blogging is hard work and it needs to be treated as a priority if you are planning on making money in this venture.
The One Size Fits All Plan Doesn’t Always Work
There is this theory that in order to be successful in blogging you must, write content, start an email list, offer freebies to get people on your list, create a product, and sell that product. I’m telling you that isn’t the only way to find success with blogging.
Finding success with blogging boils down to this. Find out where your ideal audience hangs out and market your blog there.
You can offer digital products, do affiliate marketing, do sponsored posts, have ads, offer services, create a membership site, or offer physical products.
What works for one blogger isn’t necessarily going to work for you and you need to take time to really try different avenues out before you find the right one for you.
My success on Pinterest doesn’t mean you will find success with Pinterest in your niche. Your success with Facebook doesn’t mean I will find success on Facebook.
Check out my blog post on What It Actually Takes To Start A Blog.
Content Is About You But Not Solely About You
Something I heard often when I first started blogging was content shouldn’t be about you. It should be about your audience. While this is true my biggest mistake was taking this too literally.
Your content should solve a problem for your audience but it should explain how you went through the same problem and how you solved it.
If you leave yourself out of your content there is no reason for people to really trust what you are saying in your content. This was my biggest mistake to date and I’m still going through and updating old content to add my own personal experience into these pieces.
In order to find success in selling products and affiliate marketing you must build trust with your audience by sharing your own personal experiences. You need to talk about the problem you faced, how it felt, and how you fixed it.
Blog Your Passion
There are bloggers who blog about blogging out there who tell you to start a blog about a popular niche. While I used to believe like this I also figured out along the way that you need to pick a niche you are passionate about.
Let’s face it, cleaning is not something that I am particularly passionate about however, it happens to be a popular topic I found myself writing about.
Instead, what I started to do was write about the fastest ways to get your cleaning done when you hate cleaning. Why? Because I’m passionate in my hate for cleaning. I don’t like doing it, I know others don’t like to do it, so I’m going to give you the fastest ways to get through it so you can just be done with your cleaning.
If you are going to pick a popular topic find a passionate spin on that topic so you can present it in a way that people can relate to. Giving tips and advice on topics you aren’t passionate about will be boring to you and that will reflect in your writing.
Think Critically About The Advice You Receive
People will often use social proof as a way to sell their methods. Social proof are numbers, stats, and recommendations from students, users, and their own social media profiles. When I say think critically I mean actually dig into the person who is selling the information and verify that they are legitimate.
Don’t just take what other people say as proof either. Look into their claims by checking that they are who they say they are.
Are they a best selling author? Does their site really get that amount of traffic? Do they actually make that amount of sales? What was the original site they tested this technique on and what was it’s niche?
What works in blogging changes a lot and pretty quickly. What worked 10 years ago, doesn’t work today. Even, what worked 3 years ago, doesn’t work today.
You must dig deep into how someone came back with the results they have. You must study the successes of those in your same niche to see how they are doing things. See if you can apply those same tactics to your own blog and if it will produce results.
This even goes with what I tell you. On this blog I’m in the mommy lifestyle niche. What works for me may not work for the DIY niche, or a mommy kids activities blog, or a food blog. You must think critically about if the information you receive will work for you.
Remember, what works for one person doesn’t mean it will also work for you. You must try, tweak, and test to find what really will work for you. Listening to what your audience wants is the best place to start.
Learn To Use Your Blinders
In blogging we often get distracted by new shiny things. It could be a new course, a new marketing technique, a new popular topic, a new anything and everything.
It’s important to put your blinders on and focus on one thing at a time. If you are in the beginning, you should probably be focused on creating loads of fantastic content. If you are somewhere in the middle you are probably focusing on marketing. If you’re already successful you are probably focusing on scaling your income.
If you allow yourself to be distracted by the new shiny thing every single time you are going to find yourself not getting anything done at all.
They way I combated the new shiny thing was by setting a goal every single month. This goal is something I needed to get done in order to grow my blog. I would avoid Facebook groups – because that’s usually where my new shiny object syndrome came from – and put my blinders on to focus on reaching my goal.
The second part to putting on your blinders is this. If you are constantly switching up what you are doing you will never see if one thing works for you. Putting on your blinders and focusing on doing things one way for a month or so will help you to fully understand what works and what doesn’t for your blog. Then you’ll be able to make more educated changes to do more of what works.
Final Thoughts
I’m not done learning all of the things blogging has to teach me. I’m also not done sharing everything I learn. Blogging is an ever changing process and with each and every change there are areas that will need to be adjusted. I know in the future I will have more important blogging tips for you.
Stay open to what blogging will bring to you and you can find an extremely rewarding experience. Blogging can open up opportunities to careers, it can bring customers to your business, or it can be a business all on it’s own.
Let me know what you have learned from blogging in the comments below. Follow me on Pinterest for more like this and pin this to your business and blogging boards.
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