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Are you interested in getting into blogging? As you get started on your own journey, be sure to read these 7 tips to starting a blog! I will also share a bit about my own back story and the experiences that have brought me to where I am today.
A Little Background
Time for a bit of a story, a recap of how I got started into blogging and what I have done up until now. Going back in time just a bit, we find ourselves in the fall of 2019. I had been teaching and mentoring in an elementary school for 9 years. I loved the children I got to work with and I had many great colleagues.
I was now at a crossroads in my life. The previous December I had given birth to my first baby, a beautiful little girl. She definitely changed our lives for the better! And with that change came another life-changing decision, should I continue working or stay at home?
After several important conversations with my husband (who is super supportive!), we decided it would be best for our family if I stayed home to take care of our daughter.
Enter a whole new life! I had dreamed about being a stay at home mom for years, now that the moment had come it seemed almost surreal. I finished out the school year, then packed my things and moved them home. My daughter and I spent every day together. My husband worked hard for our family (something he still does!) and we were doing well.
As Fall 2019 began, I was feeling a bit restless. My daughter and housework kept me plenty busy, but I was missing the learning factor of trying new things. I really wanted to find a way to continue my own learning while fulfilling my dream of being a wife and mother.
Cue the internet searches. I typed all kinds of things into Google. Jobs popped up from data entry to teaching English to kids in China. I looked a little more into some of these options, but nothing seemed to fit.
My “aha” Moment
One day in October as I was searching the internet, once again. I came across an article/link talking about creating my own website/blog. This is something I had NEVER even considered.
Create my own website?? What? How?
Curiosity got the best of me and I clicked through. Before I knew it, I had signed up for the free starter membership with Wealthy Affiliate. My own little website was in the beginning stages!
I loved the idea of sharing things I know and learn, continuing my own education, having the potential to make a side income, and being able to do it in my own time frame! I had finally found the thing I was searching for.
My Blogging Journey
My husband was supportive from the beginning. What started out as an idea on a whim turned into something a bit more tangible. I quickly upgraded to the Premium membership in Wealthy Affiliate. After all, I wanted to give this my best shot and having the premium membership gave me access to all kinds of resources, training, support, and a community to collaborate with.
I was off and rolling! To say it was a learning curve would be a bit of a disservice, I went from knowing nothing about building a website and blogging to creating menus and content.
Can I just say I’m so grateful for people who have walked this path before me and are so willing to share their wins and losses?! Other people have been an enormous help to me.
Great Changes
After about a year of blogging, I decided I just wasn’t happy with the original domain URL I had purchased. Every article took days and days to finish and publish. I couldn’t think of interesting topics to write about and I was just getting frustrated with the whole thing.
So I completely revised my whole website. I bought a new domain name, changed the title, logo, and tagline to better match the feel and things I wanted to share on my website. It was so relieving! I felt like I had been working within a confined space and now the pathway had opened right up.
7 Tips To Starting A Blog
Now…..after all of that, have I piqued your interest? Have you been looking for a ‘side hustle’ but have been unsure of what to do or how to start?
Let me suggest creating your own website/blog. There are many ways to do it, but I’ll be sharing from my own experience with Wealthy Affiliate (naturally!) It would be hard to share someone else’s experience 😉
#1 Just Do It
You may have a million excuses why you should wait to start your blog. Life is crazy (when isn’t it?), you are so busy (what is filling your time?), or a bunch of other things our minds are great at telling us.
My best advice in this area is to just get started. It doesn’t mean you have to commit to hours and hours of work on your blog every day, just push the button that gets the ball rolling.
#2 Narrow Down, But Not Too Far
When I first started out, I had narrowed down to a niche I really didn’t love and I ended up struggling hard core to keep writing about it. Don’t do that too yourself! Try to find a happy balance between narrowing down your niche so you can reach a specific group of people and not narrowing down so far that you run out of things to write about.
#3 Learn From Others
There are so many bloggers out there! If there is a particular niche (topic) you are interested in writing about, there is most likely someone else out there who has done it. Take advantage of the wisdom that has been learned through experience and that so many people are willing to share. There is no need to reinvent the wheel! It has been done. Learn from others, add your own twist, and you’ll be well on your way.
#4 Make Your Posts Easy To Read
Have you ever pulled up an article and saw a whole chunk of text smashed together on the screen? Yuck! I’m not a big fan of feeling overwhelmed and that style of writing is just not for me.
Try to write your articles so you have things broken up into smaller, more readable paragraphs. Adding headlines along the way can help your readers know what you’ll be talking about in each section.
#5 Write To One Person
Don’t I want to reach a bunch of people? Of course, you do! But a handy tip I have learned along the way is to not try so hard to write to the masses. Sometimes I have felt like I was trying to reach so many people at the same time, I was speaking so broadly that no one got it. The advice here is to write as if you are writing your blog post to a friend. It’s something I now try to do, it’s always a work in progress!
#6 Ask For Feedback
It is hard to critique your own work, so don’t be afraid to ask for help! Asking a spouse, friend, or family member to read through your blog post before hitting publish can help you tweak a few things to make it even more relevant and helpful to your readers. As you get further into the blogging world, you will likely be joining groups and online communities of like-minded people who can be very supportive!
#7 Be willing to Invest
Starting out, I would 100% recommend taking advantage of the free tools and resources out there. You’ll want to get your feet wet and do some trial and error runs for yourself. Once you feel like you have a basic grasp on things don’t be afraid to put a little investment into your business.
Paying for things like good hosting, graphic design tools, and stock photos can go a long way in helping your blog grow. A recent investment journey I have started on is Canva Pro, it has been incredibly helpful and totally worth it! You can check things out on Canva for free before jumping in.
There You Have It
Well, there it is, my story and beginning tips! Your journey will certainly be unique to you. Each of us come from different backgrounds and experience, which is what makes the entrepreneurial world flow. We need each person’s contributions to the world, we need YOUR contributions! If you have even the slightest inkling to give blogging a shot, jump on it. You never know what you mind discover within yourself.
If you are concerned about being a happy stay at home mom, try some of these tips. It’s amazing what can happen when we take care of ourselves too!
What has your journey been like? What are you going to do from here?
