First off, I will give you some background on myself. I am currently a stay at home mom. We have 6 kids still at home. They range from 16 all the way down to two and eight months. To say the least we always have something going on with very little down time. So why start blogging you may wonder?
When I first thought about this I thought it would be a good way for me to have some communication outside of the house. A way for me to talk about things with other adults who have the same interest as me. I had no idea how big the blogging world was! And I certainly had no idea that there was money to be made at it too! The more I researched everything the more I knew that blogging was exactly what I was looking for. By no means is it easy. It takes a lot of time and some money to get things started. I am still new at this and I am continually reaching out to senior bloggers for advice. I hope I will be able to help others to start out and be successful at this. I would love for you follow me through this new journey in my life and see where it takes me. Here are some of the most important things you need to know to know how to start out.
1. Set aside time. Most of us think it will be easy to work from home and still take care of everything. At first I found myself scrambling in between naps or waiting until everyone went to bed to try to sit down and write. That is not productive for any of us. I became tired and stressed. Plus who can do their best work when they are hurrying or trying to multi task. I promise you that you will be a better writer and more productive if you set aside time, even if it only a few hours to start out with. Treat this like your job. You have to be disciplined and stay at it if you expect anything out of it.
2. Decide what it is that you are passionate about. What is it that gets you excited and keeps your attention? If you start writing about things you are not passionate about you will loose interest very quickly. I love being a wife, mother and living a clean life. I love to talk to people about these things and I love to help others. So that is what I focus on. For some it may be helping others stay fit, cooking or fashion. Then once you decide what it is that you are passionate about you need to research. Research your topic on other bloggers websites and see what sticks out to you. They are successful for reasons.
3. WIFM. What is in it for me. When someone is reading your blog, that is the reason they are reading it. What is in it for them? Give them a reason to want to read what you write. Of course we all write about our personal life at times,but even then give them something that they can relate to. Connecting with your readers keeps them interested and coming back to your website.
4.Think of a domain name. This will be what your readers use to find your website. Think of something that is meaningful to you yet is easy to remember. I have a friend who named her 10 blue eyes ( A family of 5 ). I just love the meaning of that. When I was thinking of mine I ask my husband what are some things that we love to do as a family. The first thing he said was sit out by the fire. So then it just clicked. If you would rather you can use your name or something related to what you will write about. In the end it is just a personal preference.
5.Set some money aside to invest into your business. If blogging is something you want to do as a pastime then you do not have to worry about putting money into it. There are free platforms that you can use that are perfectly fine. If this is something you want to make money at then you do have to pay for your host, as free host do not let you insert ads into your blog and this my friends will be how you make money. That will be the fun part. Between then and now though it is important that you choose the right host. The platform we all use primarily is Wordpress. This is free and if all you want to do is write, then download it and you are good to go. If you are going into this as a business then Blue Host and Wix are the host that I have found most bloggers use. Personally I like Wix. It is so easy to navigate and they have a lot of really good themes. This is where you will end up spending some money. I am not real computer savvy so I did hire someone to help me with the website. That was money well spent. So these are a few things to think about when starting. Check out the different options.
In the next blog I will help you set up your blog and give you step by step instructions once you get to the website. Together we can get this started! If you have any questions please get in touch with me. Also since I am new at this too I would love for you to subscribe then you will be notified when I have new blogs!
