We start and somehow we convince ourselves blogging going to be SO easy. Set up a blog on wordpress.org, write a few posts, tell a few friends and then… crickets. How come blogging works for everyone but me?
Oh, the indignation! We feel annoyed, frustrated, and maybe even emotionally triggered!
If you’re reading this article then just know that blogging IS already working for you because you took the first step and started a blog. Congrats on that! That alone means you’re pretty awesome so keep that up! And since you’re not quite getting the results you needed you searched Pinterest or Ms. Google and ended up here. There you go being all awesome again!
But, are you ready to have your blogging tough love straight talk? Because I’m not going to sugar coat this for you. Besides, I already know you can handle it and I’ve already got solutions for you so let’s go.
The truth is blogging is not a get rich quick thing. It just isn’t. The bloggers whose income reports we all read and drool over are successful because it has taken them months, if not years, of hard work to build to that point.
If you haven’t already started your blog you’ll definitely want to check out How To Start Your Blog Easily In Ten Minutes!
There, I said it. It’s going to take time and work but doing the right things can pay really off.
Does that mean you can never get there? No. You can get there. You just need to do a few things differently.
1) Self-audit your blog. I mean it. Grade yourself. Is your goal a moneymaking blog? Ok, so is your chosen niche a moneymaker? Are your graphics engaging? Is your blog inviting? Easy to navigate? Does your blog scream newbie? Are you posting consistently? Once a week or just once a month?
AND
2) A Peer group audit. Ask some of your fellow blogging friends (through Facebook or other social media platforms) who are at a similar level to you if they would be interested in reviewing your blog and vice versa and sharing feedback. You might be surprised at what they catch or how another set of eyes might be able to help you. A LOT.
Blogging doesn’t just work for everyone else. Blogging can also work for you. Now let’s get into details on how to do those audits so you can really benefit from them.
Self Audit
Let’s go over some of the basics to cover in your self-audit. Is your niche a moneymaker? The top moneymaking blogs are in personal finance and health and fitness niches. A quick google search of your specific niche and the specific additional ways to profit on it can help verify if you’re on the right track.
Is your blog self-hosted? If you’re on wordpress.com, you’re seriously limiting your chances of being able to monetize your blog. You need to be on wordpress.org and be self-hosted. And it’s really inexpensive. I use Bluehost and pay only $3.95 per month. If you use my link you can also get your domain for free!! ($10 value!)
Also, if you’re just starting out or on a budget then just get the basic package–skip all the extra features for now. You can always go back and add those later. Save your budget for other essentials that will help you monetize your blog now. We’ll get to those in a minute.
Graphics
Are your graphics engaging? Is your blog easy to navigate? Canva is a super useful site where you can make anything and everything from your logo, pin-worthy pins, social media banners and even printables and freebie giveaways and its so easy to use. And if graphics isn’t your strength then Fiverr is a great place to go if you want to hire a freelancer to help you with graphics, pins or blog design.
Plugins
Do you have the right plugins set up and working for you? Yoast for SEO, Jetpack for analytics, Social Warfare for getting and tracking those oh so important social shares. You don’t want too many plugins as they can slow your blog down, just the most essential ones you will actually use. If you’re not at least using Yoast, Jetpack and Social Warfare I would grab those quick! They both have a free version – and if you want you can upgrade later to their pro versions later when you’re making the big bucks. I’m currently still using the free versions for both of those plugins.
You can also read my post about Why Your Blog Is Going To Fail Without These Five Essential Plugins for more details!
Posting On A Schedule
Are you posting consistently? A great way to ensure this is to work in batches so you can bank posts. Take a week and challenge yourself to write one post a day for seven days. The writing will come faster each time you do it and then you’ll have several weeks of content ready at your fingertips. It is also a great idea to make two or more pins per post on Canva and have those ready and uploaded into your wordpress.org media library so you can streamline the posting process. A lot of times you’ll see bloggers start to make money in their 4th – 8th month of blogging. It sometimes works out that way because publishing one or two posts per week finally gives them enough content and enough pins to actually drive enough traffic to make those conversions happen.
Affiliate Marketing Strategies That Work
If you’ve already got all those plates spinning and things still aren’t quite up and running the way you’d like them to be, you might need to re-think how you plan to monetize your blog. Affiliate Marketing is the first way I was able to monetize my blog and I used Michelle Schoerder-Gardner’s Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Course to learn how. I took her course in May of 2018 and I’ve already made my first affiliate sale with the knowledge I gained!!! And you can too! It will help get you set up with affiliates and links so when you drive gobs of traffic from Pinterest, you will actually be able to convert some of it and monetize all the hard work you’re doing in setting up your blog.
Michelle makes over $50,000 per month just on affiliate sales on her blog each month and the private facebook group she includes with her course is a daily stop on my blogging check list. It’s been an invaluable resource for me. I can connect with other bloggers and pick their brains. I know it will be of value for you as well. Check out more details about Michelle’s Affiliate Marketing Course here.
No gobs of traffic you say? Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered there too! If you don’t already have your business Pinterest account set up and your boards all organized, take an afternoon and set yourself up the right way on Pinterest. Remember to optimize your profile description and your board descriptions by doing keyword searches right on Pinterest!
If you need any extra help with Pinterest, check out Pinterest Traffic Avalanche from Create And Go. It is the ‘go to’ class on driving *free* traffic from Pinterest! I honestly don’t know where I would be without it. My blog traffic has literally doubled since I took their course! Registering for the course also allows you access to their private facebook group where you can ask all your burning Pinterest related blogging questions.
Alex and Lauren of Create And Go recommend using Tailwind which is a Pinterest approved scheduler (I also use Tailwind myself and couldn’t live without it.) They’re currently making $120,000 + per month on their two blogs so I would say they’re probably doing something right because they’re making a real income and because their course has completely helped me grow my blog traffic!
I also recommend Carly Campbell’s course, Pinteresting Strategies to help with a purely manual pinning strategy if that’s more your style. Carly went from 0 to 200,000 page views per month in seven months using her strategy on her Mommy On Purpose blog and her course is really well priced and value packed at $64. She also includes membership to her private Facebook group. Again, I cannot stress enough how valuable these groups are!
Also, it’s worth it to mention that I took both of those Pinterest courses because I wanted to learn BOTH strategies and I actually use a combination of them on my blog.
Self Audit Recap
So how did your self-audit go? Did you get an A? Or do you need to go back and shore up some of your blogging efforts? Don’t despair if your blogging to-do list is pages long. Mine usually is. Just remind yourself that blogs aren’t built in a day.
Peer Blog Audit
When you join one of the private Facebook groups from Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing or Pinterest Traffic Avalanche or Pinteresting Strategies you will immediately find yourself immersed in the company of other bloggers. Some are well known (and very sucessful!!) and others will be lesser known beginner bloggers like yourself. If you try to get feedback from fellow bloggers, I recommend that you seek out ones at your level to see if they’d be interested in giving feedback on your blog and vice versa. If they agree, also have them follow a checklist of the kind of feedback you’re looking for so all your important points are covered by everyone.
Graphics and Images, Navigation, Posts, Links, Pinterest Strategy are good places to start.
Try and ask for (and give) compliments, comments and, of course, also suggestions.
And then implement what makes sense to you. And rinse and repeat. I would get feedback from at least five other bloggers. It’s a great and free way to figure out if what you’re doing is working for you. And more importantly, to figure out what’s not working for you so you can fix it.
Final Thoughts
I would recommend doing a full self-audit first before you take it to your peer group. Set a schedule and get your blog as far as you can get it so when they’re seeing it they’re seeing your best shot. But don’t wait too long either. You can take five years to monetize your blog – or just five weeks. Front loading your set up and investing in your blogging education can bring you light years ahead of where you started and help you monetize your blog faster.
Blogging can work for lots of people but it’s not an instant, or overnight thing. And if it’s not working for you yet then apply what has been covered here and hopefully great things will come your way! As always I’m here to help you on your personal financial journey and you’ll always have access to all my best resources here!
Let me know if this helps you or if you have any other ideas about how I can help you reach your blogging or personal financial goals!
I love sharing my blogging tand work from home resources and ools and tips and have compiled a list of my favorite resources here for you to review and use. I will only recommend things I’ve used myself and believe in.
Some Of My Favorite Resources…
*This page contains affiliate links which means that if you click on a link I may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend things I personally use and like. Thank you for supporting my blog!
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To help you start your blog today, here are some of my favorite blogging resources…
Bluehost: I’ve been with them from the beginning and have had nothing but a great experience. You can self-host your blog for as little as $3.95/month plus with my link you’ll also get a free domain ($10 value!)
Tailwind: My go to Pinterest scheduler – oh where would I be without you! Tailwind has automated my pinning and I simply couldn’t live without it! I started with the basic plan and have since upgraded to their unlimited tribes power up so I can make the most of my tribes and their reach to grow my traffic!
Fiverr: Freelancers can be invaluable to bloggers. Finding someone in a pinch to help you with an aspect of your blog can save you time and make you money!
You can also find a full list of my favorite resources and online tools here!
*This post may contain affiliate inks which means if you click a link on this page and make a purchase we may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. We only recommend products we use and love. Thank you for supporting our blog! Our polices page can be found here.
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