If you’re anything like me you don’t just want to blog for fun, you actually want to CRUSH THIS THING and get enough momentum going so YOU’RE the one writing those envy worthy “How I Made $20K This Month Blogging” income reports! And like me, you probably want that to happen by Sunday.
I’ve seen lots of ‘start your blog today’ articles but none about how to compress time and use strategy to get your blog actually up and running and monetized in lightning speed! This post is about how to organize yourself and strategies to use so you can get it all done faster!
As a new blogger there is a HUGE learning curve and many small details to manage and it dawned on me that although there may be 13,678 steps to setting up your blog there are three main parts to creating a successful blog. Do you want to know what they are?
There are millions of posts about how to set up a blog. I’m actually writing one for you guys myself that will go over how I use Bluehost and WordPress.org and in the meantime you can find all my favorite vendors on my resources page.
The Three Main Parts To Creating A Successful Blog…
- Blog Set Up (hosting, design & technical)
- Content Creation (writing posts, creating images)
- Marketing (traffic, social media)
In the beginning, I was trying to DO THEM ALL and it felt like I was banging my head against the wall over and over. I kept getting stuck and it was really slowing me down.
And then it dawned on me that like most people I was probably good at two out of those three things. Well, maybe only really good at one and a half out of three. Was my blog doomed? Not at all.
But how do I do all that? How can I get it done by… yesterday?
Do What You’re Good At And Let Someone Else Do The Rest
I love to write, absolutely love it. I’m a fast writer and I have ideas for days. I have lists and lists of blog post ideas and I may not run out of things to write about for years. I’m decent with generating images using Canva but not as fast as I’d like to be. Nonetheless, I enjoy being creative so that also goes into the ‘like to do it’ column.
I live on Pinterest these days and I LOVE it! My list of followers is growing crazy fast and it’s only a matter of time before my site will be getting tons of traffic. So I also count marketing and traffic as something I enjoy and am good at.
But ask me about pop ups and SEO or coding and my eyes glaze over. Do I have my Yoast configured? Is my Google Tag Manager good to go? Uhmmmm. Truth be told yes. I know and understand the basics of all of those aspects of my blog but I had to do some serious brain stretching to get there and some pretty honest self evaluation to figure out where my skills were A+ and where they weren’t quite as strong.
I now have it ALL FIGURED OUT. I do what I love for myself (and possibly for others too!) and for the rest of the items on my blogging ‘to do’ list I either take a course, delegate, hire out or trade services with other bloggers.
The truth is that you don’t have to be good at all of it. Very few are. You don’t even have to be good at ANY of it. And getting stuck on something that just isn’t your strength can cost you time and money and really slow you down. Bummer.
Compress Time And Move Towards Success Faster
My general rule of thumb is that if someone else could do it faster and better than I would rather compress my time by focusing on what I’m best at and finding others who are best at what I’m not. The point is to get up and running and monetizing your blog FAST.
Let’s go piece by piece.
If Blog set up, and the technical aspects behind it, isn’t quite your area of expertise get as far as you can on your own and then jump on Fiverr and see if you can find someone who has the skills you’re looking for. If you want to save money, join a few “new blogger” Facebook groups and see if anyone there would be willing to swap or barter for blog help.
Are you great at creating graphics? A Canva or Pic Monkey wizard? A Tailwind Rock Star? Many aren’t and you might be able to trade those skills in exchange with someone who can do great work helping you configure your Google Analytics or your Yoast SEO.
What if you can’t find another blogger to swap help with, how do you pay for those services you can’t barter for? If you’re a great writer or great with graphics then perhaps you could offset those costs by also offering your writing services on Fiverr or in your Facebook group. Are you a rock star when it comes to creating board covers for Pinterest? Someone out there needs you!
Not the best at figuring out your own affiliate marketing strategy? Take a course like the one pro blogger Michelle Shroeder-Gardner teaches called Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing and you will get your affiliate sales on track. Michelle consistently makes $50,000.00 per month in affiliate marketing and so can you. Affiliate earnings alone could help offset any tech outside help you might need to hire.
Plan Your Strategy
Once you realize that you don’t need to DO IT ALL YOURSELF you can organize your ‘to do’ list by items you can handle and those you will have others handle for you. You will feel and be more organized and less stressed out and you’ll see your blog coming together faster.
Also, please be sure to check out my list of resources here for anything and everything I recommend to my readers. I only recommend things I use and love to help you compress time by following in my slipstream. I can’t wait for you to use these tips to organize yourself for blogging success!
Email me at [email protected] to let me know how it’s going for you!
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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