My blog is a month old! Sometimes I wish I would have started it while I was on maternity leave, but it really wasn’t on my radar then. I didn’t decide I wanted to have a Mom Blog until Peanut was about 4 months old…and then it took me a few weeks to really decide I wanted to make a go at it!
Here are 5 things I learned in my first month of blogging:
- Self-hosting is the way to go. I used BlueHost and WordPress, and found it SO easy to create my domain, and get started on WP. There’s tons of tutorials on YouTube to get started, so whenever I needed help, I just searched on YouTube and found what I needed! Click here to start get your own domain on BlueHost, and get your blog going. Trust me, if I can do it, anyone can!
- There’s a lot more to blogging than writing. I guess I always thought you’d just write content, and people would come (SO naive HAHA!). There’s the aspect of incorporating social media to attract people to the blog, and get people to read it. Just because you write about it, doesn’t mean anyone will ever see it, sadly! Facebook blogging groups have really been an amazing help (and a huge eye-opener to the world of blogging). I’ve enjoyed and truly valued the interactions I’ve had with folks on these groups!
- You need people on your team. I don’t just mean friends and family, I mean virtual supporters too. See my above comment on the Facebook groups–having virtual support is amazing. When no one else comments on your post and one of your blogger friends does, it’s a huge confidence booster! But, make sure to give the support back. Don’t just take all the love and be greedy. Follow the people you are really inspired by! Some of my favorites are: Simply Every Blog, Busy Little Izzy, and Life of a Mom 2, just to name a few.
- Doing it all is hard. I mean…HARD. I work full time, so blogging on top of a full time job, taking care of a family, and finding time for this is hard. Doesn’t matter if you have a job, are a stay at home mom, college student, whatever…finding time for something other than your daily routine is really difficult. Trying to write posts, on top of taking pictures AND spreading it out to social media takes a lot of work. I usually write posts on the weekends, or Wednesday nights when my husband is out for a guys’ night. I use a lot of automated programs like Round Team for Twitter, Post Planner for Facebook, and Later for Instagram.
- If you’re not passionate about it, it won’t work. I say this to be harsh about it, because it happened to me before. Three years ago I tried to start a fashion and lifestyle blog. I was so excited about it at the beginning, but then realized…I’m NOT fashionable, and my life probably seems boring to people, so why am I bothering? Needless to say, I tried, but couldn’t get motivated. Having my daughter brought out a passion in me that I didn’t know I had. I love being a mom, and want to share all of these adventures!
- Sure, how about a sixth discovery?! 😉 It takes some monetary investment. It cost me money to set up my domain and hosting, and I’ve put some money into some programs and resources to help me get up and going since I want to commit to this for the long haul. If you’re not sure if blogging will be ideal for you long term, I’d recommend still paying for self hosting, and here’s why: 1) you can purchase for a one year term. Give yourself a year to test it out. It was less than $100 for me to get setup on the basics. 2) moving your blog from free hosting to paid after a while will be more headache than it’s worth. BUT, if you really don’t want to put any money down, just use a free service like Blogger or WordPress.com and get started. Good luck!
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Totally agree! It’s a lot more work than it seems like it will be when you get started. I blogged about teaching before I had kids and had free time (what’s that again?) but now finding time to connect on social media, write, and read other mama blogs is much more of a struggle. I’m trying to figure out how to balance all the things I need to do to make it work because I love the connections and the outlet of writing. I’ll have to look for some of those Facebook groups!
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HAHA YES! Free time?! What?!! It’s all just so hard. It’s a struggle with a lot of things, too. Like just today, I’m going “why did I waste money with getting Active Campaign, when now I need a PO box so that I can legally send out email newsletters, when NO ONE is reading my blog in the first place, and now I’ve spent all this money on something stupid?!” What a cluster sometimes! But it’s still fun–I just hope my blog has many more month-long anniversaries!!! 😀
I blogged for a long time several years ago, but it got to be a lot of work. But, I just picked it up again because I’m passionate about a topic and want to write about it. It’s hard not to compare yourself to the big bloggers when you first start out, and it is a lot of work, but I’ve been enjoying taking on the challenge again. I’m a full-time working mom of 2, so I totally get where you’re coming from! Congrats on making it a month!
Thank you!! It’s such a struggle sometimes, but you’re so right–have to not compare yourself to big bloggers, and just keep at it!!!
Yes to all of the above. I am currently using a free Blogger account and I have for the past 4 years. I’m launching a complete rebrand of my site and am moving to a self-hosted WordPress site. Finding the time is HARD and my blogging has ebbed and flowed. But now I’m looking into doing more freelance work and realized I probably need to be blogging more consistently on my site. My writing time is usually when baby is napping or when I dip out to a coffee shop for a few hours on the weekend.
Happy one month! Love your blog!
Thanks Risa! I really appreciate the sweet comments 🙂 Yes, part of me is like “whyyyyy didn’t I start this when I was pregnant and had more time for me?!” lol. Congrats on your relaunch!! Can’t wait to check it out!
I love the post. I think most us thought you could just write content and the people would come. I was so wrong! Sometimes I wish I could start all over again now that I know what I know now.
Thanks so much!!! Yep–all the bloggers I idolize and want to be like…now I truly know what they’ve accomplished and I respect the blogging profession so much more!!