Where Did THAT Come From?! Third Month Blogging

Where Did THAT Come From?! Third Month Blogging

I’ll be honest, I lost myself a little in my third month blogging. I got caught up in trying to do it all and start to monetize as much as all of the other bloggers around me, and I got lost.

But thankfully, I found myself and got back on track! Yay!

I’ve learned a lot since I first started blogging, and even last month I thought I had a better hang of it. But I still find myself learning a lot and trying to get the hang of everything very quickly. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t… at all!

First, a little bit about me:

A few months ago, I thought that it was a joke to be a “full-time blogger.” And now here I am trying my hand at it!

If you only remember one thing about me, it’s that I’m not special. Not even close. I’m so average. I’m not a millionaire (far from it!). I don’t have the time to spend 24 hours a day working on my blog. I don’t have an English or journalism degree. And I’m definitely not a grammar pro (thanks to a free app called Grammarly, I don’t have to worry about looking like an idiot when I post things!).

I do love to write and I love to help people. And I’m really good at cutting out spending and finding new ways to save money. Through my blog, I have a way to help people find answers to their questions about how to save money, live on a budget, and get in control of their finances.

By writing about what I love, I’m hoping to be able to provide my family with a second income, while getting to stay at home with my children.

*Update (6/28/16): If you’re thinking about starting your blog for profit, you need to read Abby Lawson’s book Building a Framework: The Ultimate Blogging Handbook. If I had this book when I was starting out, it wouldn’t have taken me so long to figure out what I was doing! She has 209 pages of seriously amazing content for you to know exactly how she went from a hobby blog to earning a six-figure income!

These are all of the things that I’ve learned and all of the things that have worked for my in my third month blogging for profit.

Sverve:

I still love this platform. I’ve gotten consistent work through them. Even just a few paid tweets here and there really add up at the end of the month! Plus, it’s another really cool place to connect with a lot of other bloggers!

Infolinks:

I used to just use Adsense, but now I’ve started using Infolinks as well. Even if you barely make anything on Adsense, if you use Infolinks too, you’ll be making basically double the ad income. I’ve been pleased with the results! Still not an overwhelming amount of ads, but it definitely helps add up at the end of the month.

Instagram:

The more I post, the more followers I gain! I think I’m starting to get the hang of it! And of course, never overlook the tags! It seems like the best place to go tag crazy is in the comments section. So you type in the description and then add all of the crazy tags you want to in the first comment.

Facebook:

Get. On. Facebook! I post at least 4 times every day (sometimes 6 or more, but always in the same intervals or at the same times):

• 1 recipe share
• 1 practical tip share
• 1 photo share
• 1 of my own posts.

This has been really interesting. I’ve doubled my Facebook likes in the past month by doing this! Love it!

I’m also in a few different groups on Facebook for bloggers. We all share each other’s content and like each other’s pages on all different sites. It’s a lot of fun to connect this way!

*Update (6/28/16): This is the book that took my friend, Brittany Ann from Equipping Godly Women, from 1,000 to 100,000 Facebook likes! Start off on the right foot with Pinterest and with Facebook!

Pinterest:

Oh my goodness, I love Pinterest! I’m finally starting to see some repins on my stuff!! Yay!!

*Update (6/28/16): Pinterest has a lot of tips and tricks that I wish I’d known from the beginning! This is the Pinterest Strategy Guide that I wish I’d known about from the beginning. If you’re serious about your blog, check it out for sure!

Twitter:

I basically use Twitter to post quotes and some pictures about coffee (I’m an addict. No shame.), but I also use it as the only place where I advertise.

I’ve found that posts with pictures often really well! Much better than just a text-only tweet.

I schedule at least 10 tweets each day (using Hootsuite, which I love!) usually for things like Amazon’s daily deals (which are always a high click rate), and all of my ShareASale content for things ranging from Fanatics (huge on Sundays using #football or #becausefootball), to Cents of Style (ALWAYS a high click because of how great the deals are and how great the pictures they have are).

Periscope is really cool

It’s like being able to get to know your favorite bloggers one-on-one. I absolutely LOVE Crystal Paine’s scopes every day. She does a daily Money Making Mom scope which has helped me A LOT with my business plan and model.

Not to mention, she’s really just a cool person. She always keeps in touch with her followers and loves to hear from them. And I never would’ve know that if I didn’t follow her on Periscope. Periscope also allowed me to get into a Pinterest group where (cue fan-girl scream) Crystal followed me on Pinterest!

Amazon affiliate income is basically ALL of my income… and it’s jut from ONE post!

I wrote this essential oil rollerball recipe post and it’s been going mini-viral since I posted it! This post has brought me so much affiliate income, I can’t believe it. I’m making $40 a month (at least!) from this one post… and I still only have 2,500 pageviews a month!!

It’s crazy!! But this has taught me about how affiliate sales works. Amazon’s affiliate program is 100%wortht it if you haven’t already applied for it!

Share A Sale:

This is the affiliate network I use for everything other than Amazon, and I’ve really liked it a lot. I’ve used it for everything (football, clothes, cloth diapers, Christmas cards… there’s a lot there). The affiliates also send you emails (sometimes 3 or more in a day) when they have a new promotion that’s likely to be a big seller. It can be a little bit overwhelming, but the way Share A Sale is set up makes it really easy.

Sales is NOT for me I can’t do it all

I’m not a sales person. I’m just not. I’ll tell you guys all about my favorite stuff and what’s worked for me, but when it comes to trying to give you a scripted sales pitch… it’s just not me. I’m really bad at it, too! So I won’t force it if it isn’t coming from a genuine place.

Wake up earlier

I go to bed at 1am and get up at 7am no matter what. Getting a good schedule going with a great planner has made all the difference in the world. It helps me to plan out my day.

I enrolled in Crystal Paine’s Makeover Your Mornings class and it really has lived up to its name. It’s helped me make the most of all of my time in the day. If you’re having trouble with your schedule or getting it all done, definitely take this course!

Sharing is caring

I do a lot of sharing on Facebook, Twitter and, of course, Pinterest. So when I go to link parties, I always find something to share. I’m not doing it for reciprocation, I’m doing it because I like their content and because I believe in building each other up.

Haters gonna hate

I had my first piece of hate this week! People are going to be mean or jerks, no matter what. You could seriously write a post about how cute baby kittens are, and someone in the world is going to hate on you. Plus, I can delete hate if I want to. So there.

But I’m in control over what gets posted on my site… so I get to delete the hate if I want to. So there.

Blogging is a lot like being a mom

Bear with me here… People don’t get the amount of work that goes into it, everyone thinks that they can do it, there are wars between people who do the same thing, each person has a slightly different way of doing everything, and you’ll never understand it until you do it for yourself.

See what I mean?

But at the end of the day, it’s still lot of fun, it’s rewarding, and you’ll still see a return on your investment after a while!!!

If you build it, they will come…

… after a lot of work! But little by little, I’m seeing a lot of growth! Consistent growth! Percentage-wise, I’ve made 4 times my income last month (and in some platforms, more!), my social media platforms have all grown a fair amount (and Facebook doubled), I’ve made some connections that are only helping me to grow, and I’m excited for more learning and growing this month as well!

Here’s to another (absolutely crazy, mad-hustling) month!

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