My Journey to Becoming a Blogger

First Seven Months

Wow! What a journey this has been! How did it all begin? My husband received an email about a Free 5 -day course about how to start a money-making blog. The email was from It’s a Lovely Life, he said to me, “Why don’t you sign up for this”, so, I did. Being a blogger had never crossed my mind before that. I had been an insurance agent, mostly in customer service, for most of my adult life. When I met Terry in 2011, I was living about 55 miles away from him. When we married in 2012, I moved into his house. That meant that I was now “retired” from the insurance business. I was living 55 miles away from where I had called home for over 10 years. All my friends were there, but I was starting a new life, in a new city. I was pretty lost for a while. I began doing small jobs like; selling on eBay, helping Terry with his non-profit business, and being an Uber driver. It always seemed like I had too much time on my hands and I wasn’t happy about that. I wanted something to do that would make a difference and that I could be proud of.

Taking the 5-day online course

I figured that I didn’t have anything to lose by taking the 5-day online course, “Start a money-making blog”.

I started the online course in April 2019. I didn’t understand it all and I didn’t always complete the assignment each day. It took me a little longer than 5 days to absorb all the information. After I finished the 5-day course, I was given more free information with “WP fast Launch“. The wealth of information I received with “WP fast Launch” got me the rest of the way with topics like;

• How to start your blog with WordPress
• Initial set-up with Bluehost
• Working with Themes
• Working with Posts, Pages, and Categories
• Working with Menus in WordPress
• WordPress Editor
• Media, Photos & Videos
• Widgets
• Users & comments
• Plugins
• How to Launch

*This post may contain affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you*

I also have to say that Heather & Pete from “It’s a Lovely Life” were so supportive and provided a ton of information and learning tools. Every week they would produce a video or send me an email that gave me encouragement and kept me on task. I designed my Logo in May 2019 through Looka they made it really easy and inexpensive to design my own Logo. I launched my website on 6/07/19 with 10 published posts.

I continued to educate myself on various subjects; SEO(search engine optimizer), how to include popular keywords to help my posts be found in search engines, improving the look of my website, promoting my posts on social media, creating a PIN, etc… This was exhausting and hard! I wasn’t really getting anywhere, at least not very quickly! After several months of “self-teaching”, I decided to take advantage of the course Pete & Heather(It’s a Lovely Life) was offering, Blogging Blastoff 2.0 which was a 30-day course, there is a cost for this course, it starts new at the beginning of each month. I believe Pete and Heather are honest people who sincerely want to help other bloggers succeed. I found this course to have a wealth of valuable information! It contains so much information, that you will be referring back to it over and over again! The cost includes 2-year access to the course material. Here are a few topics from this course;

• Inspirational videos from Pete & Heather
• Traits of successful bloggers
• Money making systems
• Site design and layout
• Getting your name out there
• The Business of blogging
• The Ideal blog post
• Compliance
• Motivation and goal setting
• Social Media
• Email List
• Traffic

I took this 30-day course in December 2019, and I’m still going back each day to re-read things that I may have missed the first time. This course is available to me for 2 years, which is wonderful! These courses included membership in 2 different Facebook groups; the “Start a Blogging Business”, and the “VIP Blogging Blastoff” group. These groups were a lifesaver to me! I was able to ask all kinds of questions and get the support I desperately needed. Also, each month, Pete & Heather(It’s a Lovely Life) hosts a “10K Traffic challenge”(NO LONGER OFFERED). The idea is for other bloggers to support one another. Each one of the 10 days has a lesson and assignment. If you complete each day you WILL increase your social media followers and your subscriber list.

Bloggers supporting one another is crucial for success!

You can find other social media sharing threads for bloggers on each of the social media platforms. This is where you can list a link to your blog posts and get responses from other bloggers. It’s a wonderful thing!

What has to be done to maintain My blog

My goal is to publish at least one new Post each week. Once I publish a Post, I have several things I need to do to promote it.

• Post a link on my Facebook page
• Post a link on Twitter
• Create a PIN and a link to my blog on Pinterest
• Post a photo and description on Instagram
• Send an email to my contacts with photos and a link to my blog

I’m not sure how other bloggers do it, maybe they are better with time management. In fact, I’m sure most of them ARE better with time management! This is a skill I am still trying to perfect. Before I started this journey, my only social media presence was on Facebook, and I wasn’t on that every day. I believe now, that the only way to succeed is to maintain a large following on ALL social media platforms! That takes time! I am finding creative ways to post on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Whenever I find a few minutes, I am posting, liking, follow, retweeting, sharing. When do I find the time?

• Wake up earlier each day
• Stay up later at night
• The drive-through line at McDonald’s
• Before church starts
• Before my husband’s basketball game starts, and half-time
• Drive through at the bank
• Waiting for food at a restaurant
• TV commercials

A vision board is something new I’m trying this year, it’s very helpful to keep me on track and it’s inspirational too! I have a weekly focus and a daily task list. I also have; reminders to create new posts, post on social media, check my email, and improve my photography skills.

I am heading into the money-making end of the blogging business. First with some affiliate marketing and then hopefully with some sponsored posts. This is scary for me, but it will definitely help the household income. It’s been a crazy and wonderful journey! I have surprised myself and I think others as well. Most people will not understand why I do this and that’s ok! I have found something that I enjoy and it gives me purpose.

I would love to hear from my fellow bloggers and from those who may be considering it. Please leave a comment and sign up for my periodic emails to stay in touch, you will find the sign-up form in the sidebar. If you choose to start a blog, I know you will love it, and you will not be alone!

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