Lessons Learned from One Year of Blogging
Hey folks! Transparency Disclosure- Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. That means I'll receive a modest commission if you lot decide to click on it and buy something. Don't worry, information technology doesn't cost y'all anything extra!
Hey folks! Transparency Disclosure- Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. That means I'll receive a small-scale commission if y'all determine to click on information technology and buy something. Don't worry, it doesn't cost yous anything actress!
Partner'south in Burn down is officially ane year quondam! I've been jubilant for a few weeks now. I wrote a special blogiversary postal service completely unrelated to finance and a twelfth calendar month update. But now I want to talk about all the things I've learned from my first year of blogging.
Lessons Learned after one year of blogging
Blogging is Hard Work
"I can write that! How hard can it be to put a few words on paper and post them online? Anyone tin can be a blogger, it'south nothing special." I'yard sure we've all heard or thought these things and more prior to starting our blogs. Merely blogging is and then much more writing a post! Honestly getting the words on paper is the easy role!
Blogging too includes designing your website, creating beautiful web log banners, and ensuring your blog can be found. I've had to go a graphic designer, web developer, SEO expert, and social media director this year to merely keep my head to a higher place water in this blogging game! Just on the plus side, I'm developing awesome new skills! I've been using my newfound graphic blueprint skills to make t-shirts! How awesome is that?
Getting People to your web log
Afterwards one year of blogging, I'm still struggling to get consistent traffic. Although I'thousand seeing pocket-sized improvements on my traffic calendar month to month (generally, some months are outliers), I still haven't been able to go to k users per month organically. Over the course of the last 12 months, I had a footling over 8000 users. I don't call back that'southward bad for a first year, but I know I can do improve.
I'm learning nearly SEO and getting a few people from organic searches every day. That's a win for a pocket-size blog like mine! I'm nevertheless working on edifice my social media presence on the big iii (Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram). My communities on those sites are all growing adequately consistently. I'm learning how to design compelling pins with calls to action on Pinterest, and using to Tailwind to ensure that my pins get seen. Tailwind is a lifesaver when it comes to Pinterest, if you aren't using information technology already you lot need to cheque information technology out.
Blogging is time Consuming
It may only accept me an hour to write a blog post, but it takes about 5 total hours to get that mail published. It takes another few hours to marketplace the mail correctly. All in all, I probably spend eight hours per week on just one blog post.
Just that's not all! In order to stay relevant on social media and ensure I'm creating an engaged community, I need to do much more than just promote my blog. I demand to share my blogging friend's blogs and comment on their posts. I need to maintain a social media presence by posting engaging content that isn't necessarily related to my blog. Although I enjoy doing all of these things (Blogging is a labor of love, after all), it'southward incredibly time consuming. I probably spend almost five hours per week on social media, just engaging with people and posting things to help build my community.
Blogging is NOT easy money
There are so many posts about "How I made 10K my first month blogging" that it seems easy to the casual observer. It'southward not easy. Sure, some people get lucky and blow upwards correct away, while others have experience in related industries that give them a leg up – and Kudos to them! However, most people aren't going to make coin during their first month of blogging. That'south only not how it works!
It takes nearly bloggers over a year to really start seeing progress on their blogs (or perhaps I only want to tell myself that so I don't feel bad that I haven't gotten at that place yet). But seriously it takes a long time to build your Domain Say-so – which is what search engines use to rank the relevancy of your website. It takes a long time to build a community and a social media following. And you lot need to build both of those things before you will see whatsoever income through your blog. I've been blogging for a year now and accept merely fabricated a few bucks through affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing
A lot of bloggers make a good portion of their incomes off of chapter marketing. This is where you post a link to a product or website and earn a commission if someone uses your link to buy something. I'm only a member of a few affiliate programs – Amazon is the big i – but I barely made enough money via affiliate advertising this twelvemonth to encompass the cost of my domain (that was like 12 bucks). I made a grand total of $13.37 on Amazon for the yr. Go me!
Simply if you do some research and read income reports from established bloggers, you volition notice that Amazon is not a huge money maker for anyone. Yes, they get between $300 and $500 a month from it, merely that'southward really just a tiny portion of their incomes. In that location are tons of other affiliates that pay mode more than, and I've merely just barely dabbled in them. Ane of my goals for this year is to observe other profitable affiliate programs that fit in well with the web log, so I don't rely on Amazon equally my sole source of income.
Flex Offers and Share a Sale
I'm also a member of both Flex Offers and Share-A-Sale affiliate programs – both of which I've fabricated a big fat zero on and so far. I think your success with these programs volition depend on your niche and how much of the program you explore. As a personal finance blogger, there are very few companies on Flex Offers that fit in with my niche, and of those there are even less that I believe in enough to share with my readers. My first goal as a blogger is ever to stay authentic, and so I'thousand non going to promote products that I don't believe in. I oasis't searched for many partners yet with Share-A-Sale, but they do partner with Tailwind. I'm going to focus more on that platform this year to encounter if they have whatever relevant partners.
But if y'all are going to brand money from blogging, which is something that I definitely want to do, finding awesome affiliate partners is a must. I simply signed up for a few unlike ones, then I'm hoping that my 2022 affiliate sales tin can vanquish my 2022 numbers ($fifteen isn't much to ask, is it??).
Blogging is Awesome!
So if blogging is hard, time consuming, and and then far not profitable, why am I doing it? Because I love it! I've always loved writing, then writing for an audience (regardless of how pocket-size) is always fun. I likewise love learning new skills. Who would've idea I'd be able to accomplish three thousand twitter followers, or learn how to design t-shirts, or figure out how to drive (even a small few) people to my site view SEO? I learn something new about myself and nearly the manufacture pretty much every day, and it'southward all been astonishing!
If y'all are considering starting a weblog, I have to say go for it! It'due south really a fairly inexpensive hobby! Y'all can start for under $v a month with BlueHost (and yep, this is one of the new chapter programs I signed upwardly for, but they are awesome, specially for new bloggers!). It'south non easy to make an income off of it, only with dust and dedication it really is possible (hopefully!). Only fifty-fifty if y'all don't make money off of it, any opportunity to develop yourself and learn new skills is a practiced affair. So give information technology a attempt! I'm so glad I pigeon back in to the blogging earth with Partners in Fire. It's been an amazing experience and I'm excited to see what my second year brings!
Source: https://partnersinfire.com/blog-strategies/one-year-of-blogging/
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