What I Learned In My First Month of Blogging

I pushed that button and launched Susie Peas exactly one month ago today. It has been quite the ride I must say. In this short time of 30 days, I have learned so much about not only blogging, but about myself.

It’s not as easy as it looks. There is so much that goes into each and every post. You start out thinking I like to write, so all I have to do is put it down on paper, find my audience, and there you have it! Well, in my case I started by saying I like to talk, so all I have to do is write it down, then so on.

In all actuality, the ‘writing the blog’ part is the easiest. You have to roll up your sleeves and get to the hard stuff.

How It All Began

I decided to write a blog 2 months before I went live with Susie Peas. Once I get an idea into my head, it’s hard to stop me from doing it. This can be a good trait as well as a bad trait to have. I discovered that since I am a go getter, I often bite off more than I can chew. Blogging was a lot to take a bite of!

I came up with the pen name, Susie Peas, (find out all about Susie, our imaginary friend, here.) as soon as I realized that I wanted to start a blog. It was the perfect title. Next, I set up a time line of when I wanted to go live. I listed goals that I felt needed to be complete before the launch date, and got down to business.

Learn From The Best

Scouring Pinterest, my favorite hobby by the way, I read everything I could find on how to start a blog. It truly is so overwhelming that I decided to do only some of the suggested ideas and just get out there. I could add more of whatever the experts called for after I was live and blogging.

I do think this just do it step helped me keep my sanity during this whole process. Sure, there are STILL things that I can do to make my blog better. But getting it out there and off of my desk seemed to clear my mind! It allowed for me to break down everything that seasoned bloggers were suggesting into parts to work on. It made the task seem not so consuming.

Here are a few good posts on How to Start a Blog:

All of them somewhat give you the checklist and how to’s of blogging, buying domain/hosting, setting up your blog, social media accounts, and email/subscriber lists.

Things branch off from there. Believe me it is CRAZY!

Blogging – You Published a Post

Your blog is up and running with all of it’s pretty colors and fancy fonts. You think of a great idea that you want to share with your readers. One that you know will save their world. Write it up, add some cute pictures, link it internally and externally. Push the publish button. And sit back…NOT!

Now you need to PROMOTE.

Promote With Social Media

Choose one or two of your favorite social media outlets and learn to master them. It is too much to try and use all of the avenues that are out there, just pick the ones that you are already familiar with. You can always add more later. Use the ones you pick to promote your blog posts and promote it HARD!

Pinterest Business Account

I love, love, love Pinterest. So it was a no brainier for me to use Pinterest and start a Business Account. Just sign up with your blogging business name, and contact information. Set up your profile. Claim your other accounts i.e. Facebook, Etsy, Instagram and connect them to your Pinterest account and you are in business!

I have nurtured my account daily. It feels like I am putting more time into it than the blog itself. I pin my stuff, other peoples stuff, relevant stuff, and not so relevant stuff. I have watched my business account on Pinterest grow from 1K to 128K in one month.

Tailwind (the pinning scheduler) is said to help cut down the hours on Pinterest. I spend so much time pinning myself, I haven’t had time to utilize Tailwind the way that it is intended. Fellow bloggers claim to spend 2-4 hours a week on Pinterest once they implement the Tailwind strategy. I plan on digging more into this now that I have a month under my belt.

Creating pins is another area that you should work on if you are going to promote through Pinterest. Canva is who I use to create my pins. It is easy and they have great templates to help you make quality pins.

Make a Facebook Page

While I am proud of the Pinterest growth, most of my blog page views do not come from Pinterest. Most of my hits are click overs from Facebook.

Previously, my Facebook was basically used to hold my pictures with an occasional check in post. But after reading the blogs how-to’s, I knew that I needed to invest a little time in a Facebook Page.

My Page doesn’t have an enormous amount of followers, but is growing daily. I like being able to share things that are going on and get feedback. A Facebook Page allows you to see what your friends, family, and readers like and what they don’t really care too much about. Remember, most of my blog views come from my Facebook Page. It is a great way to promote Susie Peas.

Join Facebook Groups & Make Your Own Groups

Another suggestion from the experienced bloggerflies was to join some Facebook groups as well as start some of your own. I have joined several groups, plus created one. These have been vital in helping me draw traffic to my blog. I plan on investing more time into groups now that things have settled down for me with my blog.

My group that helps with all of my blogging questions is Start A Money Making Blog. You can ask them anything from suggestions for logos, to How long did it take you to get a following? Fellow bloggers that are right where you are starting out, along with experienced bloggers give their input. Definitely look for groups of bloggers that are starting out just like you.

Granny Nanny’s is the group that I initiated on Facebook. It is for Grandma’s, GIGI’s, MIMI’s and MOMO’s, all helping raise the next generation. We share pictures of our grandchildren, parenting hacks, kid friendly events going on around town, best playgrounds, and so much more. We would love for you to join if you are looking for a place to belong!

Build an Email Subscriber List

And then there is creating and growing your blogging email list. Every blogger out there tells you how important it is to do this from the beginning. I use Mailchimp, which is so easy. But I still am learning all of the things it can do for me. I am excited to see how this increases my page views as I create new emails and landing pages.

It’s free for up to 2,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month. Free works for me right now. 🙂
There are a lot of tutorials and videos on MailChimp. I am not computer savvy so I knew this would come in handy.
Includes automation, reporting, and sign-up forms under the free plan.

And If You Want to Make Money…

Back to Pinterest I flew to try and figure out how to monetize Susie Peas. Here are just a few ideas that I found:

Affiliate Programs
Opts-ins
E-books
Printable
Courses
Sponsored Posts
Ads
Selling a Product

And it goes on and on. Since I am in my first month, even though I have been approved for several affiliates, I am only doing Amazon right now. As I learn how to make it work, I will add more affiliate links and try other ideas from that list.

What I Learned After My First Month of Blogging

So in this one month of being a blogger, I learned that there is a lot more work than just sharing your ideas if you want to be successful. Promoting is key. Find and try different ways to put yourself out there and see how they work for you. I learned about my self how much I enjoy my new network of friends. I also realized that for me, blogging is therapeutic. — My best advice is to NEVER stop learning. Good Luck! ~Susie Peas

Hear all about my Launch Party for Susie Peas. And read Dressing Room Diaries, My favorite post to write thus far.

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