One Year Blogging Anniversary: If I knew then What I know Now
Believe it or not, March 16th will mark my one-year blogging anniversary of running TheCrazySAHM.
Yep, somehow an entire year has already gone by. Crazy, eh?
Over the last year, I have used my blog as a tool to learn, share, earn, and grow in ways that I never imagined. You see when I started TheCrazySAHM, I had one goal.
Find a way to start earning a couple of extra dollars a month in order to help my family.
A year later, while monetizing still remains one of my goals, I can honestly say it is not my main focus.
Thanks to my readers, I have developed a brand. (This was something I had not really considered when I started writing in my own little corner of the internet.) I have engaged with people from all over the world. Taken in information on topics I never thought I would be learning about, and had the opportunity to work with some amazing companies.
All of these things I have be able to do while staying home and watching my babies grow.
So to those out there who have followed my journey, (or those who are just now jumping in), I would like to share with you today some of my major wins, (and a couple losses) from my first year of blogging.
***Disclaimer- This page contains affiliate links. This means that if you click on one of the links mentioned and make a purchase, the company you purchase from may pay you a small portion for your sale. This is at no extra cost to you, and helps to pay for the wine I will be celebrating my one year blogging anniversary with!***
Developing a Major Following
Within the last year, I have worked countless hours to build my brand across various social media platforms to complement my blogging platform. While some platforms have done well (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), others have been slow coming or non-existent (Stumbleupon, Flipbook).
During this time, I have even joined an up and coming social media platform, Vero, which works without all of the algorithms that are taking over on Instagram and Facebook. (I am super excited about Vero and what it could mean for the blogging/social media world!)
As of now, you can see my followers/blog views for my successful platforms at the mark of my one year blogging anniversary below.
Facebook – 517
Pinterest – 867
Twitter – 10,429
Instagram – 3,319
Vero – 170
Total Unique Blog Visitors for the Last Year: 28,343
Whoa, to see those numbers really blows me away. Especially since during my first few weeks of blogging, I was lucky to see 50 visitors per week! If you want to take a minute to follow me on any of my platforms, please click the name of the platform above. I would love to have you!
Some Content Works, Some Doesn’t
In the blogging world, content is king.
You will hear that again and again from numerous bloggers across the internet.
Why?
Because it is true.
If you write good content, your readers will come. Write crap all the time and, well, the numbers will speak for themselves.
Over the last year, I have had many successful posts such as 11 Apps to Make Extra Money to Destroy your Debt, and How to Organize your Mom Life Today. Fortunately, however, even my posts with lower views are still bringing in hundreds of views per post.
When I started this blog, I did want to make money, but I also wanted to be real with my readers. Therefore, pieces like Body Image: An Open Letter to the Adults in my Daughter’s Life, and 12 Things I Say to my Toddler in a Day were born. While these posts do not always get the most hits, my readers relate to them, and it keeps them coming back for more. And at my one-year blogging anniversary, I am glad to say I have not lost sight of my “me-ness” in trying to write just for money.
Therefore, for any new or aspiring bloggers out there, remember that not every bit of your content has to follow that “how does this help my reader” script. Sometimes, it is the pieces you write from the heart that are going to help the most.
Trying to Do it All will Run you Down
Being a blogger takes a lot of time.
Managing your posts, and your social media, pitching to companies, brainstorming your next ideas, and promoting your content is exhausting. Honestly, I can see why some people hire virtual assistants.
While I am not making the money to be able to do that yet, I have utilized some pretty awesome tools that have brought me great success.
First, when I started my blog I automatically went self-hosted. This means that I own my site and my domain, and this allows me to monetize my site as I see fit. I hosted with Bluehost, which has been amazing for me. From their customer services availability and low price, to the ease of their platform, Bluehost has been a god send. You can check out more about hosting with Bluehost here.
Next, realized early on that when promoting your posts, Pinterest is where it is at. Guess what else I realized? Promoting the right way on Pinterest is even more time consuming.
Therefore, I stared using Tailwind about 6 months into my blogging career. I take about 30 minutes a week, mass schedule out my pin’s for the week, and let Tailwind do the work form me. Since you want to pin on a 20/80 schedule (20% your pins, to 80% other’s pins), and I want to share a lot of my own content, Tailwind only made sense to me. You can check out Tailwind here, and even try it for 30 days for FREE by using this link.
Last, I realized that in order to keep up with my blog life vs. mom life, I was going to have to have an excellent planner. While I went all out this year and purchased a life planner from Brilliant Business Moms, you could totally get started with a planner like this for a fraction of the cost. (I am just in love with Bethanne’s planner designs and layouts. Yep, I am now a planner geek.)
When hitting my one year blogging anniversary, I realized that had I started using some of these tools earlier, my blog could have seen more success by now. Alas, hindsight is 20/20 and I have the knowledge moving forward.
For Every Win, there are Ten Fail’s
This one is big.
Over the past year, I have found that for every great thing that happens with my blog, I am going to strike out at least 10 times.
Sometimes it is failed pitches, sometimes it is pins that do not go viral. Heck, sometimes it is as simple as a great case of writers’ block. But I have realized that blogging is not something that simply comes to you. You really have to work at it in order to make it in the blogging world, and sometimes that means not hitting a home run every time you swing.
To you newer bloggers out there, hang in there. It will happen if you put the work into it.
You NEED a Great Community Behind You
If you are blogging just to write out an online diary with no intent on anyone ever reading it, this does not pertain to you.
For those of you who are blogging your ass off in hopes of making a penny? Get into an awesome community and UTILIZE it!
The fantastic thing about social media now a days, is that it is so easy to connect with like-minded individuals. The same goes for bloggers. Two Facebook groups that I am in, Blogging Break with Coffee Mom and Influential Mamas, have saved my butt more than once in answering questions and helping to promote my posts.
Be mindful, these groups can take some commitment from you, but the support is totally worth it.
Because really, when your first post goes viral and scores you 4,000 views in one day, your significant other is not going to be nearly as excited as you are. Yet your community of bloggers gets it, and they will hoop and holler with you and share in your success for what it is. Progress.
Plus, these are the exact people who will gladly celebrate your one year blogging anniversary with you. Namely because they know how big of a deal it is.
Well guys, this last year has been a blast.
I really never thought I would get to the point where I would be sharing my one year blogging anniversary. Now, I can hardly wait to see what this next year brings! If you are interested in seeing more of my goals for 2018, you can check out this post to get all the details.
Questions, comments, concerns? Let me know below! I love to hear from you and your feedback is more helpful than you will ever know!
