5 Things To Do To Get Your Blog Off The Ground
5 Things To Do To Get Your Blog Off The Ground
or: What NOT to do when you are trying to get your blog off the ground
1. Stop dreaming about it and start doing it! I know, I know; easier said than done. For months, I’ve been adding pins to my “Blog” board on Pinterest. How to write an epic intro for your blog. 101 topics for blog posts. How to start making money with your blog, even if it doesn’t exist yet.
You name it – I probably have it pinned to my online board! And it’s gotten me nowhere fast, because, while I dreamed all the time about becoming this world-famous blogger, I didn’t actually blog. I just dreamed about blogging.
2. Start writing! You’re thinking, “Well, yes, that’s what you already said above.”
But it’s not what I meant by telling you to start writing. No, when you’re up late at night when the kids and everyone else in the house is asleep and your mind starts wandering… write it down right then and there. It doesn’t have to be an epic blog post (yet!); it just has to be that one idea that came to mind as you were unloading the dishwasher for the third time that day because your four kiddos actually wanted to eat breakfast, lunch, AND dinner, too! The nerve, ha!
3. Don’t take on too much! Are you trying everything in the world to stay at home instead of slaving at an 8-to-5-job that sucks all the energy out of you that you would gladly give to your kids if only you could be there to pick them up in the afternoon, bring them home, feed them an after-school snack, drive them to soccer practice, cheer them on loudly while simultaneously helping your other kids with their homework on the sidelines and still be home cooking the wholesome meal at 6pm to feed your family by 7pm? Or actually coaching the gymnastics practice that you miraculously got all your kids into?
Then welcome to my world hahaha! It probably means you’re taking on a few too many little assignments that promise a payout for something you feel you can easily do while the kids are at school. Or, in my case, even while they are with their other parents. But then I find myself just spinning my wheels, trying to get everything done I took on because – once again – I was low on money and also apparently believed myself to be superwoman.
4. Start with a free blog!
I had a blogspot.com-blog years ago where I had set out to feed my family of four at that time dinner for less than $10.- every night for 30 days. I knew I was only going to have that blog for 30 days (21 days, actually, as it turned out, because I got sick with a flu-like illness around day 19 and couldn’t take my Ex’s credit for continuing MY challenge, so I aborted the whole blog. But I didn’t lose any money on it and making money was never the goal for that particular blog.
5. Be disciplined, but still have fun and enjoy yourself!
I know this sounds like an oxymoron, but as long as you even remotely care about your topic, you can easily have a lot of fun writing and developing your blog. The discipline is where I’m definitely lacking; I wake up with a great idea to write about that morning and then get busy doing the laundry or going grocery shopping and then lose either the thought or the energy to blog about it. For me, an an ENTJ (according to the Myers-Briggs personality test), making a list to check off is key to getting anything done, especially writing.
Ashley@Shakenstirredandblended
Hi, I'm Ashley and I am a freelance writer and editor for one local and one national publication. In my spare time, I teach foreign languages and manage two households. Oh, and raise four children. It's a crazy life that I chose and I love every second of it :o)
