How to Start a Blog – the straight to the point version
There is no shortage of information out there teaching you how to start a blog. There are so many blogs out there that focus on teaching others how to blog. When I started blogging I struggled to find my calling or my niche. I loved learning about blogging so I just started blogging about what I have learned. Even though I knew it was a very saturated niched it is something I love to learn about.
I am no expert for sure but I do know more than the average Joe. When someone can confidently answer any blogging question that is thrown at them, I would consider that person to be an expert on blogging. I can not do that. But I do know someone who can!
She is the reason I have any blog at all, to be honest. See, I had come across this idea to blog from home back in 2008. It was all over my head so I pushed it away and actually got myself signed up for something else that was three times as expensive and three times as hard…I was young and naive.
Then I stumbled across blogging again in 2010. This time I decided to do it even though I was definitely broke (from the first flop). With no money I had no choice but to just read every blog post, I could find on blogging.
How to Start a Mom Blog
I tried and failed at blogging. Then fast forward to 2017 when I came across Suzi and all of her amazing blog posts and products! She was fairly new at the time so her only real product she had was her Blog by Number eBook and Course.
I purchased the course for $37 and it spoke straight to me! It was like she was right there guiding me through it all! Before finding Suzi I even purchased a membership to a different site that got me nowhere but watching very long and boring videos for months.
So needless to say I had tried my fair share of different avenues before finding Suzi.
Suzi now has a bunch of different courses and has really made a big name for herself! She has been featured on many big websites and has helped thousands of others start blogs as well!
She makes over $30,000 a month and was able to retire her husband and now they both blog from home with their three kids. Pretty cool! If you want to check out her course that has helped myself and so many others get started blogging, then click here to head on over to learn more!
But if you aren’t quite to that commitment level and you are looking for a straight to the point answer on getting started blogging then keep on reading!
Hosting
There are really only 3 things you need to start a blog. There is a bunch more to run a blog as a successful business but only three to get started. The first thing you need is hosting. There are free ways out there to start a blog but then you run into issues such as you don’t technically own your blog. If you don’t pay for your own hosting and you choose to go the free route then at any time that site can take your blog down.
I have heard horror stories about bloggers who have built their blogs up for years just for it to be taken down because they were using a free site instead of paying for hosting. Also with those free sites, they don’t usually allow you to monetize your blog which is why most people blog to begin with.
It is just much safer to pay the $3-$5 a month for your blog to be safely hosted and all yours. I use SiteGround to host my blog. It came highly recommended by not just Suzi but many other bloggers I follow and I have been using them since 2017 with no issues! They offer live chat and make life super easy when you need help setting up all the technical stuff for your blog.
Domain Name
Next, you will need a domain name for your blog. The domain name is the URL or web address of your blog. You will most likely what it to be the same as the name of your blog.
SiteGround offers domain name services too so you can bundle those all together or you can purchase it through NameCheap as I do. They seem to have better prices and less hassle at checkout then for example GoDaddy.
This is all completely up to you but either way, to have a blog you for sure have to get a domain name. They run on average about $8-$15. Nothing too crazy.
Install WordPress
Once you have your hosting and domain name all set up and connected (again use the live chat with SiteGround if you need any help) then the last step is to install WordPress. This is the platform bloggers use to actually build their blogs.
At first, WordPress can seem overwhelming but once you get the hang of it, it is really easy to navigate! If you need helping to install WordPress just use that fancy live chat with SiteGround and they can get you taken care of. Otherwise, just go to your cPanel and you can find from there where WordPress is and follow the steps.
That’s It
That’s it! You now officially have a blog! That is not all there is to blogging but that is, in a nutshell, all there is to start a blog. The rest of the process is much more detailed but you can learn as you go!
If you are like me and you like to know all the details there is to something right away then I can definitely help you out there. I have a ton of resources that I am more than willing to share with you! Some are mine and some are from other awesome bloggers!
I know that not everyone is going to learn everything they need to know about blogging from me. I follow many different bloggers and I resonate with each of them in different ways! We all learn differently and we all need more help in different areas. Trust me I get it!
Here are some more resources to help you rock your new blog!
Did you know that you could start making money on Pinterest today? I know that sounds too good to be true but it is! In this post, I am going to share just how you can start making money on Pinterest today! There isn’t much to it but the steps involved are important so read through and learn all of the tips you need to start earning right away.
Pinterest Business Account
Odds are that you already have a Pinterest account so you can either switch your personal account to a business account or you can make a separate business account. To be able to earn from your Pinterest account it does have to a business account though so make sure to set that up here.
Convert Personal Pinterest Account
If you are planning to convert your personal Pinterest account then just go to your account settings and scroll to the bottom where it says convert account. Then the next screen will have you confirm that you want to convert your account and that’s it!
Perfect! Now you are all set up to get started earning money on Pinterest!
Sign Up for Affiliate Programs
Next, you need to sign up for affiliate programs. Choose a company that you like and whose products you use. Apply to their affiliate program and after you are accepted they will give you an affiliate link.
How affiliate links work is the company whose product you are going to promote will give you a special link. That link is what you will add to your pin that you pin on Pinterest.
When a reader clicks on that pin, your link will take them to the product or service you are promoting. If they purchase this awesome product the company will give you an affiliate commission!
It is a win-win for both you and the company. And even the customer who bought a product that they were looking for.
Which Programs to Sign Up For
There are so many amazing companies out there that you couldn’t possibly sign up for them all. Plus, all those big companies have enough to handle so they outsource their affiliate programs anyways.
Those companies that take over their affiliate program are called Affiliate Networks and they host a lot of affiliate programs for different companies. You can sign up for those programs through these networks.
Affiliate Networks
A few of those main affiliate networks are ShareASale, CJ Affiliate, Awin, and Rakuten. Once you sign up for those networks then you can choose which programs you want to apply to from there.
It seems a little confusing at first, but just remember that you are setting up an account with an Affiliate Network that houses all the individual affiliate programs for all the different companies.
Once you have your account set up with the Affiliate Network you then have to apply for the individual affiliate programs you are wanting to promote.
Another way to find affiliate programs is to go to the website of the company you want to sign up for and scroll to the bottom of the home screen. Normally if they offer an affiliate program then there will be an option to sign up or learn more in the bottom menu.
Pin to Pinterest
Now that you have your business Pinterest account set up and you have signed up for the affiliate programs you want to promote you are ready to start pinning to Pinterest.
Just as I said above when you create a pin just make sure to use your affiliate link as the URL to your pin. This way when someone sees your awesome pin and clicks on it, it will take them to that product through your link.
This is important because that link is how the affiliate company knows who to pay for sending them that paying customer.
You do have to be careful and read through all of the terms of use for each affiliate program and Pinterest to make sure you are allowed to put it on Pinterest.
Some affiliate program rules may not allow you to advertise on social media and then Pinterest also may not allow certain products or services to be promoted.
Read more about affiliate marketing on Pinterest right here from Pinterest themselves. And make sure to check with each affiliate program, as they each have a different set of rules so make sure to read them carefully before pinning.
Disclosure
Also, make sure that you are open with pinners that your pin is an affiliate link. Add #affiliate, #affiliate link or something to that nature in the description of your pin.
Make an affiliate sale in 24 hours
I took a course that was called “How to make an affiliate sale in 24 hours” it has since been changed to “Paid by Pinterest”
This course is how I learn all about affiliate marketing for Pinterest. It is a whole different ball game than using affiliate marketing in your blog.
Paid by Pinterest covers how to make the perfect pin, how to make a pin go viral, how to automate your pins and schedule them out, and how to stay out of Pinterest jail.
Recently a bunch of Pinterest accounts were all suspended and it was a bit of a mess. So now everyone is doing their best to prevent that from happening to their accounts.
If you want to learn more about affiliate marketing for Pinterest then check out this course that covers everything you need to know!
Repeat
The main tip I want to share with you is that you have to keep repinning and adding more pins all the time. Think of it as handing out flyers on a busy street.
Some people will walk right by, some people will take the flyer and throw it away, and some people will take the flyer and buy!
The more flyers you hand out, the more money you will make!
In a Nut Shell
So one more time for those that skipped to the bottom.
Sign up for a business Pinterest Account
Sign up for Affiliate Programs
Create pins on Pinterest and use an affiliate link as URL to pins
Disclose each pin with #affiliatelink
Pin to Group Boards and Personal Boards
Repeat!
Then if you need to learn more like…
What makes a perfect pin
How to create the perfect pin
A viral pin strategy
How to automate your pins
How to prevent your Pinterest account from getting suspended
1000+ Group Boards of all different niches
…then check out Paid by Pinterest and learn how you can make an affiliate sale in 24 hours!
Thanks for reading!
Vanessa
Want more?
Are you looking to become a pro at affiliate marketing? Maybe you have heard of all the money bloggers are able to make with affiliate marketing and you want to learn more about it. You want to find out if this is a real deal and exactly how they are able to bring in full-time incomes from their blogs?
Well then check out Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing by Michelle. She is in her mid twenties and has dominated affiliate marketing. She makes $100k a month on her blog and $50k of that is from affiliate marketing!
I know I have to pick my jaw back up off the floor everytime I think of that too.
Her course is very in-depth and covers everything you need to know so it is for someone that is serious about learning more and diving into affiliate marketing.
It isn’t over whelming, it is just very detailed. It is also for those looking to use affiliate marketing with on their blogs. So if you don’t have a blog yet that may be your first step.
Added bonus, your affiliate marketing game on Pinterest will do better with a blog anyways so starting a blog could be your first step in killing it at affiliate marketing and earning a full-time income from home!
Choosing the niche for your blog is a very important first step in blogging. This decision is hard to change later on without starting over. Maybe if your blog name is broad you might be able to. However, most likely you will want your blog name to be what your niche is so again it would be hard to change later on.
For example, my blog name is Mom Blog From Home and it’s about teaching moms how to blog from home. If I wanted to change my niche I could possibly spin it to where I am a mom blogging from home about a certain topic. But I wouldn’t be able to change my niche to teaching people how to care for puppies or something like that.
It just wouldn’t make sense with the name of my blog.
Personally, I have gone through deciding on a niche for my blog many times so I am speaking from experience. I have always wanted to blog but never knew what to blog about. I would change my mind too many times.
Then when I finally decided on a niche, I would buy the domain name and then panic and change my mind again but then it was too late.
I still have some of the domain names I have purchased in the past. It wasn’t until I finally went with my heart and chose to teach about blogging did it all come together.
Why Choosing Your Niche Is Important
Can’t change it later on
As I said it is not something you can easily change 6 months down the road if you change your mind. It is worth taking the time to really evaluate and find the perfect niche for your blog.
Needs to be something you are passionate about
One thing you will hear from other bloggers and you are going to hear it from me as well is that you need to be passionate about your niche. If you are knowledgeable about a subject but you aren’t passionate about it then that is probably not the one to go with.
Let me give you two personal examples.
First, I feel like I am pretty knowledgeable about children. My mother ran an in-home daycare for 20 years so I grew up in that daycare for 15+ years. Once out of college I had my daughter and I opened up my own daycare that I ran for two years. Since then I have worked on and off with the 1-3-year-olds at a private school in town for a total working time of a year.
I have taken many safety courses and training classes plus obviously years of hands-on work. However, though I love them all dearly, I don’t believe that is my calling and it is not my passion.
Maybe it is a skill I have to handle little children when many others can not but again it is not a passion. I had thought about all the different niches I could use that involved children that I would be able to blog about for a long time. But those times when you have had a long day and you just don’t feel like working on your blog, it will be way too easy to give into. If you are passionate about your niche then you will look forward to working on it. It won’t feel like work at all!. Also, then you will strive to learn more and grow in your niche market!
Second, I have some knowledge about health and weight loss. I have my own weight loss success story after finding these awesome products that I have been taking since 2012.
I started them after a friend had lost 30 pounds and looked amazing and was full of energy. I got on the products and the program and I ended up losing 20 pounds and I still am at that 125-pound mark I ended at years ago.
I learned so much along that journey that I would love to share with everyone. However, I quickly learned that people want to have their cake and eat it too….literally!
When it comes to weight loss no one wants to actually put in the work and most are quick to shut anything you say down (even if you have all kinds of proof). It is something I am passionate about for myself but I am not passionate about trying to convince people that it works. I know it does and so for me, that’s all that matters!
You will be blogging about that topic for years (hopefully right?)
If your blog goes well then you should be blogging for years, right? If you grow your blog and you are bringing in an income then that will be your source of income for….well ever! Make sure your niche in something you can stand to blog about forever. Of course, you can also start another blog later on once this one is successful. Although you wouldn’t want to close the first one either way so again back to being able to blog about that niche for a long time.
Investment
There is some investment in starting a blog so you once more want to make sure you know for sure what your niche for your blog is going to be before you make any purchases. The main one that you can’t take back is your domain name. Luckily, domain names are fairly inexpensive so you won’t be out much money if you do change your mind. Read more about how to choose your domain name here.
And as they say, time is money so if you get too deep into creating your blog around your niche and writing blog posts then you will have done that all for nothing.
Now take every topic you came up with and start narrowing it down. Here are some examples.
Health/Fitness
Exercises
Healthy Recipes
Supplements
Clothing
Pregnancy
Health
Clothes
Exercises
Baby room décor
Nursing
Narrow down your niche even more
So that you stand out even further you can narrow your niche down once more! The pool of people that will be searching for Health and Fitness is really large.
That is great but there is also a large number of people providing that information. If you narrow it down to just exercises then yes that narrows down the people looking but it also narrows down the number of people providing that information or your competition.
Then if you narrow it down once more and be very specific then odds are you will have even less competition. Yes, you will have fewer people searching but that is okay because you will have a very targeting audience. You are more likely to get a better turn out with a more targeted audience than to be lost in the crowd of every other website out there on the broader niche.
For example Mom Blog From Home: It is about teaching moms how to blog and how to use that money to pay off debt. I narrowed it down from not just about blogging but to teaching moms to blog, then to narrow it down once more to teach them how to use their blog to pay off debt.
Look for keywords
Keywords are another major part of picking out your niche. If there are keywords in your niche that you could use then that will help drive traffic to your blog. Keywords are words that are popular or searched for often. You can go to kwfinder.com to search for long-tailed keywords and see how popular they are.
If you can use a long-tailed keyword in your domain name then when people search that term you are more likely to pop up.
Competition
Of course, everyone wants to find a niche that has no competition but I once read that having competition isn’t necessarily a bad thing. That means that the niche is in high demand. It must be popular to have others in that same niche. That’s again where setting yourself apart from your competitors comes in by narrowing down your niche to be more specific for a more targeted audience.
Profitability
There needs to be a way to profit from your niche. Unless you are purely blogging for fun. If you are like me, you are looking to make an income and so you need to not only find something that you can make a profit from but something people are actually willing to purchase too.
For example, just because recipes are a popular niche doesn’t mean someone will buy your liver and onions recipes. Sorry for those that like liver and onions I was trying to think of something I wouldn’t (or most people wouldn’t) eat. So make sure that your niche isn’t all about something that no one wants.
To avoid that, a great suggestion is to do some market research yourself and see if there are others out there. Odds are if you can’t find any other sites that are like your targeted niche, then it probably isn’t a good one to go with. It is nearly impossible to be the first one in that niche. Search on Google, Pinterest, and even Etsy if it is a homemade product, to see if it is profitable.
Affiliate Marketing
If your niche is not a product you have made but rather someone else’s product(s) then you are probably looking to become an affiliate for that said product or service to receive a commission off of the sale.
You can be an affiliate for several products or services. Let’s go back to the recipe niche example, you could be an affiliate for a cookbook, cooking utensils, the ingredients, the paid cooking course someone offers, etc.
To become an affiliate either go to the website of the person or company you are interested in and scroll to the very bottom and most of the time there is a link to their affiliate program. Otherwise, you can Google search the product or service and add “+affiliate” to the end to get search results of companies that have affiliate programs within your niche.
Either way, it is a fairly simple and easy process! If you do not see a link on a certain website that you really want to become an affiliate for then find a way to contact them and just ask!
Many bloggers make all their money solely on affiliate marketing! Once you are an affiliate for someone you will receive a special link that you will add when appropriate into your blog posts and when someone clicks on that link and makes a purchase you will receive a commission! Easy peasy!
Sum It All Up
Choose something you are passionate about, something you can write about for a long time, and something that is profitable!
It is bound to happen, nowhere on the internet is safe from receiving mean comments from someone about something. For some people that is literally all they know how to do is to speak hate. And some say you have finally “made it” when you start getting haters.
First off, that is extremely sad. The fact that we have to just accept the mean comments and use them as a milestone of “making it”.
I usually receive nice comments or a lot of spam comments but I also haven’t been out in the spotlight much. I am the more laid back, stand in the back of the room kind of person. Which is hard to be and try and have a blog that brings in a lot of traffic.
Thousands of Page Views
Well, recently I had a pin go viral and it shot up to over 24k impressions in one day. I started to receive around 2,000 more page views a day from that one pin. Once I saw the spike in traffic I, of course, made a few more pins and two out of those three are taking off as well.
At first, it was just one big spike and then it started to trickle but then it picked back up again, thanks to Tailwind, and it has maintained for the last 5 days.
Random Blog Post
Sometimes we plan every detail of a blog post out and other times we just write something up quickly. I like to write as if I am talking to my audience. That can be good and bad.
I tend to ramble even though I feel like it is all relevant.
This blog post that took off was one of those that I just rambled on talking about a fun fact I had found.
Cue the Mean Comments
I didn’t realize it at first until I just happen to see on my pin that there were three comments. I read the comments and two of them were brutally honest about my blog post and how it was too long.
That hurt to read.
The third comment was someone saying “thanks now I don’t have to read this”. So based off of the two comments left that third person decided to not even read my post.
If they didn’t then I’m sure others weren’t either based on the opinion of two people that left a comment.
Take the High Road and Learn From Them
It took me a few minutes do decide not to delete the comments but to learn from them. I had just quickly put the post together. I had already planned on making changes so I went in and cut the fluffy, added a more relevant freebie, and moved around some other things.
I then went back to the pin and commented back thanking them for the constructive criticism (taking the high road). Hoping that would help show that I can handle things with my head held high.
I also hoped that would show anyone else that read the means comments and my reply, that it would still be worth reading to see how I fixed it. So far I have not received any more comments on that particular pin. And as of today, it has over 201k impressions for the month it has been up.
Just Hurtful
On my second popular pin for this blog post, I found three comments on it too. One was cutting to the chase on what my post was about. Another was just stating her opinion about something in my blog post. But the third was just mean.
This isn’t something you can hold your head up high and learn from. I could learn from the first two comments on the other pin saying my post was too long.
I can’t, however, change my freebie because one lady thinks it’s ugly. Her comment was only left to be hurtful. There was no other goal behind it, she was just trying to hurt me.
So how do you handle comments like this?
Delete Mean Comments and Move On
I posted in two different blogging Facebook Groups seeking the advice of other bloggers and I received at least 60 total comments and they all said to delete it and move on.
Almost all of them had been in a similar situation and most congratulated me on “making it” by receiving haters and hateful comments.
It is very sad but it is the reality of life.
People are mean and I’m not sure exactly why but you can’t let them get to you. Which is much easier said than done.
Look at The Facts
I had to stop and look at the facts and remind myself this was one person and one comment on how she didn’t like my freebie. On the other hand, I had over 300 people sign up for that “ugly” freebie. So the numbers show that they all liked it!
I haven’t received any mean comments on the blog post or any emails back after getting the freebie. No one who actually went in, read the post, and downloaded the freebie complained. It was only that one person commenting on how she didn’t like my freebie on one of the pins that had over 100k impressions on it.
I had four pins go viral in one month from this blog post with a total of over 490k impressions combined. So the facts were showing that A LOT of people saw this pin and A LOT of people read the post and over 300 people signed up for the freebie.
I couldn’t let one person’s opinion get to me. (again much easier said than done)
There is a time to learn and take the mean comments as constructive criticism, and then there are times to look at the facts and delete those mean comments and move on.
Don’t Let Mean Comments Stop You
I love blogging. I know that I am not perfect. No one is perfect. But I still love to blog and share my tips and tricks I learn with others looking to start a blog too.
I have got frustrated and wanted to quit so many times but I keep coming back because it is something that I love to do. Whether I am making a bunch of money or no money I will always blog.
However, those mean comments really shook me. I hadn’t had mean comments and to receive those it did make me feel like I should throw in the towel.
Then I took time and really thought it over and I can’t believe I let them get to me like that. This is something I truly enjoy doing and it is my outlet.
5 Reasons I Had 4 Viral Pins on Pinterest in One Month
After 4 of my pins went viral in one month, I took a step back to analyze why and I came up with 5 reasons I had 4 viral pins on Pinterest. In this post, I go into detail with each pin and explain why I feel each pin did so well. I also share a few pins that didn’t do so well and why.
As you continue to grow your blog and share your blog posts you will find that certain topics do better than others. That doesn’t mean that you have to only write about those topics but you can count on them bringing in new traffic.
For example, I share blogging tips for new bloggers and when I write about making money or getting traffic to my blog those topics do better than others.
I still share other tips because you never know who is in need of that specific tip. Once I wrote a blog post on how to set up your sidebar. It received a very kind comment from a reader stating how thankful she was for that post because it helped her.
I love those comments! Even though it isn’t a super popular topic it still helped someone!
By always writing about all the tips I can share and not just sticking to the popular topics it helps me find new popular topics. That is what happened when I wrote a blog post on something I found that I thought was better than the bullet journal.
New Topic
This was a new topic for me. I haven’t written any blog posts on note taking but it is a popular topic because everyone is always looking for better ways to organize their lives. So I wrote this blog post one day just sharing how I found something that (in my opinion) is better than the bullet journal.
First, in case you don’t know what a bullet journal is, it is a journal full of empty pages and each page has dots for guides on it.
I had first heard of them through another blogger. She shared some of the ways she uses hers to organize her days and keep on task with her blog.
I ended up getting one to try for myself. There were some flaws for someone like myself. Such as I have horrible handwriting and I am not the most artistic person. Yet I am a perfectionist so each page I felt like I was constantly trying to fix it.
If you look at some of the amazing ways bullet journals can be used you can see the appeal but that only works if you have a steady hand. For me, it was more work than fun and I didn’t end up using it.
Another reason is I would always forget it or decide not to bring it because it didn’t fit in my purse and I didn’t want to carry around 50 different colored pens.
If you check out my post I share that I had just recently purchased an iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil and used the free notes app to create my own bullet journal. This improved the handwriting issue because I could easily erase any mistakes. I go more into detail about why I like it better in that blog post so I will skip all of that for now.
Hot Topic
Little did I know while writing that post that it would end up being a very hot topic. I shared the post on Pinterest and with the help of Tailwind the pin took off!
I had over 24k impressions on that pin in 24 hours. Today after being pinned a little over 30 days ago it has over 201k impressions. My blog traffic for the month of June 2019 was over 20k page views. Which let’s just say that is MUCH higher than normal.
I had no idea that it was going to be such a hot topic.
How I got so many page views
As I said it was definitely thanks to Tailwind and Pinterest for sending all of that traffic to my blog. I usually create several images for each blog post and pin them to Pinterest at different times.
With this particular blog post I originally only created one pin and that is the pin that took off. To test it out and see if it was the content (topic) of the pin or the visual look of the pin that made it go viral, I created others to put to the test.
What I found out is there are 5 main reasons this pin took off compared to my other test run pins.
Hot topic
Visually appealing pin
Enticing Title
Keywords in the pin description
Scheduled to pin to all group and personal boards and Tailwind Tribes
While I was creating the test pins I also scheduled out the first pin to all of my group boards, personal boards and added it to all my Tailwind Tribes. I knew that I needed to get this pin out there since it was doing so well from just one pin to one of my personal boards.
Then I created several other pins for my test run. A few did very well and a couple did not. I noticed there was a trend on the ones that did well and the ones that didn’t.
Test Run Results
The main difference was the enticing title. Take a look at these results to see for yourself.
Enticing Title – Pin 1
This pin has a very enticing headline. It creates curiosity and I feel like that was why this pin had the best click-through rate compared to the others.
Visually it is a pretty pin so it was easy to save but I believe the curiosity is what made this pin do so well. It had the most impressions and saves of them all. It was also the first one I pinned so that could be why because the next one did very well too.
This is the stats after a little over 30 days of being pinned.
Enticing Title – Pin 2
These two pins I did the same enticing title because my test on these was to see if it was the pin image or the content that made the first pin so popular.
This one did fairly well. It didn’t receive as many impressions or saves but it came very close and still did very well. What is interesting is this pin had fewer impressions and saves but yet had more link clicks than the first pin.
I’m not quite sure why on that. They were both pinned to all the same boards and all within the same time frame.
Here are the stats after a little over 30 days for this pin.
Enticing Title – Pin 3
However, this one didn’t do well at all. I am not sure why this one didn’t do as well as the first two because it has the same catchy title with similar colors and fonts but for some reason, this one was not a winner.
Looking back I think I forgot to schedule this pin out to all the group boards like the other two did. I just looked back through my pins and I don’t see it mixed in like the other two are. I only pinned it once and must not have scheduled it out. It will be interesting to see what happens after I add it to the schedule!
Freebie – Pin 1
These next two were to test and see if the freebie inside the blog post was popular. Once readers click through and read the blog post many of them signed up for the freebie I put into it after it started taking off.
Originally, I had the normal freebie that I always offer in the post and it always does well because it teaches readers how to start a blog. That freebie always gets sign ups but none of these readers were signing up.
This told me that the people reading were bullet journal folks and not blogger folks. I created a freebie from my other blog that I am starting up because I felt like it fit with that niche better. My other blog is going to be about planning and productivity tips. I created a freebie that was a digital bullet journal which ties into that.
Around 30-50 people a day were signing up for that freebie after I added it. Once I realized the amount of traffic going to the post and yet no email subscribers were coming out of it I knew I needed to switch freebies and it worked.
Like I said I could tell the readers were not interested in my other freebie about blogging. So, I was happy to see they wanted the free digital bullet journal. I did learn though with these two pins that it still was the curiosity the first pins had that was bringing readers in.
These pins did not do well, however, once in the blog post they did sign up for the freebie. But the freebie alone was not bringing in readers.
Freebie – Pin 2
The first freebie pin looks like the second popular pin. I made another that looked similar to the first popular pin to again see if it was the look of the pins that made them do so well.
Neither of these pins did that great. So this told me it was bullet journal folks curious about what I had found that was better than the bullet journal. Not people excited about a freebie and not people that only saved the pins based on their looks.
Safe Title – Pin 1
The other clue was the backlash I received on the two popular pins. I received about 6 comments and most of them were mean.
They were from personal accounts of people who clearly were die-hard bullet journal lovers. They did not like my opinion of the notes app as being a solution that could be better than the bullet journal.
They also did not like my idea of a digital bullet journal also being a solution. Apparently, the curiosity pins made it sound like there was some new amazing thing that was better than the bullet journal that they did not find after reading the post. I personally love the idea of going digital. It works so much better for me. I have found so many amazing fun resources too that solve all of my personal issues with a physical journal.
These were just folks that mean and grumpy and taught me a valuable lesson on how to handle mean comments. One told me my freebie was ugly. There is no reason other than being mean for that to be commented. I had to remind myself that over 300 people had signed up for that ugly freebie so one person’s opinion shouldn’t matter.
However, to make the pin less “deceiving” because I was also told I was fake advertising pretty much. I made this pin to explain a little bit more without giving away all of the info or I wouldn’t get click-throughs.
It seemed to have worked. I stopped receiving very mean and hurtful comments and still was able to have a pin that had good numbers. This is about 30 days of the pin being up. I don’t have as many click-throughs (because of the less enticing title I’m sure) but I still reached a good amount of impressions off of this pin.
Safe Title – Pin 2
I created this pin with the same theory in mind. Again, I just wanted to test out the different titles and see what was working and what wasn’t. This pin is still going so I don’t have a full 30 day stat on it but so far it is doing okay but not a crazy good as some of the others.
It doesn’t have as catchy of a title but I feel like it is less likely to make any readers feel tricked as well.
Here are the stats so far on this pin. I know that is says published May 31, 2019, but this pin was definitely not. The first pin I created (which would have the same URL) was. This one has only been on maybe 2 weeks.
What this has done for me
By continuing to write blog posts on other topics other than just my main popular ones, I have come across a great topic that ties right into my new blog that I just started. I was nervous about branching out but this helped show me there is an audience out there for my new blog.
I have heard other bloggers say this but I didn’t understand until now but they say you never know what blog post is going to just take off! That is so true! I had no idea when I first wrote it that it would bring all of this. This is what this one blog post has done for me.
Gained 378 email subscribers in 30 days thanks to this hot topic and my viral pins.
Made 6 Amazon affiliate sales and my Amazon affiliate account was officially approved! (most of my affiliate links in my blog posts are for blogging resources so I don’t have many with Amazon affiliate links so I always had to reapply since it wasn’t my target products. Thanks to the bullet journal Amazon affiliate links in this blog post I was finally approved!)
Made $30.13 with Google Adsense which is the most I have made in one month from ads.
Broke two records of blog traffic to my blog. Not only did I hit 10k page views for the first time but I broke through and had over 20k pageviews!
I was only 7,000 sessions away from being able to apply for Mediavine!
Gained over 100 Pinterest followers.
My monthly views on my Pinterest account went up from around 75k to over 400k!
I had not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 viral pins in one month!
It was definitely a crazy and amazing month for my blog and all because of one post on a completely different topic than I normally write about!
