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!
You may have noticed that there are new video pins on Pinterest when before it has always been a still image. They recently added this new feature and I am loving it. It is pretty cool to be scrolling along and see a pin start playing. It makes me love Pinterest that much more! Now I can see even more detail about what that pin is about before clicking through! But for a business owner, video pins on Pinterest means something more than to a normal Pinterest user.
Yes, as a normal Pinterest user you get to enjoy videos sharing all the cool ways you can braid your hair, but as a business owner, you now have more opportunity to share your business with your potential customers!
First let me say, don’t worry if you don’t have the option yet to create video pins on Pinterest yet. It is fairly new so it will be available soon if you don’t have it yet. If you do have the option to create a video pin then let’s dive into why this is so awesome for you and your business!
Video Pins Can Benefit Your Business
1. People Like to Watch Videos
It is pretty obvious that people like videos. YouTube, TikTok, SnapChat, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram all have videos on them. Not all of them have always had videos but they have evolved to all cater to videos because people love to watch them! You can tell so much more of your story with a quick video than trying to explain it all over text and with an image. Even blogs have turned into vlogs!
2. Video Pins on Pinterest are Eye-catching
Videos catch your eye when they start playing, you can’t help but watch. If the video is good you are likely to stay and watch it until the end. When you could easily scroll right on past images.
3. Video Pins on Pinterest Stand Out in the Crowd
On Pinterest, it is a sea of images. There aren’t personal posts to break up the images, it is only images. With that said, it is very easy to just scroll and scroll. However, if a pin starts moving and playing an eye-catching video, you can’t help but stop and watch what’s happening at least for a few seconds. And those few seconds of your attention are more than the other pins got!
4. Video Pins Share More Than a Still Image Can
With a video pin, you are able to share with your potential customer more about your pin that with a still image. If your pin image is a delicious recipe but it is a still image that is just one shot to show them how amazing your recipe is. With a video image, this gives you the opportunity to show them how amazing your recipe is. I love watching those quick cooking videos! And I don’t even like to cook! I just love watching them and it gives the illusion that this is quick and easy to make, even when it may not be.
But that video got me to stop, watch, think, and possibly click through. That is MUCH more than a still image recipe pin gets from me.
5. Video Pins are Listed at the Top of the Mobile App
On the mobile Pinterest app, there is a section of video pins at the top after you search for something. I searched for fall soup recipes to show you what I mean. In the search results, there is a list of video pins at the top of the feed. There were also several promoted video pins as I scrolled down that were by big companies like the Food Network. That should tell you that video pins work right there!
Well, now that we have covered the video pins are awesome and everyone’s favorite let’s talk about how to make them so you can join the cool club of video pin makers!
How to Make a Video Pin on Pinterest
My favorite way to create animated pins is with the Adobe Spark App. Since my pins are all about blogging tips, it is an easy way to add some zest to my pins without completely creating an entire video. With the Adobe Spark App you can create your pin very simply and then you click on effects and from there you can animate your text on your pin.
This App is free and makes creating pins very easy. It is something I actually just started using last week. That was when I realized that you could animate your text turning it into a short video that would be perfect for grabbing your reader’s attention out of the crowd of other pins without creating a video.
As with anything, there is more than one way to create a video pin and yes, luckily some of them are free! As I mentioned you can use Abobe Spark but here are some other free options to help you get started.
Free Options
Wave.video
Giphy.com
Adobe Spark
iMovie
Powerpoint
Video Speed App
Wave.video and Giphy.com
I have not personally tried the wave.video option yet but I used giphy.com to create the video above showing you the fall soup recipes example. I just read that the wave.video was an option another blogger used so I included it for you.
The video above from giphy.com would be able to be a video pin because it falls into all the criteria listed for a video pin on Pinterest. That said, that means you could use giphy.com to create animated pins or video pins as well.
This pin was created with giphy.com too and I am going to use it on Pinterest to advertise this blog post. I created three pin images like I normally would do. Uploaded them to giphy.com and set the time fo 3 seconds per image. Then the final step allows you to add an animated sticker. I added the arrow and hit complete!
Now I have a video pin that showcases all of the three pins I created. This is an easy way to set your pins apart from all of the others!
iMovie
If you are an Apple user you can use iMovie to create a video right from your phone. This is where creating an actual video and editing it would come in. If your blog is about cooking you could video the process of cooking something and edit it in iMovie to shorten it and create a video pin.
PowerPoint
You can even use PowerPoint to create a slideshow video. You just need to make sure that the slides are the pin image size but I tried this method and was able to get it to work! It didn’t work for GoogleSlides though. You have to save the movie in a correct format and GoogleSlides didn’t have that option. Also, PowerPoint let me set a timer to automatically change the slides turning it into a movie similar to the pin above and GoogleSlides didn’t have that option either.
Video Speed App
I included this App in the list because it helps you speed up your videos faster than iMovie will let you. Let’s say that your video is of you drawing something and you want to speed it up but iMovie will only go 2x as fast and you need 4x. The video speed app will speed up your video for you so that you don’t lose your viewer’s attention.
I love to watch those videos of people drawing things out but if I have to watch it in real-time I would give up very quickly. When they speed through it I stick around to see the end result because I know it’s coming quickly.
Paid Options
Animoto
Lumen 5
Canva (paid option)
Again, I read about Animoto and Lumen 5 so I wanted to include these options but I haven’t tried them myself. I have tried Canva (the free option) and I do enjoy it so if Canva is something you already use then it may be worth the small investment to enable to video option.
Video Pin Specs from Pinterest
How long can videos be on Pinterest?
File type
.mp4, .mov or .m4v
File size
2GB max
Encoding
H.264 or H.265
Length
4 seconds – 15 minutes
Description
up to 500 characters long, though only the first few lines will show in feed
Aspect ratio
We accommodate standard video sizes including widescreen (16:9)Horizontal -Youtube, square (1:1)-Instagram, FB, and vertical (9:16, 4:5, 2:3)- Pinterest.
Pinterest has a lot to share on their business page on the basics of creating pins on Pinterest. Of course, going there and reading everything straight from them is always the best. This is some advice from myself and other bloggers on what makes a good pin and what to avoid.
Also, you can check out my Free Pinterest Image Course that walks through this information and the programs I use to create my pins.
Are vertical and not horizontal bc they are easily scrolled right past. You can, however, do the square video pin bc they are used at the top of the mobile app.
Add Text overlay with clear easy to read font, avoid too much script font.
Bright colors (or at least contrasting colors).
Watermark – make sure to put your URL or logo somewhere on the image to avoid others stealing your pin and to make it easier for it to be repinned by others.
Eye-catching.
Saveable – the point isn’t to just get an ad of your blog out there in front of people but it is to get people to:
a) save it because then it goes to more people but also
b) to click through
An attention-grabbing title.
Solves a problem.
Branding colors (or at least colors that go well together).
A keyword filled description.
Keep it short (doesn’t give away too much and keeps attention).
Use beautiful images.
Don’t rely on audio with video pins.
Link to Pinterest Business page.
Rich pins added to your account.
How to Upload a Video Pin to Pinterest
Once you have created this masterpiece all you need to do next is to upload it to Pinterest. To do this it is just like adding a regular pin to Pinterest. Click the + sign that can be found on the top right corner of the screen and follow the steps from there.
There is an approval process for video pins, unlike normal pins. I’m sure this is to verify that all videos being uploaded to Pinterest are appropriate. Which I for one am very thankful for! I don’t want to be scrolling along and seeing something I don’t want to see.
Promote Your Video Pins
How do you promote a video pin?
You can promote your video pins by following the steps explained on Pinterest’s business page and after reading up on promoting pins I see that you can not promote GIFs so just be aware of that if promoting video pins is something you think you might do. I would hate for you to create a video pin from a giphy.com and then not be able to promote it later if it took off.
How to Schedule Your Pins
Tailwind
Now that you have creating video pins for Pinterest down, let’s talk about scheduling them out to automatically pin on Pinterest. If you have made it this far to learn how to create video pins on Pinterest I am sure that you have already been pinning regular pins and have either realized it is too much to do all on your own or you have already signed up for Tailwind.
If you haven’t yet signed up and you are feeling a bit overwhelmed on how to possibly be pinning all day every day then I am here to tell you that Tailwind is a lifesaver! I have two different success stories I will share with you on how amazing Tailwind can be.
My Success Stories
When I first started using Tailwind on my new blog within a week my traffic spiked. It went from a couple people a day to hundreds of people a day visiting my blog. I had over 7,000 page views on my very new blog in 30 days. The last week of January is when I started and 30 days later I had over 7,000 page views. I go more into detail on that in this blog post.
Fast forward to me not staying consistent on neither creating content nor adding it to Tailwind and my traffic had gone down. I only have myself to blame but it’s the honest truth I let it all go and basically went back to where I started. I reloaded my Tailwind with all new blog posts and did my normal leave it and forget about it until a couple days later. My traffic took off again! This time I tried my best to keep it alive and I was able to off of that one blog post that was driving traffic in. I was able to get over 20,000 page views in 30 days. I talk all about which pins too off and why in this blog post.
If you actually use Tailwind the way it should be used (and if you are paying for it then you should – unlike me!) then it definitely works. My traffic 100 percent reflects my Tailwind strategy. If I am keeping up with it and adding new content to my blog and to Tailwind then my traffic goes up. If I get behind and I don’t then my traffic goes down. Learn more about how to use Tailwind and give it a try and see for yourself!
Is it better to batch all of your work or have daily tasks? Personally, I believe it depends on the person. Batching work is like doing a month’s worth of work in one day. For example, some bloggers will write a month’s worth of blog posts all in one day. Then they don’t have to worry about doing one each week. It sounds great in theory but I feel like it depends on who you are and how you work if this method is right for you.
Batch Work Pros
Here are the pros of doing batch work.
It is all done at once and you can check it off the list for the whole month.
It only takes one or two days to complete a month’s worth of content which is a major time saver.
You are able to brain dump and get all of those ideas out and things flow into the next easily.
You can get more done in the month if each day you batched everything.
As you can see there are great pros to this method. You are able to check big things off your list. A month’s work of work can be done in one week. If you batched all of your blog posts one day, your images the next, your social media posts next, your emails the next, and so on!
In the first week of each month you could have all your major work done and would still have three more weeks to work on everything else!
However to me, as great as it sounds it also has some cons that come along with it such as these.
Batch Work Cons
It can be overwhelming.
What if you have a foggy brain day that day.
What if something comes up that day and you can’t reschedule so now your behind.
If you go too long in between working you may feel disconnected.
If you dedicate one whole day to one thing then other things may not get done.
To me, the process seems overwhelming. I love the idea of it all getting done in one day and to schedule one day a month to finish a month’s worth of work sounds great! But at the same time, there are so many daily tasks that I do each day that it kind of feels overwhelming because I would get backed up on those.
Then if I were to write 4 blog posts in one day and then not write any more until the next month I worry I would be disconnected and lost. I would have to go back through what I wrote before to get myself back into the flow.
Also, a lot of bloggers are growing their blogs on the side with only 30 minutes a day to spare. They don’t have this option to batch all of their work. Or maybe this method is perfect so they only have to work a few full days out of the whole month.
This is where I again feel like it depends on the person as to which method fits into their lives. Let’s look at the pros of doing daily tasks.
Daily Task Pros
You are able to check things off daily.
Smaller “bit-sized tasks” are less overwhelming.
You stay involved daily and fresh in your business.
You have the option to move things around or change things.
More things get done each day.
I love checking things off of my list and even if I only put three major things on there a day that makes me feel like I made progress. Then if I have to roll something over to the next day I can do that. With batch work I don’t feel like that would work. Then you would have pushed a large project over onto another day full of another large project.
Life is too unpredictable and I feel like with daily tasks I can knock out a few small projects and feel like I have gotten something done.
Also, this helps me be able to choose which small project I can put into each time frame I have blocked off!
Of course, there are also cons that come with doing daily tasks.
Daily Task Cons
May take up more time than batching per each project.
With a bunch of little tasks, you may feel overwhelmed.
Things could get lost or forgotten on the to-do list.
The list feels like it gets longer and longer every day.
Daily tasks may feel overwhelming to some. Once more it just depends on the person. Seeing a long list full of little projects may be too much for someone. As another person may see small attainable goals.
It is all about your perspective and how you personally handle projects and to-do lists!
What should you do?
The best way to find out which one is right for you is to give each one of them a try! If you have a Saturday that is free then you could try dedicating that whole day to only batching one month’s worth of work. Then you will see if that worked for you or if it was a struggle.
Go through the list of pros and cons of each and get a feel for what you think you can handle.
Combined them
Then (and this is actually what I think I am going to do) you could even try doing both! Pick the project that seems to be the hardest for you to get done and put that at the top of your list at the beginning of the month.
Batch that work and then you don’t have to procrastinate on getting that project done each week. It will already be done for the whole month!
Now you can focus the rest of the month to getting your daily tasks done!
Which method works best for you?
Happy blogging!
Vanessa
Need a calendar to keep track of all your tasks? Here is a free download of blank monthly calendars by Consistently Procrastinating!
It is too easy to have an ambitious dream to start something but the follow through is really the true test. This could be as simple as deciding to paint your living room a different color. But this is what happens when you take a year off of your new blog.
Starting a Project
You can picture the end product of painting your living room. You know exactly what you want it to look like and it shouldn’t be too hard! Easy peasy!
The beginning part is also the fun part. It’s not hard work. It’s fun! You go to the store and buy all your supplies and then head home.
You are still be excited at this point to actually get started and change the whole look of your living room!
But after you move all the furniture and lay down all the drip cloths you are starting to lose steam. Then (for me anyways) you get to the least fun part of it where you have to tape it all off.
The Fun is Fading
By the time you finish taping everything off the fun has pretty much wore off of this project and you haven’t even started painting yet!
So you start painting and you gain some momentum in seeing it start to finally come together! But as you paint your arm starts to get tired and you keep dripping paint on the one tiny spot of wood floor that’s not covered by the cloth.
You keep trucking along and hours go by and you stop to look at your project to see that you are almost done with the walls but then you realize that you still have to paint another whole layer as well as paint the trim edging twice.
All of a sudden you feel tired and overwhelmed so you decide to finish this layer and take a break and finish up tomorrow.
Two weeks later your living room is still half done and every time you look at it you just get overwhelmed and you remember how tired you were last time so you keep pushing it off.
Can anyone relate to this story? Or is it just me?
I am the master project started but not so much the master project finisher. It sounds fun when you first start but then when it gets tough it becomes less of a priority.
Also there are only so many hours in the day and I run out of time doing the things that really are a priority.
However, being a project finisher has become my new thing. I see this as an area that I struggle with so I have been working on fixing that.
I have been able to do that by breaking things up into smaller tasks so I don’t feel overwhelmed.
This is What Happens if You Don’t Finish
(stay with me here)
We bought our house this past November and luckily for us the house we bought was across the street from the rental we were in and we purchased it in the middle of the month which gave us half a month to paint before we moved in.
I would go over everyday and paint. The goal was to paint the whole house before we moved in. I did most of the painting myself while my daughter was in school and my husband worked long hours.
I got it 90% done when my husband couldn’t wait any longer and started moving things over when he was off for Thanksgiving. Because we (him) jumped the gun and moved in before we were done painting it has never been finished…and it’s now May.
Everytime I think about getting out the paint I think of how long it’s going to take and the mess it’s going to make plus I have too many other things to do.
I know what you are thinking. Just take one weekend and whip it out! Well, my husband still works very long hard hours and runs a mowing company on the side.
We spend our weekends either mowing yards or trying to spend time together on the boat or doing something fun.
So what I have decided to do is to do one small section a day. Then I will be tackling the project without feeling like I am giving up a whole day of work to do it.
The same has to go for your blog.
Now if you have stuck with me this far this is where I am going to tie it all back into blogging. You are reading this because you too started a new project (blog) and put that project off but you are wanting to finish it!
I have done that myself with my own blog. Honestly I think we all have at some point!
There is a lot that goes into a new blog so it takes awhile to just master the concept of a blog and actually get it started.
Then once you start your new blog you have to maintain it. If you step away it could start to fall apart. It might float for a little while depending on how well it was doing beforehand but eventually it will sink without maintenance.
But don’t worry if you have started a new blog and let it sink you can still build it back up! That is what I am here to help you with!
I started my new blog in September of 2017. I let the holidays get the best of me and the next thing I knew it was January! In January of 2018 I regrouped and added a Tailwind strategy to bring in traffic and boy did it!
I had over 7,000 page views in 30 days when I normally had maybe 300!
Then February I was asked to help at the Church Preschool as a lead teacher and I took the position.
Working full time with 13 one year olds plus doing all the lesson plans was tiresome. My daughter was in 2nd grade (which turned out to be a very hard year compared to previous years) and juggling gymnastics, our dog got sick and passed away, my husband was never home, the house was a wreck, it was flu season so we were all always sick….I was exhausted.
As hard as I tried my blog went to the wayside and I told myself I will pick it back up in May.
May came and it was my first summer home with my daughter ever and for no other reason then being out of the loop and more focused on enjoying the break with her, my blog once again went to the wayside.
When she started school back up in August I tried to pick it back up. It didn’t come easy. I felt like I was starting completely over. I ended up watching videos and reading more than anything. Trying to get back into the game.
I watched neighborhood kids from home for some extra money so from 7:00am-6:00pm I had kids at my house so I was now running into a time crunch again as well.
For all of you full time working moms that rock a side business you are amazing!!
My husband loves a clean house so since I stay home (even though I watch kiddos) I work hard to keep the house clean and organized so that does take priority.
After we got all moved in to our new house and the holidays were all over it was now the spring of 2019 and I really thought about what was important to me.
As much as I love helping the neighbors with the kiddos its not my passion. And with summer coming most of them didn’t need help anymore so I needed to make my new blog priority to bring in money and replace that loss.
So at the beginning of the year I cut back on the amount of time I was watching kids and focused back on my blog.
April 2019
I drew a line in the sand at the end of March. I told myself I was going to solely focus on my blog.
My goal was to prioritize my day better and just put my head down and focus on my new blog only. Then I would see how things looked at the end of April.
This is what happened.
Since it has been a year since I had that spike in traffic from Pinterest and Tailwind I decided to focus on that and simply updating my blog as well as adding consistently to my new blog.
I implemented that same Tailwind strategy, consistently added one new blog post a week and sent out a weekly broadcast to my email list (after explaining why I was MIA previously).
Plus I updated my 30-Day Challenge Workbook to Start a Blog and my Free Pinterest Image Course. Then lastly I updated a few blog posts.
Results
Here are my results after 30 days of focus.
Besides feeling like I now have the confidence to keep going strong and being extremely proud of all my updates and accomplishments, I made $152.62!
My traffic didn’t spike like before but I feel like I am in “time out” with Pinterest and I have to earn my traffic back. They sent me a bunch before but then I didn’t do anything for a year!
So after only one month I think I still need to show them I am consistent and serious this time.
Now you may be thinking well $150 isn’t that much? And you are right. It isn’t that much. However, it is! That is my best month to date of starting my blog!
I made money with my new blog but if you followed along you see that I didn’t stay consistent at all! Since I started my new blog I have not been steadily consistent.
So the money that I made would be one or two sales here or there. Not 5 sales in one month and $150.00 in my pocket in one month!
Again, you may be thinking that is not much money at all and again I agree with you to an extend.
It isn’t anything to go brag about however it is very exciting and shows me the major progress I made this past month!
May 2019
Now here we are getting ready to start May this week. I had set a goal of $200 in April and I am very happy with my results so now I have a goal of $500 in May.
I would like to break through Tailwind and Pinterest again but instead of looking too far down the road and getting upset I have to remind myself that I pretty much started completely over in April. It’s only been one solid month.
I can’t look at it as if I have been for a year and a half because I haven’t honestly been consistently blogging that long.
My blog as been up for that long and I have wrote many blog posts but not like I should have been. So that is what I am focusing on now.
Sharing my experience (like I always have) even the less flatting ones like this blog post. But my hope is that it will speak to someone in a similar position.
As moms we are constantly putting everyone and everything before ourselves but sometimes you have to draw a line in the sand and rearrange your priority list so it benefits everyone.
With this new outlook I have been able to accomplish everything on my priority list.
Tips for Success
Rearrange To Do List
Sometimes just rearranging your to do list and doing it in a different order will help.
I break up my cleaning throughout the day so I can till work on my blog and keep the house clean at the same time. Before I would do all the cleaning first but then I was running out of blogging time.
So I switched and would blog first then the house ended up being a major task.
Now I clean for the first hour of the day and work on my blog throughout the morning. When I break for lunch, I switch the laundry and unload the dish washer. Then I work on my blog in the afternoon and when my daughter gets off the bus it’s homework and supper time.
This way when my husband comes home the house is all clean, supper is ready, and homework is done. This gives us family time together and I was able to work on my blog too.
Same exact things I normally do just in a different successful order.
Plan Ahead
I plan ahead if there are going to be busy days full of appointments. I make sure that I keep that in mind as I am working on my blog throughout the week. Before it seemed like I was running around to appointments and running out of time to work.
Just planning ahead and seeing what’s to come for the month helps give you a bird’s eye view of how your going to get everything done.
Those are simple tips but you would be surprised how you get stuck into a routine (even if it isn’t working the best) and just a few little tweaks could fix it all!
Goals
Everyone is always telling you to have goals and to write them down. I always did this but I think I shot too big. I would think right away there is no way I can get that all done so I was okay with it when I didn’t get it done.
This time I set realistic goals and I was very pleased with how I ended the month!
Now I have written out how May will go and I am so excited to look up at the end of the month and see how I did!
Your Turn
I am here to tell you that YOU CAN DO THIS! You may feel like you have let it go too long to bring it back to life. I don’t agree. Just pick yourself up, dust yourself off, call it like it is, and move forward!
I didn’t like sending out an email at the beginning of April telling everyone what I had done but I did it.
I don’t necessarily like sharing this all in a blog post but I am.
Mom Blog From Home was made to help moms like me start and grow their blogs.
I am far from perfect and I will never be perfect. Honestly, that is a scary thought trying to pretend or shoot for perfect.
That’s not me. I am just a normal mom trying to share my experience and knowledge on blogging with others in hopes to help them learn and grow from my mistakes and my successes!
Now get out there and kick butt with your blog momma!
I don’t know if you are an Apple fan like me but this right here is a huge game changer for me! I feel like there is so much that can be done with this amazing app I am going to share with you. For sure it is the new way to create pins with your apple pencil and you’re going to love it!
Why Apple
If you aren’t an Apple user then let me just break down quickly why I love Apple so much! I wasn’t an Apple fan at all until I won my first iPad back in 2013 and then I was hooked! Before the iPad, I was one of those “I hate Apple products I don’t know how to use them so they are dump” type of people.
Then again I won that free iPad and realize just how “undumb” Apple products really are!
User-Friendly
They are extremely user-friendly and that is probably my absolute favorite part about all my Apple products.
Right now in May 2019, I currently have that same iPad, MacBook Pro, Apple mouse, two iPhone 6s’s (that we keep for back up phones and for my daughter to play with), a series one Apple Watch, two Phone Xr’s, two Apple Air Pod sets, the Apple TV and I just bought last week the new iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil and keyboard.
You could say we love Apple Products for sure.
Yes, as new updates come out the older Apple Products slow down a little but for example that first iPad I won still works great and it is 6 years old which is old in technology years!
My daughter uses it to watch her videos or she can FaceTime and play Roblox at the same time with my niece. So that’s impressive to me to be able to handle all that while being one of the first iPads that came out.
Hold Value
Surprising they hold their value really well. You wouldn’t think that anything older than a year or two would still be worth as much as you can get out of them. At one point I looked into upgrading my Apple Watch to a newer version only because I do feel like with the new updates it doesn’t hold it’s charge as long and I was surprised at what it was still worth.
I could sell this watch and only pay maybe $100 out of pocket and get the newest watch. I assumed it would be worth maybe $50 but it’s not!
When I looked into selling my daughters barely (and I mean barely) used Nintendo 2DS and with the DS, the case, the chargers, and all the games it was worth $50. That doesn’t seem worth it to sell it all for only that. But we spent almost 4 times that amount when we bought it a few years back.
It isn’t that old and didn’t hold it’s value at all!
They All Connect
This is the main part I wanted to get to about how awesome Apple products are, everything connects!
It is all connected to your Apple ID so if you sign into each one with the same ID it is like being on the same device.
My iPhone XR (which is just flat out awesome), my MacBook Pro, my Apple Watch, my Air Pods, and my new iPad all connect together. If I want to put my Air Pods in then it will connect to the most recent one or whichever one is right next to me. There is no trying to connect and trying to pair. It just connects and pairs.
A window pops up for you to verify and that’s it. So as soon as I open the case my phone will alert me they are connected. If I am listening to music I just take one out to pause the music. Crazy cool.
I love how I can receive messages, phones calls, and FaceTime from any device as well! The Watch doesn’t FaceTime but other than that they all do.
It just works so well for me to not have to adjust when switching devices. They all worked seamlessly together!
The New Way to Create Pins with Your Apple Pencil
I could go on and on but let’s get to why you came here. To find out the new way to create pins with your Apple Pencil. If you are reading this then I am sure you already love Apple products so let’s talk about the new Apple Pencil on the new iPad Pro!
Creating Pins
Bloggers are always creating new pins for Pinterest to drive traffic back to their blogs. We are always looking for creative ways to make pins that are eye-catching and don’t blend in with the crowd. Well, I have some good news for you! I came across this app that is a game changer!
You want to create pins that make pinners on Pinterest save your pin and to do that you have to create beautiful useful pins. I created a free course on how to create Pinterest Images that you can learn more about the different programs bloggers use.
My goal has been to find a better way to streamline my work. I feel like I am tied to a computer when I work on my blog and summer is literally right around the corner and I can’t be stuck inside all day. My daughter is going to beg to go to the pool or be out and about.
I don’t want to sacrifice time with her or working on my blog. So I decided to look into a way to be more mobile. My husband’s job just gave him a Microsoft Surface Pro with a keyboard and pencil. I watch how easy it is for him to just work all off of that.
I did research on the new iPad Pro and thought about it for a couple weeks and then decided to run it by my husband. He is beyond supportive so he didn’t blink an eye and said let’s get you one!
I ended up getting the keyboard so I can type a blog post easily while at the pool and the pencil too for all it’s amazing functions.
iPad Pro
This is the exact ipad that I bought. I did go with the lower storage because I need to get a hardrive anyways so this way I can just get one of those and save money on buying the extra storage. We looked into purchasing it through our phone carrier to add data to it but that costs more also. Plus we found out that our T.V. provider has hotspots I can use when I am away from home.
Just some things to think about!
I wanted the bigger screen so that was my main priority. I wasn’t as worried about storage because I have a bigger icloud storage plan and then again I plan to get an external hardrive to save all pictures and important documents on it.
Now I don’t pretend to be all tech savvy, I know just enough to get by. I know that I am a busy mom and this all makes my life easier and more portable.
I do want to say that it comes with a completely new charger. Supposedly it is to be able to connect to your computer better or other techy stuff I don’t understand but my point is no more USB and no more other end. The cord has the same end of each end. So either way it connects to your converter to plug into the wall and then into the ipad to charge. Just a heads up.
Keyboard
Then since I got the bigger screen I had to get this keyboard that fits it. They are both 12.9 inches so that gives plenty of room for using your screen and typing on a good sized keyboard not a tiny one.
The ipad connects magnetically to the keyboard and there are three dots on the back of the ipad that connects it to the keyboard. Then you can have it in different positions to adjust it to your liking while typing.
Then you can fold it over and closed and you will hear the ipad lock. Also you can flip it around and under the ipad to quickly use the ipad only.
Apple Pencil
Then of course I got the Apple Pencil 2nd Generation that is compatiable with the iPad Pro. It is very sleek and easy to use. There are no buttoms it looks and feels just like a regular pencil.
It doesn’t erase like one although I think it should. I keep wanting to flip it around and erase with the pencil eraser like you normally would. But just a heads up it doesn’t work like that.
Another fun feature of the Apple pencil is that it connects to the side of your ipad magnetically to charge. This is great to keep track of the pencil and know that it is always charged up.
No plugging it in or cords involved! Once you connect it to the ipad it will tell you what charge the pencil is at as well.
Pin Creating App
After I got home and started playing with it and watching tutorials on what all it could do I came across this app. I became very interested and spent the next 3 days just learning more and more. After much research, I finally decided I wanted it and purchased it for $9.99.
I know what you are thinking…you just spend a lot of money on an iPad Pro, keyboard, and pencil and you hesitate about a $10 app? Yes, to me $10 is an expensive app! I expected the others to be expensive but I don’t buy apps without a lot of research!
Maybe you have heard of it or maybe you are like me and you have never heard of it.
All the amazing possibilities with this app are just mind-blowing. If you are an artist you are going to be in heaven!
If you aren’t then no worries NEITHER AM I! It is very user-friendly and not overwhelming at all! I will add that I am not affiliated with this app either I just love it this much! Just check out some of these examples from their website!
Amateur
Don’t worry if you aren’t a professional. Again, I am not an artist in any way shape or form. But I think this app is perfect for on the go designing from anything to logos, freebies, pins, printables, graphics designs, you name it!
But let’s talk about creating pins for Pinterest.
Pinterest
There is an option to create the image as a custom size. You can then create it as a pin size and add pictures, import fonts, make amazing edits, layer it for quick changes, and so much more! It does take a bit to learn all the features it offers but this is perfect on the go pin creation with your Apple Pencil.
There are so many videos on YouTube that walk you through how to use the app but if you are looking for a way to use your creative side and give your pins a leading edge I think this app is perfect!
Again, I don’t have any affiliation with the app besides that I downloaded it, love it, and had to share!
All the Same
If you have been blogging for long you can see that many pins look the same. It is hard to not look the same some what but there are certain stock images that are way over used. I read an ebook that was full of case studies that shared how the author feels free stock images can arm your pins reach.
Pinterest also recently went public on the Stock Market. Things are about to get alitte harder for bloggers. There are going to be more people that are willing to pay for space on Pinterest. Because of that you need to really show Pinterest you are a creator worth sharing.
Many bloggers are saying you should be adding a new pin everday. Well, I don’t know about you but I don’t have time to sit at my computer and create pins all day. I do use a program called RelayThat that creates multiple images for you with just a few clicks so that saves a bunch of time.
However, they also seem to only have the same layouts. It can be customized a hundred different ways but it is still the same layouts so you can’t solely rely on that.
With this app and my new iPad Pro and Apple Pencil I can be mobile and creating pins on the go all the time!
Accessories
Because I will be on the go I did get myself a case and as I said I also have the keyboard too. I have seen some creators have these cool pencil gripper sleeves. I don’t know if I will do that or not because with the new pencil it senses when you double tap to erase when using the Notes App. Also I don’t know how that affects it charging magnetically or staying safely on the side of the ipad.
I worry that it might come off and I would lose it.
Another reason I love Apple Products…all their amazing apps! I use the Notes app all the time. My whole life is in that thing. All categories and accessible on any of my Apple Devices.
If I am sitting at the computer working and I make changes on in my Notes App then later when I only have my phone I can see see those changes. It is like the perfect Notebook that I never forget at home!
Free Pinterest Image Course
Well there you have it! I hope you check out the Procreate App and enjoy it as much as I am! There are so many possibilies I can’t wait to see what all I can create! The best part is this is a way to be artist (or try) without the mess!
Don’t forget to check out my Free Pinterest Image Course for other tips and programs to use to create Pinterest images! I will be adding this information with this app to it soon!
Happy blogging!
Vanessa
P.S. Comment below with some of your beautiful pins you create using Procreate! I would love to see them and share them!
Then of course I got the Apple Pencil 2nd Generation that is compatiable with the iPad Pro. It is very sleek and easy to use. There are no buttoms it looks and feels just like a regular pencil.
