What is Blogging and how can you actually make money from it? There are many types of blogs out there. There are travel blogs, mom blogs, business blogs and so many more. Some of my favorite to read are diet and fitness blogs and beauty blogs. But my go-to is business blogs.
That may sound boring, but that is where I learned about making money through my blog. If you have read my “About Me” page you will know that I have been blogging off and on for over 11 years. It was right before my youngest was born in 2007.
I wanted desperately to work from home and I had stumbled across a blog/ad telling me I could make thousands overnight just by blogging and sharing affiliate links. Yes, you got it I tried and failed hard.
Why did I Fail Blogging
Well, there are so many reasons that I failed blogging, but number one being I didn’t have a clue as to what I was doing. My mistake is I was blogging about my life. There is nothing wrong with that, but I wasn’t helping anyone. I was putting my problems out there and not sharing a solution. I made it all about me. It was more of a diary and not educational.
I find that I love blogs that have a personal feel to them. I also enjoy learning how the overcome their obstacles. I don’t know about you but I know when I can relate to a person and their struggles I feel more connect and more apt to reading more to discover how they went from my struggle to making money and fulfilling their dreams to be a self employed boss lady.
Rag to Riches Over Night Success is a Myth
I can tell you from experience that blogging is not as easy as you think it will be. Putting yourself out their for the world to see and be judged is hard. But, that is not even the hardest part of this journey. My toughest obstacle was time and then coming up with content.
My first successful blog after years of trying to be a business owner was my Guns, Buns & Abs – Low Carb Life blog. That is after having at least six other blogs that failed horribly. I built Guns & Buns blog on the free WordPress site (I don’t recommend) and I did get viewers. But not many. When I stumbled across a great blogging site that taught me how to set up my site on WordPress.org through Bluehost.
With the information I learned from them and then stumbling across another blog, which just happens to be Neil Patel blog, I learned the importance of SEO. My site started improving. I changed over to WordPress.org and built my own site using the Divi Builder, which I also used here. My education at work. I went to school for Web Design. Plus in my book, but I didn’t take the follow-up class for SEO optimization. Mistake.
History 101 on My Entrepreneur Career
Quick history lesson on me and my business life.
I’m a perpetual student. I love to learn every day. Wait for it — I’ve gone back to school 5 times since graduating from High School. My first trip back to school was when I was in my 20’s, I went back to school for work and learned business administration. That job ended by the company shutting down and moving to Alaska. So I tried to get work nobody wanted to hire me – I was to young – except my dad who I worked for until I was 27. Not fun.
Guess what? I went back to school again this time getting my paralegal degree. I worked in the legal industry from the age of 28 until my boss retired 5 years later. I’d tried working in other law offices and such but I wasn’t happy.
I got pregnant again and decided I was going to work for myself. I tried so many things, blogging being one of them along with affiliate marketing. But, I was clueless when it came to all of it. And I was broke had a daughter, my toddler son, and an injured husband who wasn’t able to work at the time and another baby on the way so waiting for money to pour in like the person on the ad told me it would — was a no go.
Mobile Signing Agent Business
I then again took another class and became a mobile notary signing agent. Started my own business and it was successful. I was making at first about $450 a week. That doesn’t sound like a lot and it really wasn’t but it $1950 a month and it covered our bills.
It took about a month after I got my certification to start getting regular jobs. We lived on my unemployment, food stamps and the help of my family. My dad bought me a computer and a printer and I was on my way.
One year in, it was awesome, I was making $1250 a week and close to $5500 a month. We were doing good. And then the housing market crashed. And all the escrow companies started paying less. So what do I do — I go back to school to become a court reporter. Stenographer is the technical term.
I was still making money doing signings and all but not as much only about $3500 a month and doing miscellaneous notaries for people for personal documents, like divorce, wills, and such. But that hit to our income hurt and we have two toddlers, a preteen and my husband still was unable to work.
Health Issues Set in
The housing market is on the mend, signings pick up but what escrow companies and signing companies wanted to pay has gone from $125-250 down to $60-100. So I am doing the same work plus going to school for half the income.
I begin taking on more signings and going to school. Most of my days were 16-hour work and school days. So basically two full-time jobs, my husband helped with my scheduling, paperwork and took care of our three children. And I was doing signings 6-7 days a week. Running myself ragged. I did this for a year and then ended up with Mono and Pneumonia at the same time.
Time to Slow it Down
My husband was finally cleared to go back to work. Whew… I had to choose what my next step was. I wasn’t making progress in my schooling fast enough for it to be a good investment so I dropped out and gave up on that dream and just did signings. But, I was no longer happy doing them. I felt like I was always gone and I missed out on seeing my kids. And my oldest son was diagnosed with Autism.
Decisions had to be made, so I decided to stay home and write. And I love writing it had always been something I’ve done. I fell in love with the written word when I was in junior high and had an amazing English Literature teacher. So as the saying goes do something that you love.
;I began taking online classes in writing and over the course of a couple of years I published 3 full-size novels and 5 novellas. I also published a How to Start Your Own Signing Agent Business. And they have since raised the signing fees again so it is an excellent time to get on that if you like driving and talking to people.
The Notary business is one I truly loved because I was always doing something new. But because of life and health reason I gave it up and began again. I love writing books, but for most authors there is no real money in it, I came out pretty much even in costs after having edits done and covers. I still bring in monthly royalties for my publications but not close enough to live off and I still write but not as a full time job.
So Guess What I Did Next
Guess what I did next! I went back to school once again. Or actually I just changed my area of focus. I am a creator at heart but I needed something to pay the bills.
I made a list of my strengths and I met with a career counselor. We came to the conclusion that I needed to be creative but that I also had a lot of strengths in technology. And that is how we came up with doing Web Design/Development and Graphic Design.
I finished school in 2015 and still was stuck. Nobody would hire me, ugh, really it was disappointing. I tried to get internships but I wasn’t one of those young trendy kids — the next up and comer. I was frustrated and so I just settled again in a JOB. I’d began working at a call center, then I worked in manufacturing and then as a waitress.
But during that time, I started a new blog, started doing affiliate marketing. I knew that I was not a person that liked working for others and I needed to do something that involved writing and creating. So that is when the research began. I stumbled across Shopify and open my first store, then my second store and then a third. I thought I finally figured out, but boy was I wrong.
My Shopify Mistake
I can’t say Shopify was actually a mistake, but I had no clue what to do and I was not a marketing genius. I threw things up in my first two stores. Having no clue about SEO or optimizing my site. Basically, I only made sells when I promoted through ads on Facebook, and those sales didn’t pay for the ads.
In my third store I started learning on how to optimize more store, I started learning to do SEO. But it was not enough to completely save that store. I’ve since frozen my store and I am now in the process of building out a store that is optimized and customized to my specifications. Which will include all the things a profitable store needs to be seen by the people searching for my products.
Blogging and Why it will Never Die
I know you’re asking yourself how does this post have anything to do with Blogging and how to make money doing it. Really, I am getting to it. I needed to share my journey with you to get to the point.
I started my blog Guns, Buns, & Abs after listening to a webinar. I’d learned so much from just an hour of education. I became a feen. I’d watch every webinar and every YouTube video I could find on blogging and SEO. I had my Ah-Ha moment, figuring out what I had been doing wrong all along.
You know what that mistake was, actually the many mistakes I was making.
- I wasn’t blogging, I wasn’t creating content on a regular basis, I would do a lot of blog posts for a short time and then I would stop having months between posts.
- Mistake two, I had no clue about keywords. Long Tail or Short. I didn’t even know the meaning. Even after watching all the webinars of all the self-proclaimed Shopify gurus. They never told you to add keywords or a blog.
- My third mistake, not using alt text on photos in my stores or on pictures in my blogs that contained keywords that people were searching for.
- Fourth mistake, not finding a niche market and advertising to them.
Blogging is Important
Blogging is very important in any business. But that is not all. You need to find keywords and long-tail keywords that resonate with the audience you are targeting. You have to show your authority in the subject or reach them with emotion.
Like my Xs n Os store, if I had told my story and used emotion instead of just throwing things up in my store I could have been successful. My products were worthy and everyone that did buy them loved them. I had excellent customer service and a great message. But very few knew that because I was not sharing that message correctly.
When I started Guns & Buns, I knew my message and my story would hit home. I started blogging weekly on a set schedule. I set up my blog, correctly after I learned how. Set up my email list so that I could share that message on there also. And now, months later, I have a growing email list, loyal followers, customers, and readers.
I am still growing daily nearly doubling blog views daily, my sales from affiliate links (I only share links to things I believe and use myself and pertain to my site) double monthly and I am earning an income from just sharing my story.
But they find me through SEO and my new marketing strategies. And that brings me to this blog and site. I am here to take you on my journey and teach you how to blog from the beginning correctly. So that you can make a full-time income and have the life you deserve sharing your story no matter what it is.
So What is Blogging and How Can You Make Money
Blogging is an online platform you can share information and educate people. You can share your journey or your knowledge of a subject. Simple and easy. But only if you get it in front of people and this is why this site came to life. I am here to show you the way.
The second part of this is monetizing it. You can do that in many ways. You can create a course, you can share affiliate links, sponsorships, ad placements, selling a product you created, there are so many ways.
It will take time and patience and a lot of work. But, if I can do it so can you. Hopefully, without all the struggles, I went through.
Also, if you are reading this post you are on your way, you can get on my waiting list for my course and be one of the first to learn how to Blog from the Beginning by clicking this link and getting in first. This course will cover setting up your platform on WordPress, finding the right design, using Keywords, my best marketing knowledge, and SEO.