Herding Cats Here

How I Survived My First Year of Blogging

Sherri Carlson

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My first year of blogging has been one of the most challenging, enlightening, exhausting, and rewarding years of my life. I have learned some very important lessons along the way and I would like to share my experience with you.

Starting a blog has been a wonderful, yet challenging project for me. Thus, I have learned a lot surviving my first year as a blogger and have tips for you.

Blogging is a Great Community

There are so many great bloggers out there and I have learned a lot of wonderful skills from a lot of them.

If I had to name a few, I would say that I learned some great tips and strategies from Sandra Clayton at conversionminded.com, Tyler Moore at https://www.tyler.com, Rosemarie Groner at busybudgeter.com and a few others. I am sure there are a ton more, At the moment, I just can’t think of all of them.

Therefore, to all of my fellow, more experienced bloggers, I thank you! Thank you for your guidance, support and most importantly for inspiring me to keep going forward.

Maneuvering Thru the Blogging World

I wanted to illustrate how difficult it is the first year as a blogger. At least, in my case. And, hopefully, help you to stay focused and keep moving forward.

I have listed the top ten catchy “calls to action” (CTA) that are floating around out there. As a new blogger, these really affected me during my first year of blogging.

Whenever I came across one of these CTA’s, I caught myself getting caught up in the hype. I would think, “Oh, I need to do this… now.” or “Oh no, I’m not doing that.” All of that ultimately led to an extremely overwhelming and paralyzing situation that I had to consistently overcome.

Don’t Lose Yourself

All of these “do’s and don’ts” caused me to lose myself, my direction, my sense of purpose along this journey. Each time I overcame one, I would run into another and head down a different rabbit hole. It was a real struggle to get my confidence and focus back.

Thus, my responses are provided in the hopes of helping “level-set” a new blogger’s expectations more than anything else. Especially, when they see these CTA’s; as it can make any new blogger, like me, confused.

Beware of Schemes and Scams

Sadly, as in all things, there are a lot of “get rich quick schemes and scams” in the blogging world. I must say, I fell into some of these schemes. The end result, this year cost me a lot more money than it should have.

Let’s Get on With the Show

Luckily, I feel that having made it or “survived” my first year, I do have some wisdom and knowledge to pass along. So, to get on with my “lessons learned”, here are the top ten CTA’s. And please, trust me when I say, they are in “no particular order”.

#1 – “They” Say it is So “Easy” to Set Up a Blog 

It’s not! I consider myself to be technologically savvy, and there were many times I wanted to pull my hair out. I had planned on some help from my daughter, Jessica, as she designed business websites for awhile.

However, I somehow forgot that she had a full plate, and there was little to no time for herself, let alone working more for me.

Ultimately, I realized that learning how to do this myself was far better than having to rely on her or someone else to help me. She knows that I am grateful to have had to learn this (basically like she did) the hard way!

Thank goodness for YouTube! Fortunately, I was able to learn so many things from a few YouTube video bloggers, Ferdy Korpershoek at ferdykorpershoek.com and Tyler Moore at https://www.tyler.com, to name a few. 

Their videos really helped me get my blog up and running.  Going back to their videos as I get more and more comfortable with the technological portion of my blog, helps me learn a great deal more. 

#2 – “Everyone has an Angle”

To quote a line from Bing Crosby in White Christmas, and boy is it true.  I found myself getting so “caught up” in what to do, not to do, what classes to sign up for, how to define my niche, not to be too personable, be personable, what eBooks to buy, etc. 

Remember Why You are Doing This

I had to constantly remind myself of my original reasons for wanting to start a blog in the first place. It really helped me to stay grounded. Here’s a list of the things I wanted my blog to provide:

#3 – “I made thousands my first month blogging”

Yes, you can make money blogging, but it does not happen overnight. And in my case, I am not there yet. I think I have made about $.27 cents so far. And I am okay with that because I had to remind myself that any money I did make was going to be used to pay for my expensive but very fulfilling genealogy habit/addiction.

Ways to Keep You Going Forward

Thus, to keep this in mind, I had to keep saying a few key phrases to keep me going forward on this path:

#4 – “It’s Not Expensive”  

Define “expensive”. I mean, I knew this was going to cost money, but it wouldn’t matter because I would be making thousands my first month. Twelve months later, and I am still waiting for all the loot to roll in.

But seriously, you will need to spend money at least in the beginning to support all of the things you need to keep your website up and running. And, if you are great at monetizing your blog, it will pay for your expenses.

Fees for my single site:                     

Please note, these fees are for the basic parts of my blog and do not include my advertising fees for Facebook and Instagram, nor my Ancestry Research fees.

It’s a significant investment, not only financially but with the amount of time, you will need to devote to this endeavor. Just be prepared to spend some money. Since I pay Akismet and Canva monthly instead of annually, it helps to spread the costs around. I also upgraded to Canva for work and for me, it is worth every penny.

#5 – “Sign Up to Be an Affiliate Right Away”

I did that and got booted after 90 days because I didn’t have any affiliate purchases. This was because, in the beginning, I really had no traffic coming to my site. 

Why did I not have any traffic?  Because I was in the process of building a complicated website, it was a huge learning curve, and it took me a lot of time to figure it all out.

Along with that, this is a constantly changing world of technology, once I figure out something, they change the design. Thus, being adaptable is a plus in this environment.

Even after a year, I have only learned 1% of what I need to do to become a “successful blogger”.  Another important quote I use when working on this endeavor:

Quotes will get you through a lot of tough days in the blogging world.

Affiliate links can always be added into your blog posts once you start getting traffic.  A blog is a living, breathing, constantly evolving part of you that people will come to and read if they find your content to be helpful to them.  Usually, if it’s helpful to you, it’s most likely helpful to others. So keep that in mind.

#6 – “Sign up for Google AdSense after 30 days or 30 posts”

I signed up several times and was rejected until I was finally approved. I had the 30 days, and maybe the 30 posts. But, I had so many different topics, that some of my pages appeared empty when I applied. This was tough, but I kept reapplying, integrating their feedback and fixing my site’s issues.

I must say though, the Google folks were very kind and helpful enough to give me pointers on what I needed to do to get approved.  In the end, it made me realize I had to continue to build quality content before I could re-apply.

There is an email sent to advise you of your application status. If you get denied, the statement in the email is vague. You need to sign in to your google AdSense account to see the specific issues preventing your site from being approved. Once I figured that out, I got approved.

#7 – “Never Use Your Own Photos”

I use my own photos.  It’s just easier for me. Mainly because I couldn’t figure out how to give credit to the stock photos, especially since I was struggling with everything else.

And, I like my photos, it is another way for my readers to connect with me. But, feel free to utilize whatever photos work specifically for your blog.

However, when I hear that you should always use stock photos, it makes me think of the food network “Emeril Live” show when he would say something to the effect of, “Yes, we are really cooking here – this is a live show and things happen”.  

So, when I take pictures of foods I make, “Yep, that’s my counter you see in the background. And sometimes, it can get a little messy around here!” But, you know if you see that, I really cooked or baked it. It’s like my special signature! 

As a side note, all of my pics for the top ten were created using Canva backgrounds. Yep, it’s that easy, folks!

#8 – Collect Emails and Send a Newsletter

This has been a tough one for me, as I am still in the process of figuring this piece out.  I am quite certain it is not as hard as I think; especially since I have tackled and conquered a lot of other technology unknowns. 

I just recently added some “sign up for my newsletter” widgets; along with my “contact” me widget.  So far, I have collected just a few email addresses. I know that my email list will grow in the future.  (Again, think Rome.)

Learning how to overcome my own obstacles has been one of the hardest things. Getting the newsletter set up is difficult because I don’t want to send one every time I create a post and overloading someone’s email box.  Maybe I should let them make that decision. As you can see, I’m still working through this piece.

#9 – “Don’t Have More Than One Niche”

Having one niche is not something I can do. It’s just not possible. There are so many topics that interest me. Tell me I am not the only one out there that has multiple interests. Jumping around from one topic to another is just the way I roll. It’s how I was built.

Initially, I tried to limit myself, and the more I tried, the less creative I found myself becoming.  So, I listened to my heart and let the topics evolve into the sections that are now on my blog. 

Certainly, there will be more sections in the future, but for now, what I have is enough to keep me very busy.

#10 – “How to be a successful blogger”  “10 Things you must do to be a successful blogger” “What not to do to be a successful blogger”

Define success. According to Google’s Dictionary, the definition of success is:

As you can see, there are a few different variations of what can be considered success. What success means to me may be different than what it means to you. 

Do I have to make money to be a successful blogger? No, if not, what is it I need to consider myself to be successful.  My success has come in many forms this first year of blogging.

My husband’s constant love and support:

Giving me high fives and congratulating me for each accomplishment or goal I reach. Most importantly, though, for keeping me positive when I started to feel like I couldn’t do this.

My daughters asking for specific recipes:

I sent them to my website to get them, and they actually went! Then, each one gave me feedback, once they used the recipe:

My sister, Shelly, after viewing my website:

“I am really enjoying reading your posts! I love the way you write.” She was also the first subscriber to my newsletter.

My brother, Mike, when visiting me and looking at my website:

“Wow, did you have a template for the genealogy pages?” Me, “No, I created them myself.”, Mike, “This is amazing, this is really good.” Me (beaming).

My sister, Julie, when visiting me and looking at my website:

“I never knew that our great grandma was Rose Ridpath, I thought it was Jennie Montavy”.  This is what everyone thought. At least, that was until I discovered the true mother of our grandpa William Anderson Tomlinson.

My Uncle, Roger who has been one of my biggest fans:

“I never knew our grandfather, George William Goff, died from an abscessed tooth.” And something to the effect of, “I can tell you have spent many long hours working on this, thank you”.

My 2nd Cousin, Joleen, that I didn’t know I had:

“You have filled in some blanks for me. I have more information for you.” I had finally gotten my contact me page corrected with the contact form.  The next day I received an email from Joleen.  Also known as my grandfather’s brother’s granddaughter. 

We are currently in the process of sharing our family’s historical photos and information. And it will all be uploaded to my Morris family page. Such a wonderful way to connect with my family.

Looking Forward to Another Great Year

All in all, I feel like there are many more successes to come in the future of writing my blog.  There are lots of things to share, discover, and explore.  Hopefully, you will continue to follow me as I continue my blogging journey. 

Let me know if you have any questions, or have helpful information to share.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Enjoy Life,

Sherri

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