This post may contain affiliate links to items I love, and I am confident you will too! All opinions are my own, however, I may receive a small commission on purchases. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. For any health advice I give on nutrition and weight loss, make sure you check with your doctor, as I am not a health professional.
I started my mom blog just a few months ago. I had been thinking about starting a blog for a long time. I wanted to share my thoughts, tips, failures and favorite things. I wanted to pursue and develop my writing. I was scared to start a blog. I was scared no one would read it. I was scared all I would hear were crickets…I was silly. Every mom should have a blog, and its super easy to set yourself up with one. I’ll give you the run down of why you need a blog as well as the quick and dirty way to get yourself up and running with your own blog before Sesame street is over.
I currently make over 3k a month just blogging and raising my babies. I would never have that opportunity if I didn’t just go for it and start. If you want to know how I make that much money, I break it down in a pdf with FREE TIPS AND TRICKS to make money blogging without teaching people how to blog!! I make no money with blogging courses and very little from blogging affiliates per month.
UPDATE!!
First, if you’re a mom, a blog is a great creative outlet. Moms work hard failing, surviving, learning and developing many skills that we need to share. My sister for example is a PRO with pumping and breast feeding. She had twin girls and went back to work three and a half days a week. She became a milk machine, pumping too and from work and devouring lactation cookies. She doesn’t have a blog yet, but she should with all her tips and tricks to produce a massive milk supply. Moms have skills everybody needs, but no where to share it. That’s where your blog comes in. You have valuable thoughts, advice and lessons that we want to read about and learn from. Your voice is valuable, so give it a platform.
Blogging is an opportunity for you to process what’s happening. Kids have a way of catapulting us into an alternate reality of time. The minutes are intensely long, but the days are too short. We’re in this whirlwind of constant activity, and it is healthy to have a space where we can process what we are thinking and learning to share with others. Many of us have struggled through dark days, and our stories can help another mother who is in that place now.
By starting a blog, you are opening the door to a possible passion, a possible business opportunity and the beginning of something new. There are so many possibilities with blogging, where you can stumble upon a hidden talent and niche you didn’t even think you were an expert in.
Let’s go over getting your mom blog started!
Step One: Chose a URL. That means, get your www.somethingfun.com picked out and see if its available. Lot’s of times, URLS are taken because someone out there is thinking the same thing, so don’t be discouraged if your big idea is taken. How to chose a blog name? That is a post in itself, that I can write soon, but think about who you are as a mom. You can always add a specialty domain down the road. What words describe you and your family? Do you have a fun saying around your house? Your personal name, if available is a great start. You can brand or just market yourself, and there are so many options that way! I always suggest your name as your first URL. Start by searching on Bluehost to see what’s available.
Step Two: Sign Up for Hosting: You want your blog to be built from WordPress and self hosted. There’s a lot that can go into what “hosting” means, but basically its where your website files are stored. I highly, highly recommend WP Engine. They are safe, affordable and totally wonderful for hosting. Now this might confuse you a bit, but you can buy your URL with Bluehost, then have your actual hosting through WP Engine. They are offering the personal plan at 20% off your first month write now with code wpe20off!! This includes your WordPress install, 24/7 support and up to 25,000 page views. If you are new, that is plenty to get you going.
Step Three: Grab A Theme! You can start with a super simple free theme. I have a number of premium, paid themes that I know well, and I like to use because they function better and offer a lot more opportunities design-wise. The free theme I used for a while was this one. You will want to upgrade soon, because you will find limitations to the design of a free theme, and it’s easier to start with one you love, so you don’ have to redesign later and possible have to re do a lot of your blog. Not fun.
If you want to do more than just a free theme, which you eventually will anyways because there are a lot of plugins and features that don’t work with the free themes, then I recommend StudioPress. Their themes come with the Genesis framework, which you can read about, and are totally beautiful! Below are some of my favorite themes from StudioPress.
Glam Pro Theme
Pretty Chic Theme
Pretty Creative Theme
Refined Pro Theme
Once you have your theme decided, you need to install it into WordPress.
All you have to do is log into your WordPress, which, once its set up on your hosting, you’ll have a user log in and password. Anytime you want to log into your wordpress blog the login url is ALWAYS www.yourblog.com/wp-admin. Replace “your blog” with your URL.
Simple Steps to Install Your Free WordPress Theme
Once you log in, you look on the left menu list. You’ll see a tab called Appearance. Hover over Appearance and click on Themes. At the top, click Add New. Then, you can chose a theme WordPress suggests, or at the top click Add New to upload your theme files. You can upload the files in the .zip form they downloaded in. Upload then Activate!.
Where to Go Next?
Once you have a blog and your theme set up, you need to start writing your content and sharing your content. Depending on your goals for your blog, if you want to get traffic you need to get on Pinterest ASAP! I wrote a post all about how I wasted time on Instagram and Facebook before finally jumping into Pinterest. It is where I get 90 % of my traffic, and I have over 100k pageviews a month now.
I also have a lot of great resources to get you going on Pinterest. I did have to buy a couple ebooks to help me, but they were so worth it. If you are looking to get going on building traffic, here are some great reads:
9 Gifts under $100 For Bloggers to Hit Massive Growth and Money in 2018
Creating the Perfect Pinterest Strategy
The Three Best Blogging Tips You’ll Ever Read + Celebrating 1 Year Blogging
Making My First $1000 From Blogging
My Massive Traffic Boost: 6k to 40k Page views in Two Months
How I Turned $17.99 Into Over $300 With One Blog Post
3 Comments
It looks like most of your money is 1. by advertisements and 2. from referring people to web hosting sites such as word press. People who want to make money blogging read your site thinking that’s how they get started making money but in reality the money is made from referring people to use web hosting. When enough people go to your site you then attract advertisers and make money off that. Blogging back in the day was a real way to make money but things have changed and because there are so many bloggers the $ is not there as it use to be so other ways to make money have been incorporated. IE referrals.
Hi Xandra, I actually just inserted hosting referrals to this post a couple days ago, so I don’t make any money from hosting. Hosting sites are actually a hard way to make money because many people sign up and cancel, so you don’t end up getting as much as you’d think. If you downloaded the pdf, you will see I make no money at all from web hosting. The referral income from any blogging resources I’ve purchased is nominal, maybe $50 here and there because that’s not my main focus. If you are interested in the other ways to make money feel free to sign up for the download.
I’d love to start my own blog and I’ve been researching for months on how to get started. My biggest barrier right now is my confidence. I loved this blog post! You speak in such a way that is so empowering and reassures me that I can do this too! Thanks ?