Heidi and I are so incredibly excited to share this awesome guest post from one of our newest Blogger Babes, Candis of Candis’ Blog. Get ready to be inspired! More importantly, please pay particular attention to her thoughtful and practical advice. We’re so honored that our Blogger Building Blocks subscription was a shiny object worth Candis’ investment (hey, at $9/month how can you resist!?). However, we’re much more pleased that she decided to apply the lessons learned and took action.
Major kudos to you, Candis! We are totally celebrating the win of your first paying client, and cheering you on for further growth and success!
Slow Six-Month Start — Typical of Many Newbie Bloggers
Six months ago, I decided I wanted to be an online entrepreneur. After years of uninspiring jobs that left me bored and miserable, I felt the pull towards a life of creativity, autonomy, and unlimited earning potential.
A determined ‘business newbie’, I set out to define my target market, build a website, and design my coaching packages. Every free workshop that popped up on my Facebook feed dangled in front of me like a shiny object, and so I spent months jumping from focus to focus, determined to crack the ‘entrepreneurial code’.
Eventually, I set up everything just as I had learned. I had all the makings of a great business! A month went past… Crickets. Two months went past… Crickets. Four months…
One day, I was browsing Facebook when a new ‘shiny object’ popped up in my feed; a workshop about growing your blog. I had a blog! It was a page on my website where a few unrelated articles lived. Every now and then, I would post a new article and then wait eagerly for the onslaught of new traffic. I began creating content more regularly but still without any real strategy or growth.
In early October, I discovered Blogger Babes. After downloading their free Ultimate Blogging Binder and finding that it was insanely valuable, I began exploring Blogger Babes’ other offerings. I signed up for the Blogger Building Blocks in the hopes of getting the inside scoop to grow my blog rapidly.
Doubled My Traffic and Secured My First Client In 1-Month
Here’s how my stats changed in one month of incorporating Blogger Building Blocks strategies (September vs. October):
Number of sessions: from 286 to 838
Number of users: from 19 to 582
Number of page views: from 977 to 1,719
Now I know that for an experienced blogger, many of these stats may seem small, but for a newbie like me, experiencing a steady increase in my traffic has felt pretty darn awesome!
Not only that, but as a result of this traffic, I signed my first paying client!
So far, I have incorporated the information and strategies of three Blogger Building Blocks monthly trainers and I’ve learned a lot.
Blogger Building Blocks Lessons Learned
- There is more to blogging than meets the eye.
Blogging is not just about writing posts and taking pretty pictures. Building a successful blog that pays and converts customers means understanding your target market, creating and curating content, collaborating with other bloggers, figuring out how to use social media effectively, and understanding affiliate marketing.
- Treat your blog as though it were a business. Understand your finanicials.
If you want your blog to begin generating income, then you have to treat it as though it were already an income generating business. That means understanding your current financial situation and your future goals, acting professionally when communicating with other bloggers, creating an editorial calendar, and honoring your commitments to yourself and others. From week to week, it is important to review your business outlook and plan ahead.
- Your blog is your target market’s resource library.
If people know what they can expect to read on your site, your blog becomes a resource library every time they have a question related to the needs you serve. It’s in your best interest to discover what excites you and talk about it more! If fresh content is hard to write, then learn how to curate content to enrich your site.
- You would be wise to understand your site’s analytics.
It’s worth it to educate yourself! While I love the writing and creative aspects of blogging, my ultimate goal is to make a living from my website. Early on, I discovered that the Bounce Rate on my site was incredibly high. After some research and learning from Blogger Building Blocks, I realized that there were not enough ‘Calls to Action’ within my site, nor did the layout encourage links to other pages. Understanding my sites analytics allowed me to restructure, and the result was a more engaging site!
- Work on growing your community.
New traffic is great, but returning traffic is better! Create opportunities on your website for people to opt-in to your email list. This will allow you to reach them directly as you create new and helpful content, and potentially convert them into a customer down the track. And don’t undervalue the importance of building friendship with your fellow bloggers!
This week alone, I had three bloggers post my work on their site. One blogger reached out to offer her help, and another sought out a collaboration!
- Don’t be overwhelmed.
We hear often that “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” and that’s because it’s true. Don’t underestimate the importance of consistency and understand that this isn’t a race, it’s a journey. Lucky for you, you are in the right place here at Blogger Babes!
What Blogger Building Blocks has afforded me is clarity through step-by-step instructions, comprehensive information, and interactive guides. I believe it can do the same for every blogger looking to grow. So, what do you most struggle with in building your blog? Let me know in the comments below!
Candis Hickman is a Relationship & Dating Coach and Author of The Dreaded Ex: Lessons in Love. She teaches smart women how to become the most attractive versions of themselves so that they can more easily move through relationship struggles, understand their unique needs, and create the type of love lives they dream about. Read more at Candis’ blog, or pick up a free copy of her Design Your Dream Love Life Workbook here!
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