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Blogging 101: How To Jumpstart A Mommy Blog

November 5, 2019 by Guest Post 1 Comment

How To Jumpstart A Mommy Blog
This is a sponsored guest post.

A lot of moms out there might think blogging fits “the young ones,” and that they’re too busy with tasks for the day and the household that a Mommy Blog will just “take too much” of your time. However, it helps to realize that having a Mommy Blog won’t be just to entertain or have a hobby. In fact, a lot of Mommy Blogs can be a source of income, or even a way to connect with other moms all over the world. How exactly can you make this work, though? Well, before we dive into the specifics, let’s go over the basics of doing a Mommy Blog. Here’s generally what you need:

See if you want to allocate a budget to blogging. Yes, you’ve heard us right – a budget. Blogging can be something you do for free – a lot of people actually blog as a hobby, or something to do with their free time. However, if you’ve seen bloggers, vloggers, and content creators earning money through their craft and want to do the same, you need to set aside time and resources to plan your way to profitable blogging. When we ask for a budget, this means the kind of budget you’ll be willing to allocate to things like good web design, potential advertisements, and your own domain. These are all things that not only can help make your blog more creative and unique, but also help set you up for profitable blogging and content marketing.

  • Free is best, but it helps to set aside a bit of money to make your blog authentically yours. Free website services exist, but that means attaching their names to your website URL. If you want to make a unique website, you have to start with claiming the essentials – and this means thinking about whether you want to have a unique domain (the website address), a web host (the service that handles all your site content) and if you want a web design team to build the site for you.
  • Test multiple services first before settling to one. While a lot of websites “attest” the popularity of their preferred website service, try to test out their features and website offerings before you decide on something you want. While a lot of website makers generally work the same way, they usually have little tidbits that can make or break the website-making experience.
  • When paying for a service, try checking modes of payment and terms and conditions for your services. A lot of bloggers tend to rely on online payment options such as My Premier credit card for payments like these, especially when they look for international services.

Build your website. Who says you have to be imbued with intense programming knowledge to be able to build a blog? A ton of services online exist that can help you build your site for free – be it WordPress, or even Wix, among others. A lot of these websites tend to be “drag-and-drop,” too, where you simply drag elements you want in your blog and that’s about it. Before you start your blog, build your website first – be it a standalone blog, or something with multiple pages. What better way to start your blog than to start it with a dash of creativity, right?

 

  • Start with the most basic features you need. You definitely need an About Page that tells about you as an author, and a Blog feature that lets you post your blogs. What else do you need? When you have an idea of essential features your site should have, prioritize making web pages for those. You can add other features later on.
  • Branding is important when building your website. When you choose colors or add logos or add images, make sure they are consistent with the kind of message you want your blog to share with others.
  • When using a website service, take a look at their premium features and make a list of the ones you want to avail eventually. Regardless of the price, try listing them down and looking at how they work in action on sites like YouTube or other videos. While you might not buy them yet, knowing what potential features strike your fancy can help you build a game plan for your site in the future.

Identify your niche and stick with it. Just because you’re starting to write a “Mommy Blog” doesn’t mean it always has to be about motherhood and parenting. There’s a ton of aspects of being moms and being parents that you can tackle in a blog, and you’ll likely find an audience depending on the kind of pieces you write. While thinking of your blog, think of a concept and a “focus” you want to approach. When you have these specifics in mind, writing becomes much easier for you, and content ideas will spring to life because you have a focus.

  • Even if you’re writing a blog for moms, you can still have a more specific niche or genre for your audiences. This topic can come from anywhere – your history, your habits, your passion, and even your academic training. For instance, psychology-inclined moms can talk more about parenthood and raising kids. Likewise, if you’re a single mom, you can write blogs about dating as a mom. The possibilities are endless.
  • When you find a niche you like, try to set aside time to make a list of topics you’ll be writing about under this niche. Try to look around the internet for “hot topics” in your niche, and list them down. When you start writing, focus on these first as these hot topics will likely bring you a lot of attention from readers.

Be aware of your audience and try to reach out to them. When you have a niche or genre you want your Mommy Blog to approach, it’s time to identify the kind of readers you want. While it helps to cater to all sorts of readers, having a specific audience makes it easier for you to write pieces as a new blog. Your audience can range from new moms, to grandmas, to mommy chefs, or even to single moms wanting to get back to the dating scene. When you identify your audience, try to research ways to reach out to them, and see if this is the kind of audience you want to talk to for a long amount of time.

  • Think of the kind of people you want to be reading your blog. This will likely help zero in on the tone and message you’ll write for them. If you want to focus on beauty tips for moms, you’ll likely focus on a cheerful tone and a positive message that “you’ll be able to be the best version of yourself through self-expression.” Likewise, if you want to focus on single moms looking for dates, your tone will likely be authoritative but friendly, and focus on building your audience’s confidence. When you identify the kind of readers you want, you’ll likely identify the kind of impact you want your blog to have on them.
  • With your audience in mind, look around the internet for where you’ll likely find these people. Are they in forums, communities, and other online groups? Try to bookmark these, join them, and interact with your audiences to identify their needs and what they might look for in a blog. When you start writing, try to refer them to pieces you write, which can lead them to read your page.

Think about the long term. How long do you plan on blogging and running your Mommy Blog? While it’s not always good to think about “how things will end,” it might help to think ahead before you pursue your Mommy Blog. Nothing beats a good goal than a lack of follow-through, so you need to be aware of your goals ahead. What do you plan on doing with your blog? Do you want to eventually sell your site to someone else? Do you want to form a community for moms? Do you just want a medium to store your memories with your family?

  • If you’re along the lines of bloggers who want to make money out of building websites, you can start planning to build your website’s credibility and reputation by connecting with peers and other websites of similar genres. We suggest you eventually dabble into what’s called link building, where you improve your website’s popularity in search engines like Google by writing guest blogs and always linking back to reputable sites. When you do this, you’ll likely be able to sell off your website for a high price.
  • If you want to grow a community, you should start looking into creating content for social media as well. You can connect your blog to your social media (or social media accounts for your blog) in order to widen your reach. This can make writing blogs a lot more fun, as you can get the input of your other readers.
  • What other features do you want your blog to have? Do you want to eventually have an eCommerce website? Do you want to host webinars? Do you want to have a chat feature for fans? Identify these so you’ll have a better understanding of your goals.

You Can Make Your Mommy Blog Real!

 

When you work on something like a blog, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with the many elements associated with it. After all, if you want to grow your blog into a community or make profit from it, you’ll inevitably have to read up on a couple of things. And, of course, readings can get overwhelming – especially for moms like you that have household duties and stuff on their personal life to deal with. Hopefully, with the above tips, you’ll get encouraged to pursue your dream to make your Mommy Blog a reality – and, hey, hopefully you’ll be able to make it a normal part of your life as well!

Filed Under: blogging, personal

Kenmore Blogger Summit, Day 2: Exploding Fruitcakes! #HolidayHosting

October 29, 2013 by Beeb 12 Comments

Chicago

Thanks to Kenmore for providing all travel and related consideration for this event.

On day 2 of the Kenmore Blogger Summit, I got up early and joined Malini and Marina in the Hotel Felix lobby to sneak in a little sightseeing before the day’s activities began at 7:45. We were right in the heart of downtown Chicago, so we were able to walk down by the water and see some landmarks like the Chicago Tribune. I hadn’t expected to have time to see any of the city, so I was excited to have the chance to look around a little bit and had so much fun hanging out with the ladies.

After our lightning-fast walk around Chicago, we headed back to the Hotel Felix for breakfast. I forgot to get pictures, because apparently I was hungry. 😉 Once we had eaten and gotten a little coffee, we walked over to the Kenmore Craftsman Brand Live Experience studio for day two of activities.

Kenmore Bloggers

From left to right: Marina, Melinda, Yoly, and Malini

This day was jam-packed and full of so many fun and unique experiences. To start us off, Chef Kari Karch warned us that it might get messy, and gave us all ponchos and goggles to wear. They then brought out a fruitcake which they blew up! Exploding fruitcakes are a great way to start off any blogging event.

Kari dons a poncho & goggles

Fruitcake

Fruitcake explosion!!!!

The exploding fruitcake was our introduction to “Terrible hostess presents”, which was the theme of the 30 minute cooking challenge where my team was responsible for the fruitcake stuffing that ended up winning. After working up an appetite cooking all that food, we took a break for lunch, and then got a presentation from the Kenmore team on their appliances and what goes into them.

I got a chance to talk to some of the team members that innovate improvements and new features on everything from fridges to vacuums, and it was interesting to hear how much Kenmore pushes to have the newest and best of everything. They spend a lot of time researching what their customers most want in terms of performance so that they can develop “Kenmore Exclusives” – features that you will only find in their products. I got “Up close and personal” with Kenmore’s kitchen appliances during the cooking challenge, and it was the first time I’d ever used an induction oven. I can add that to my wishlist now that we’ve finished the kitchen remodel!

Appliance talk

Kenmore fridge

Kenmore vacuum

New Kenmore vacuum coming in 2014

Now that we had learned all that goes into making these appliances, we were extra excited for the “Yankee Gift Exchange” where each blogger got to pick a bag from under the tree. Each bag contained a mystery gift from Kenmore. I’ve never done a “Yankee” gift exchange before, but it involves a lot of present-stealing! Each person picks a number and takes turns picking out an item. They can either choose from under the tree – or swipe someone elses’ gift! At the end, everyone was given a 15 second window to do one last frantic present steal. Keep in mind, everything was wrapped, containing a sealed envelope with a photo of the gift which would then be mailed out – so all the “Stealing” was based on wrapping and intuition alone! I’m not the tussling type, so I just picked out the bag under the tree that I thought was prettiest. I was gifted a Kenmore Ultrasonic Humidifier for Large Rooms!

The Blogger Yankee Gift Exchange was inspired by a Facebook contest/charitable drive which Kenmore will be unveiling soon, so watch this space for info on how to win when that launches!

Kenmore Ultrasonic Humidifier

After gifts, we had one final send-off cocktail before catching our shuttle back to O’Hare. To commemorate the event, we were each given a cookbook with the recipes submitted by bloggers in attendance – it was so fun to see my Mince Pies in print! We were also gifted a copy of the Kenmore 100 Year Anniversary Cookbook from our very own Kari Karch.

Beeb & Kari

It was a weekend jam-packed with activities, fun, information, and even a little sight-seeing! I had so much fun hanging out with the awesome Kenmore team and wonderful bloggers. I had the opportunity to meet some friends I’ve known online for ages, and meet new fast friends whose blogs I will now be bookmarking!

Kenmore
Cookmore

Filed Under: blogging, travel Tagged With: #KenmoreSummit, Kenmore, Kenmore Summit

I’ve gotten a virus

October 23, 2008 by Momstart 3 Comments

I got this virus, by looking at someone else’s blog. I am probably cheating, but I wanted in on the fun. Shame on me I know

{Start Copy Here}

Rules:
1. Copy paste from {Start Copy Here} to {End Copy Here}
2. Please link back to the person who tagged you and PASS this tag to many of your friends
3. If you have more than one blog, please post this to all of your blogs, the more the merrier.
4. The use of NO FOLLOW on links is not allowed, Let’s all be fair!
5. Remember to come back here at JENNY TALKS (pls. don’t change this link)and leave the exact post url so I can add you to the master list to help increase our rankings and improve our Technorati Authority.
6. Spread the virus.. oooopps I mean the VIRAL LINKING and happy blogging!


BLOGGERS:
#1. Scraps & Shots
#2. Simply Jen 3. This and That 4. Fab & Chic Finds 5.A Slice of Life 6. Jenny Talks 7. Tech Stuff Plus 8. Food on the Table 9. Aussie Talks 10. When Mom Talks 11. Moments of My Life 12. My Crossroads 13. A Life in Bloom 14. Because Life is a Blessing 15. Digiscraptology 16. BLOGSILOG 14. Cherry’s Comfort Zone 15. DigiScrapz: Captured Memories 16. Buzzy Me 17. Fab Finds, Etc. 18. Thinking Out Loud 19. Wishing and Hoping 20. PRC Board Exam Results 21. Jobs Abroad 22. My Blog Portfolio17. Race Corner 18. Mommy Talks. 19. Home and Health 20. All Kinds of Me Stuff 21. Ink Baby Studios 22. The Salad Caper 23. Winding Creek Circle 24. Aggie Scraps 25. Momma Stuff 26. We Are Family 27. Gandacious 28. Busynessworld 29. Folcreative 30. Swanportraits 31. Rumination Under The Clouds 32. Consciously Think 33. Sprawt 34. Healthy Skinny 35. Geekyology 36. When Mom Speaks 37. Rumination 38. Etc Atbp 39. When Silence Speaks 40. When Sahmone Speaks 41. Joys in Life 42. Hailey’s Beats and Bits 43. Hailey’s Domain 44. It Is Nap Time 45. From Melissa’s Desk 46. Momstart

{END Copy Here}

Now I am supposed to pass this on.

A Mom Speaks
Super Coupon Girl

and anyone else who wants in

I’m giving a special thanks to
Harmony in Motion

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Filed Under: blogging, Social media, tag, Technorati

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