Today, I’ve got a blogging related post coming your way. I tend to write something blogging related once a month or so and today I’m focusing entirely on answering reader blog questions.
Over the last couple of months I’ve gotten quite a few reader questions about blogging, using Pinterest and monetizing. So, I wanted to answer them all at once so that anyone else who is curious might benefit from it too.
But, before I start can I tell you how honored I am that fellow bloggers have been reaching out to me for advice?
When I started this blog nearly 2 years ago I had no idea that I’d end up making a living from it. I knew a little bit about blogging but had no idea what I was doing with regards to marketing, Pinterest and growing a blog. So, to say that I’m honored that you fine folks are actually taking the time to reach out to me is an understatement.
Thank you for reading and thank you for trusting me enough to reach out to me for advice. As always, feel free to get in touch with me via email with any questions you might have. I’ll do my very very best to answer.
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Top 10 Blog Questions Answered
What is your blogs theme?
I’m currently using The Soledad theme from Theme Forest which I absolutely love. I’ve played around with various free themes over the last year and a half and although some are really great they didn’t provide me with the flexibility I wanted.
Soledad is amazing. Period. If you’re just starting out or you’re more established I highly recommend a professional theme with a ton of customizeable options like Soledad.
If you’re in the market for a new theme I cannot recommend Theme Forest enough. They’ve got so many professional themes available to choose from. A quick search based on your own preferences will return some of the best WordPress themes available.
Tip. Choose a theme that can grow with your blog. Think long-term and find a theme that not only provides an awesome reader experience both on desktop and on mobile but that packages your content beautifully.
How do you market your posts?
My main source of post promotion comes from using Pinterest. My niche (frugal living with some parenting thrown in) does quite well on Pinterest so I’ve put quite a bit of effort into marketing my blog there.
I’ve experimented a ton with Pinterest over the last year or so. I’ve tried manual pinning, Board Booster, Tailwind and a combination of all of those at some point or another. What works best for me and my blog is a combination of strategic manual pinning and using the Tailwind Scheduler & Tribes. I’m a huge fan of Tailwind and believe that it is a necessary tool in every Blogger’s arsenal. If there’s anything you SHOULD be spending on when you’re a blogger, Tailwind is it. It’s truly responsible for my blog’s growth.
If you’re interested in some more information about Pinterest and how it actually works to help grow your blog you should read my post: The Ugly Truth About Using Pinterest To Grow Your Blog Traffic.
What is your advice for growing a twitter and Instagram following?
Twitter and Instagram are really foreign platforms to me. Admittedly, I don’t spend enough time on either of those. In the early days of growing my blog I spent a good amount of time on Instagram with very little (if any) direction or return.
I eventually decided to blog smarter, not harder and focus my energy on only one platform which is Pinterest. I hope to eventually get back to using Instagram in some capacity soon but for the time being my energy is focused more on Pinterest and growing my email list.
As for growing your following, I’d first evaluate how relevant each of those platforms (any platform actually) is to your blog. In my case, I realized that Instagram wasn’t helping grow my blog. My Instagram followers didn’t convert well into readers and so, I realized that my Instagram followers were perfectly content staying on Instagram. If that’s the case for you, I’d suggest you prioritize the platforms that convert for you first.
When it comes to growing a following on any platform whether that be twitter, Instagram, Facebook or even Pinterest it really comes down to a question of time and consistency. A solid following is generally not achieved overnight. So, keep posting and engaging consistently and the followers will come.
How are you making money with your blog?
My blog generates income primarily from a combination of ad revenue (see below) and affiliate marketing. Although I am open to sponsored posts I find myself turning them down regularly because I don’t feel they are a good fit for my blog. That’s not to say that I’ll never take a sponsored post opportunity again. Instead, I’ve become very picky about what companies I choose to work with and unless it’s something that I feel will be valuable to my audience I pass on the opportunity.
If you’re looking to take on sponsored posts on your blog head on over to this post: How to Score Sponsored Posts As A New Blogger for some tips.
What is your top advice for growing blog traffic?
Growing a blogs traffic is hard work folks. In hindsight I would do everything differently! Isn’t that always the case? If I had to give a new blogger advice on how to grow their blog traffic here are my top 4 tips:
- Go Self Hosted From The Start: If you’re new to blogging I highly suggest you go self-hosted from the start. If you’re interested in finding out how to easily start head over to my post: The Ultimate Guide To Starting A Money Making Blog for more info. It’s super easy, I promise!
- Idenfity Your Ideal Reader Whatever your niche, you really need to narrow down who your ideal reader is specifically. Once you’ve done that it’s far easier to create content and market it because you’ve always got that ideal reader’s needs in mind. Identifying your ideal reader helps keep your blog focused and consistent.
- Pinterest is Your Best Friend Pinterest is absolutely the best and easiest way to grow your blog traffic. It does take time but once you find a Pinterest strategy that works for you and your blog your readership can grow very quickly. Joining group boards is essential to help get your content seen as well. I’m a member of well over 50 group boards and attribute a lot of my growth to the visibility they provide.
- Learn About And Use SEO Although Pinterest is great, focusing on developing good SEO practices from the very beginning is very important. If your content is optimized for search engines your organic traffic will grow alongside your social media traffic which is ideal. Although my organic traffic has caught up it was nearly nothing until recently. Focusing on SEO has really helped make my blog optimized for search engines which means that search engines are finally sending me a good amount of daily traffic.
What are your suggestions for a brand new blogger?
This question really made me think. Looking back to the evolution of my blog I thought about the one thing I would change if I could go back in time. Well, my suggestion would absolutely be to blog smarter and not harder. If I could start from scratch I would focus on publishing two SEO focused posts per week, use Pinterest to strategically market my content and email my mailing list on a weekly basis.
What is your Pinterest strategy?
My strategy is a combination of manual pinning and using Tailwind to schedule my pins. Generally, I use Tailwind to schedule up to 50 pins per day which are a combination of my own pins and those that I pin from tribes. I then use manual pinning to keep up with the various pinning requirements of my group boards and to defuse my newer pins to my group boards.
If you’re interested in some more information about Pinterest and how it actually works to help grow your blog you should read my post: The Ugly Truth About Using Pinterest To Grow Your Blog Traffic.
What Ad network are you working with?
After being on the fence about leaving Google Adsense during the winter of 2018 I finally bit the bullet and went with Mediavine. I was super hesitant and scared (the unknown is scary folks!) and I have been blow away by how amazing this Ad network is.
Not only are they top notch when it comes to helping optimize your site for their Ad setup BUT they pay nearly 4 times what I was making with Adsense. I am beyond satisfied with Mediavine and highly suggest them to anyone who meets the 25k minimum session requirement.
How do you balance your time with regards to writing posts and post promotion?
Blogging can take up so much unnecessary time if you don’t have a solid strategy in place. The second you decide to blog for money you need to develop a strategy or workflow that keeps you on task and makes you as productive as possible. Your success as a blogger relies totally on how much unique content you’re able to create and how efficient you’re at getting eyes on it.
My strategy is pretty simple. I’m usually 4-6 weeks ahead in my content production. Yup that means that this very post that is being published today May 28th was actually written at the end of April. I’ve found that batch writing my posts ahead of time really helps take down the stress level and gives me more time to focus on other blog related tasks. I’m hoping to extend my editorial calendar further in the coming weeks with the goal of being 12 weeks ahead at all times.
Why don’t you publish blog income reports?
Although many bloggers publish monthly income reports and statements I never felt the need to that with This Tiny Blue House. My goal here is to share frugal living and parenting tips and so, blog income reports don’t necessarily serve any purpose beyond keeping track of how much TTBH is generating. Beyond this, I’m in the camp that feels that some blog income reports can be misleading and even disappointing to bloggers who are in various stages of their blogging journey. So, I’ve never published income reports and have no desire to do that moving forward.
A Few More This Tiny Blue House Posts You Might Enjoy
- How To Make Money Blogging When You Don’t Blog About Blogging
- The Ultimate Guide For Starting A Blog
- The Ugly Truth About Using Pinterest To Grow Your Blog Traffic
- 20 Must Have WordPress Plugins
- 20 Gorgeous And Free WordPress Themes
- Where To Find Paid Posts As A New Blogger
I Want To Hear From You!
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Great info! It’s funny, the things that you mention I was getting ready to start implementing as a new blogger (2.5) months. I was trying to crank out more posts to beef up my site, but 3-4 per week was just too much, so was going to move to 2 posts per week, like you said. But I find it HARD to create newsletters…it’s my least favorite thing about blogging, hands down. And I know it’s so important. Sigh.
Less is often more in the world of blogging. I publish 2 (sometimes although rarely 3) posts per week and it’s plenty!
HI there!
Firstly, thank you for generous posts like these, which I am sure help a lot of people.
Secondly, a question: you mentioned that your main recommended activities are to write weekly blog posts, manage Pinterest, and email your mailing list. Does that mean you send a weekly newsletter to your subscribers in addition to the blog posts? How do you determine the content for that? (note: I’m on your mailing list but don’t think I’m receiving the newsletter).
Another question: when you batch write posts, how many do you typically write in one go? I find each blog post takes about 3 hours, including photos, SEO, writing etc – and it’s pretty tiring 😀 Any tips there?
Thank you again for great posts like these.
Hi Nazpaan!
Thank you much for stopping by 🙂
I’ll do my best to answer your questions!
I do send a weekly email to my subscribers! If you are not receiving it perhaps you should check your junk mail or spam since unfortunately newsletters often get flagged that way. If it’s still not showing up please feel free to subscribe.
My weekly emails tend to be a more personal summary of what’s going on in my life with a recap of what’s going on here on the blog. I don’t tend to send extravagant emails. They are generally plain text and just a brief recap of any frugal tips and tricks or other lifestyle topics I’ve dealt with that week in addition to some backstory to the posts I published that week.
When it comes time to batch write my posts I tend to focus only on writing. I’m a slow writer so like you it can take me a ton of time (sometimes more than 3-4 hours per post). When I first decided to batch write and get ahead I took a full 2 weeks off from blogging. During that time there were no posts published here. Instead, I spent my time writing posts for the following month. In one week I was able to write 6 posts which at 2 posts per week came me 3 weeks of content. I spent the following week doing the same and by the end of the 2 weeks I was 6 weeks ahead. From there I continued writing posts (although at a slower rate) and I was able to get 2 months ahead with my content. Now, I maintain it by writing posts and adding them to my schedule while the pre-written posts are being published.
I hope this helps!
Hi Jenny
Thank you, that does help! Taking some time out to bulk up on blog posts sounds like a good plan.
Could I ask if you do the SEO for your posts (including photos) separately, and how long it takes? Do you have any tips for good SEO tools? I’ve just started using Yoast Suggest and Google Trends, but don’t know if there’s a better/smarter way to nail SEO. Any experience you could share would be great.
And I’ve just signed up for your newsletter 🙂
Thanks
Nazish
Hi Nazpaan! I’m really not an SEO expert. I work with yoast seo and have seen great results.
The blog looks great, Jenny! I love how you’ve segmented different areas in your drop-down menus.
Thank you so much Catherine!
Wow, Jenny! Thanks for the blush-worthy compliment for Mediavine, as well as for a great post packed with action items for bloggers. We’re so glad you’re a part of our family!
If you ever have questions, we’re here at [email protected] to work with you on anything from SEO to optimization.
— Susannah at Mediavine