Perspective: 5 Time-Tested Things I Wish I'd Done from the Beginning

What are the 5 time-tested things I wish I’d done from the beginning on my blog? Hindsight is often a dangerous game, but it can provide you with much-needed perspective. We can’t change the past, so focusing and dwelling on the road not taken can lead to a paralysis of a sort. Instead of moving forward, we end up playing the game of “what if”. What if we’d done this? What if we’d done that? What if this had happened instead of that?

As a blogger for more than five and a half years now, I too catch myself up in the game of “what if.” If I’d done something on my blog earlier in my blogging career, would I be closer to reaching my goals? Probably.

But, if you are just starting your own blogging journey, you are probably wallowing in the mire of a thousand things you need to learn, a thousand things you’ve never heard of before, a thousand things that seem overwhelming and time-consuming; and, if you are anything like me, many, many of these things will include a substantial learning curve. Things like:

WordPress vs Blogger – what does that even mean?
Plugins? Widgets? Themes? Permalinks? Catagories? Tags? – what is all this stuff and why do I need to know about them?
SEO – what is it and why is it important?

The list above is just the tip of the iceberg. I could go on (and on and on), but instead, I’ll just jump right in and give you my perspective and share with you the 5 Time-Tested Things I Wish I’d Done from the Beginning of my blogging journey.

5 Things I Wish I’d Done from the Beginning

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Perspective Number One – Develop and Nurture My Email List

For me, even after more than 5 years of blogging, this blog still a work in progress. But, in hindsight and with perspective, I wish I’d focused on developing and nurturing my email list right from the very beginning. Your email subscribers are your true fans. They have chosen you to show up in their inbox on a regular basis. And, because they have chosen to subscribe to your email list, they deserve to be nurtured. I don’t mean that you reach out to your email subscribers on a one-on-one basis, but rather that you create an email newsletter that you send out on a regular basis, whether weekly, bi-monthly or monthly. That way your regular blog readers never miss a post!

Why are your email subscribers so important? Because they are your subscribers and won’t disappear in a blink of an eye by a change in algorithms or policy practices. For example, a few days ago Facebook announced a major overhaul in the way they promote posts in their news feed. Over the next several months, the plan is to shift the focus to friends and family and away from business posts from publishers and brands. And, Mark Zuckerberg hopes you’ll spend less time on Facebook. “Now, I want to be clear: by making these changes, I expect the time people spend on Facebook and some measures of engagement will go down. But, I also expect the time you do spend on Facebook will be more valuable,” he shared. If you, as a blogger, are reliant on Facebook driving traffic to your blog, this change in Facebook’s perspective and focus is sure to have a huge impact on traffic to your site.

Another example is Pinterest. Since opening up to the general population in 2012, Pinterest has changed almost everything about how it works and has morphed into a search engine they call “Guided Search.” I’ve had bloggers tell me that they’ve lost more than half their traffic due to these changes.

And, that’s just two examples. Search engines like Google are always changing things up along with all the different social media platforms out there, so your email subscribers become even more important.

So, grow and nurture your blog email subscribers. Make it a priority. Don’t wait 5 years down the road, like I have, to understand that this is the number one thing you can do to grow your blog!

But, developing an email subscriber list is not an easy task. Yes, you can have an area on your blog that says “Subscribe to Me” and hope that readers will follow through by signing up. But, chances are that your list will grow ever so slowly. Mine has.

Rather than rely on readers to hunt around for my “Subscribe to Me” area, I’ve decided to make that choice more easily available by leaving an open invitation at the end of every post plus place a widget on my sidebar. In addition, I’m offering readers an “incentive” to subscribe, by giving them a free 23-page ebook, 650+ Kitchen Essentials, A Comprehensive Checklist for a Well-stocked Kitchen.

To make this happen, I’m using an email provider called ConvertKit. After dawdling with an RSS feed subscription through Feedburner (very old school), followed by several years with MailChimp (they are free to use up to a certain number of subscribers), I’ve decided to invest in my business by signing up with and paying for ConvertKit. While not free, their monthly fee is very reasonable for the first 1,000 subscribers (currently $29 a month).

However, learning how to develop an email subscriber list is daunting, so I found a course that takes you step-by-step through the process from beginning to end that has become an invaluable resource to me. That course is List Building Academy developed by Laura from I Heart Planners and is geared towards using ConvertKit as your email provider. For a one-time fee, Laura gives you lifetime access to her course. So, as you learn to implement a successful email marketing strategy, you can refer back to her course over-and-over again for a refresher as your list grows.

Here’s what I wish: I wish that ConvertKit was available earlier in my blogging journey and I wish Laura had created her course sooner. I see unicorns and rainbows in my future!

Perspective Number Two – Create a Product to Sell

There are lots of ways to make money from your blog: advertising revenue, affiliate income, sponsored posts, brand ambassador, etc. And, while each of these has its merits, each has its disadvantages, too.

For example, in order to write a sponsored post for your blog, you have to have a sponsor (usually a brand-name product) pay you to write the post. And, in order for the sponsor to want you to write that post on their behalf, you usually have to have a significant readership. As an “influencer,” the sponsor wants to make sure that you actually have readers to influence!

One of the best at this is my friend and fellow blogger Heather Reese, on her blog It’s a Lovely Life. Heather and her husband Pete have created a powerhouse blog, sharing their travel adventures, parenting tips and more. Heather and her family have over 537,000+ fans across the various social media platforms. Obviously, they are considered top “influencers” to the brands that work with them.

However, building a blog such as Heather and Pete have built takes time and lots of hard work. My point is that most blogs are not overnight sensations. And, as more and more people become bloggers, the money-making opportunities for new bloggers from outside resources become less and less.

But, think about this for a moment: if you create your own product to sell, your income is not contingent on others. I’ve been working on my own product for over a year now. I’m not saying it will take you a year to create your product; I’m just saying that it’s never too late to start. I spent 3 years thinking about my product before I had my epiphany. And, now, it is taking me way longer to create it than I ever imagined. But, when it’s done, it’s mine. Forever. I’m excited about that!

What kind of product could you sell? Well, that depends on where your interest lie and/or what you blog about. Here are several examples of products sold by bloggers:

Cookbooks

If you are a food blogger, this route is a natural. Here are some of my favorites:

The Cozy Table – a cookbook by another blogging friend of mine, Dana DeVolk from This Silly Girl’s Kitchen

100 Days of Real Food and 100 Days of Real Food: Fast & Fabulous both by Lisa Leake from 100 Days of Real Food

The Oh She Glows Cookbook and Oh She Glows Every Day both by Angela Liddon from Oh She Glows

Half-Baked Harvest Cookbook by Teighan Gerard from Half-Baked Harvest

The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Come and Get It, Dinnertime, Food from My Frontier, A Year of Holidays, Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl all by Ree Drummond from The Pioneer Woman

Nom Nom Paleo and Ready or Not both by Michelle Tam and Henry Fong from Nom Nom Paleo

Upscale Downhome by Rachel Hollis from The Chic Site

Yes, that’s right – all of the above cookbook authors are bloggers! There are many, many more, but I don’t want to overwhelm you!

Courses

But, if you aren’t a food blogger, what else is there? What can you create to sell as a blogger? How about a course? Here are some of my favorites (all of which I have taken and recommend):

Food Blogger Pro by Bjork and Lindsay Ostrom – okay, okay; this is “food-related,” too! This is a comprehensive, soup-to-nuts (no pun intended; well, maybe it was!) course for beginners, intermediate and established bloggers. Open to new members once-a-year, get on their waiting list by signing up now!

List Building Academy by Laura Smith from I Heart Planners – as I mentioned above in Perspective Number One, Laura teaches you how to build your email list. Her course is comprehensive and she takes you step-by-step through her time-tested process.

Building a Framework: 10 Day Blogging Quickstart by Abby Lawson from Just a Girl and Her Blog – Abby shows you, step-by-step, how to start a blog. Not only does she offer that course, but several more: Choosing YOUR Perfect Niche and Boost Blog Traffic Guide.

Sticky Blogging by Kelly from Happy You, Happy Family – Kelly teaches you how to convert readers to loyal fans. Her course, too, is only open for registration a couple of times a year, but she has a free course available all the time to get you started.

Blog by Number by Suzi Whitford from Start a Mom Blog. Suzi has morphed one course into 6 different courses. Genius!

Blog Boost Bundle – five amazing bloggers have combined resources and created a 6-part course bundled together. Each one of these bloggers (Angie, Gina, Lesley, Tasha, and Bre) cover topics highlighting their unique expertise. Covering social media, email marketing, SEO, and affiliate marketing, this in-depth course will turn you from a novice to pro in no time.

eBooks

Does a course seem too daunting to create? Write an ebook instead. Here’s are some great examples:

How to Start a Blog by Tana Nelson from Your Marketing BFF. Tana is not only a friend of mine but my blog’s designer. An exceptionally talented person, Tana is extremely knowledgeable about all phases of blogging. So, she put that knowledge in writing and wrote her ebook; a great value at only $29.

Building a Framework by Abby Lawson from Just a Girl and Her Blog – Abby originally launched this as her first book. Now, she has taken her ebook to the next level by converting it to a course. Genius!

Simplify and The Intentional Life Planner also by Abby Lawson – Abby has created 35+ printables to help organize your life and has bundled them together and is selling them for $24.

Tasty Food Photography by Lindsay Ostrom from Pinch of Yum – Lindsay takes you step-by-step through her process of creating beautiful photographs of food; also a great value at only $29.

Rosemarie Groner at The Busy Budgeter has created several ebooks that she sells on her blog focusing on budgeting and blogging. They range in price from $3 up to $64. Check them out here: The Busy Budgeter Shop.

Other Books

Okay, I admit it – Ree Drummond is an anomaly! But, hey, who says you, too, can’t dream big? Here are the other books she’s written, all because one day she decided to start a blog:

The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels-A Love Story

Charlie the Ranch Dog

Charlie and the New Baby

Charlie and the Christmas Kitty

Charlie Plays Ball

Charlie Goes to School

Little Ree

Charlie the Ranch Dog: Stuck in the Mud

Charlie the Ranch Dog: Rockstar

Charlie the Ranch Dog: Charlie Goes to the Doctor

Charlie the Ranch Dog: Charlie’s New Friend

Charlie the Ranch Dog: Where’s the Bacon?

Charlie the Ranch Dog: Charlie’s Snow Day

But, you don’t have to be a world-renowned blogger to get published. Check out Blog, Inc. by Joy Cho of Oh Joy and all of these by Ruth Soukup of Living Well, Spending Less:

How to Blog for Profit Without Selling Your Soul

Living Well, Spending Less

Unstuffed: Decluttering Your Home, Mind, and Soul

31 Days of Living Well, Spending Zero

31 Days to a Clutter-Free Life

Joy, by the way, has a line of products now sold at Target. And, Ruth sells other things on her site as well as her books (plus she’s the mastermind behind Elite Blog Academy (a course I haven’t taken, yet).

Products

If you’ve created your own brand, for example, you can create and sell your own T-shirts or drink coozies like Jenna LaFevor from Rain on a Tin Roof. Her “Be a Freak” T-shirts are a hoot. She created this brand and promotes it throughout her site.

And, when you reach the big time like Ree, don’t forget to create real products you can sell like these: cookware, dinnerware, towels, tablecloths, and other accessories.

What do all these bloggers have in common? They are selling their own stuff. No algorithm can take that away. Yes, creating your own product, no matter what it is, is a daunting task. So, my recommendation: from the day that you start dreaming about blogging, you start dreaming about your product. And, as you go down your blogging road, look for opportunities to craft, create and hone that product.

Perspective Number Three – Engage in Social Media

While I’d like to think that as bloggers we can succeed without social media, there’s really not a chance in this world of that happening. But, as I pointed out in Perspective Number One, we bloggers are at the mercy of changing algorithms or policy practices at a moment’s notice.

I’m probably the worse person, ever, to talk about engaging in social media as something that new bloggers should do, because I’m terrible at this! But, here’s my advice: do as I say and not as I do!

Why am I so bad at social media? Because I’m a baby boomer (read over 60! Yikes!) and I don’t have kids. Therefore, I think I never have anything interesting to share. So, I’ve learned the hard way and this is my perspective: to gain success as a blogger, share you must!

Unless you are a whiz kid that has grown up in this world (the world where social media is a constant part of life and you don’t know a world without it), mastering all of the different social media platforms can be overwhelming. At last count, there were more than 60 social networking sites and these are just the most popular!

So, what’s a blogger to do?

Pick two. That’s right – pick two and use them religiously. Keep up with changes and flow with the change. But, keep the others “in your back pocket,” too. In other words, don’t forget about the others, especially the ones that lead the pack, but don’t stress out about keeping up with 5 or 6 or 10.

Even better, if you have the funds to burn, use a social media scheduler like Tailwind, Buffer, Meet Edgar, CoSchedule, and Hootsuite. Using one of these sites to help manage your social media will make your blogging life easier (I use Tailwind).

I’ve tried to keep up with the five I consider the main social media platforms for bloggers (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Instagram) and because I’ve tried to manage all five, I’ve been a miserable failure. But, something magical happened when I started using Tailwind – one of my pins went viral!

This recipe, Easy Cream of Mushroom Pork Chops, has driven more than 485,000 visitors from Pinterest since I hit the publish button! Imagine what that number would be IF I narrowed my focus down to Pinterest and one other social media platform and really worked those two!

Need help learning the ends-and-outs of social media and how to use it as a blogger? There are courses out there, of course, created by bloggers for bloggers! In the Blog Boost Bundle I mentioned in Perspective Number Two, they teach you how to maximize Facebook, Google+ and Instagram as a blogger. Also, this course, Pinning Perfect, from Blog Clarity is a great and comprehensive course on how to use Pinterest as a blogger.

5 Time-Tested Things I Wish I'd Done from the Beginning on my blog - can you guess what they are? #blogging Click To Tweet

Perspective Number Four – Narrow the Focus of Your Blog

Toot Sweet 4 Two does not have a narrow focus. So, again, this is one of those “do as I say and not as I do” things! When I started this blog in July 2012 with my niece, Tiffany, we didn’t know what we wanted to focus on, so we narrowed it down to eight categories:

Sweet Eats – recipes
Sweet Home – homemaking, emergency planning
Sweet Ideas – crafts, parties, and tablescapes
Sweet Life – family, memories, and pets
Sweet Nothings – anything that doesn’t fit anywhere else
Sweet On – blogging, photography, reviews and others that inspire us
Sweet Spot – travel, adventures, nature
Sweet Talk – motivational and inspirational quotes
Sweet Things – things we like and want to share

Anyway, you can see that Toot Sweet 4 Two does NOT have a “focus.” But, here’s what happened along the way: Google and Pinterest decided our focus for us. Our focus morphed into recipes because that’s what drives readers to our site. So, now I like to tell people (when asked) that Toot Sweet 4 Two is a lifestyle blog with a heavy emphasis on food and recipes.

Here’s what else has happened from my perspective: our growth has been slow. Painstakingly slow. Too many categories. But, now I’m stuck. I’m stuck because I love the categories around the word “sweet” and don’t want to give them up! So, I’m sure my growth will continue slowly and I’m okay with that. But, if we had narrowed our focus early on, I probably wouldn’t be reluctant to give up any of these categories now because I’d only have, for example, maybe 3 instead of 8!

Perspective Number Five – Photography Matters

Yep, photography matters. If you aren’t the least bit interested in photography, run for the hills. NOW. Just kidding! But, the truth of the matter is that we (humans) are very visual. And, while a headline might capture our attention and we click because we are curious, a compelling photograph attached to that headline makes it even more irresistible.

But, if you aren’t interested in learning and honing your photography skills, you will need to purchase stock photography for your blog posts. And, that’s okay, too. You just have to accept that you will need to budget in purchasing photos as a business expense. There are numerous stock photo websites out there, but I decided early on that I would be my own photographer. That learning curve, too, was and is steep (I still have lots to learn), but I enjoy it and sharing photos that I’m proud of makes me happy.

For example, I love this post that I did a few years ago, about photography: Capturing Truth in the Moment. I took a Christmas event that I attended with my family and used the photographs to illustrate my points. I’m proud of many, many photos in the post, but one that I really like is completely out of focus! I like it because it shows movement, spontaneity and captures my great-niece’s total absorption in her “moment” on a pile of snow (manufactured snow; we live in Southern California). Plus, the colors and lighting are magical. I got lucky, but also I have a good camera. Check it out for yourself:

This next one I love, too. It’s of Princess Sweetie Pie’s (above) older sister, Princess P (below), making a snowball. It is in focus, but it captures her pride in the simple task of making a perfect small snowball in 75-degree weather.

I could go on-and-on with photos that I’m proud of and completely overwhelm you, but instead, I’ll include a few more at the bottom of this post so you can check them out if you are interested.

So, now back to the topic at hand – photography. There are sites, too, that provide access to “free” stock photos, but you really need to carefully read what “free” means on each of them and not get caught in the quagmire that is copyright infringement. Here’s a link to a blog post that provides links to many of these “free” sites: 21 Amazing Sites with Breathtaking Free Stock Photos. This post is on a site called Snappa, which is an online graphics creation site. This is another great option for bloggers – creating awesome graphics using their pre-made templates and free high-res stock photos.

But, if you decide to go the route I did – become your blog’s photographer – you will need some help. Food Blogger Pro has a whole section of videos devoted to food photography – a treasure trove of tutorials. Also, Creative Live has a plethora of online photography classes for every aspect of photography that you want to explore; some are free.

So, there you have it from my perspective – 5 time-tested things that I wish I’d done from the beginning on my blog. I hope that my experience of my inexperience will inspire you to take your blog higher faster! I love blogging and even though I’m not an overnight success, I intend to keep going!

Materials and Supplies Needed to Become a Blogger

Well, if you are, indeed, going to join the blogging journey, you will need a few things. Here is a list of the tools you’ll need, from my perspective, to get you started (besides a blog theme, blog host, etc. – another post for the future):

Computer || Printer || Keyboard || Vari-Desk || Camera || Tripod || Camera Lens || Camera Bag || Camera Memory Card || Camera Battery and Charger || Blogging Books || Food Photography Books || Other Photography Books