Everything I Learned My First Month Blogging

This morning I was drinking my coffee and checking my emails like I normally do when I saw I had a message from Bluehost congratulating me on my first month blogging with my website peachypapillon.com! I cannot believe how fast that flew by. After experiencing it for myself I now get why all those bloggers I looked to for advice told me to jump right in. You have no reason to be intimidated as long as you’re willing to learn and willing to put in the work.

Of course this is just the very beginning of my blogging journey. But, I hope that you join me to see how it goes for me! I’ll be continuing to post my self-care and lifestyle content as well as sharing my process of building up my blog. And who knows? Maybe this will give you inspiration to start whatever it is that you’ve had nagging at the back of your brain.

The very first time I thought about starting up blogging was back in 2014.

That was almost 10 years ago!!! I got tired of kicking myself for all the wasted time I spent not investing in myself because I didn’t believe in my own success. Not only with blogging, but with my acting career, my fitness journey, and my YouTube channel. I’m stepping out of my own way, partially with help from this blog.

RELATED : To check out my YouTube Channel click HERE.

Starting a blog has done more for me than just finally creating something I’ve been dreaming about for years. It also has helped me focus on all the things that enrich my life and make me happy. Which is the whole premise of peachypapillon so it makes sense!

Before we get into the main points I’ve learned so far, I want to start off by letting you know that I started from zero! I have no coding experience. I’ve never built a website. I had no idea what SEO was (still learning about that one). But here I am, doing it! Proving that you can too.

Before investing in my website I did spend a couple months doing research. All of that research was very beneficially but I could have started up my blog so much sooner. You’re not going to learn how to make the perfect $10,000/month revenue making blog the second you launch so don’t put that kind of pressure of yourself! Hopefully looking at what I have to say about my look back on my first month will help you take that first leap.

Not all blogging journey’s are the same.

Before starting a blog, and even now, I’m constantly reading other articles about how these other bloggers are making thousands of dollars with their blogs and how I could do it too! While this is true, it’s important to remember that not every blogging journey looks the same. I for one, did not make any money off of my blog this month. But most blogs don’t!

Usually when you are starting a blog the advice you read are from the big boys that already have some success. (So, if you’re here reading mine, I am flattered.) Those are great for motivation and are good to look to to figure out how you might micmic that success. but I also think it’s important to look at those who took years before turning a profit to keep realistic and to not give up when you don’t see results right away. Also, always make sure you use other bloggers as an inspiration, not your competition.

This brings me to my next point – consistency!

You need to work on your blog everyday. Even if it’s just a half hour to make some Pinterest pins, or read an article about SEO (Search Engine Optimization – what helps your blog show up on search engines like Google). The little steps you take everyday get you closer to your blogging goals.

You can’t expect to just check in to your website every once in awhile when you publish a new post and forget about it. You need to be constantly improving and constantly learning.

Write what sparks passion in you.

When you’re starting a blog one of the first common pieces of advice is to find a niche. This helps your SEO and helps you find loyal readers. I settled on self care. However, I’ve found myself writing a lot of posts in my “life style” category because that’s what I want to talk about. I managed to keep a common thread of self-care because anything you do that improves your life can be considered a form of self care. This helped me not limit myself and keeps fresh ideas flowing.

You have to have passion for what you’re writing or else you’ll burn out and give up. It’s not going to be fun for you, and your readers will be able to tell.

Blogging with WordPress is easier than you think.

If you are putting off a blog because you are intimidated by creating a site, don’t!! WordPress was started as a blogging platform so it is SUPER catered toward bloggers. Bluehost academy also offers a FREE course on wordpress to help you out, but I figured out most things on my own by just playing around. Considering I started with no experience that should show you how easy it is yo navigate.

You don’t need to have a perfectly set up blog when you first start out. I began with a free wordpress theme and made 4 basic pages. My homepage, my posts page, my disclaimer page, and my about me page.  I still don’t have much more than that, other than my blog categories, and I don’t plan on changing that anytime soon.

You don’t need to spend a lot of money.

Along with my free theme, I also used royalty-free stock images. The main website I get my images from is pexels.com. You can always (and will always) change how you do things as you learn and grow.

I don’t plan on investing in premium plug-ins or themes until I start turning a profit. And you don’t have to! The only thing you HAVE to buy is your hosting. And that’s just if you plan on making your blog a business.

If you’re just doing it for fun I’d recommend going with the free version of wordpress. You can always upgrade if you change your mind, so don’t worry about missing out!

And lastly and most importantly – HAVE FUN.

I use my blog as a artistic outlet. That’s what makes me creating my website and blog posts so enjoyable for me. It even inspires me to create corresponding youtube and tiktok videos which is something else I really enjoy doing.

It brings me so much joy to share the things I make with the world and hopefully along the way inspire a few people on the way as well.

I hope this blog post gave you a little insight as to what to expect in your first month blogging. I hope it also helped you realize that it’s not as intimidating as it may seem. All it takes is passion and perseverance!

Have any questions for me? Leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you.

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