It has officially been a year since the launch of LydiaLouise.com! I am so proud of how far I have come and I am so excited for how far I still have to go. It is truly incredible what has become of LydiaLouise over the last year! Initially I started this blog as a hobby and it has bloomed into a business that is now taking off and I cannot be more proud of what the future holds!
I am here today to share my experience over the last year with you all, to answer some questions I get all the time, and to give out a few of my secrets to those who may be thinking about starting a blog of their own one day. I truly believe that if you have the passion and the will power to it, than anyone can start a blog and be successful!
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WHY IT ALL STARTED
This time last year I was pregnant with Aria and getting anxious for her arrival. You could say that possibly nesting had started to kick in, but really I got a little voice in my head begging to know what I was going to do for the next 4 months until she arrived. I was simply bored and wanted something I could do that was just for me and had value to my soul. Something I could carry on doing after my babies were born and while I was a stay at home mom.
I asked around to some family and friends looking for ideas… Crafting, cooking, painting, oh the list goes on… Nothing really felt right. Finally someone (I am sorry I cannot remember who it was, maybe my dad?), said “what about that blogging thing you wanted to do?”. At that moment I knew that was it and I decided to go full blown blogger hobby. I had the time, I had the drive, and so began LydiaLouise.com.
DO IT BECAUSE YOU LOVE IT
I committed to being consistent and wanted to have a sort of “portfolio” in this blog for my future self. I figured one day when my kids are grown I will possibly re-enter the working world. When I do I wanted to have something to show for the years I spent raising my kids at home. So, I put in my passion and love for writing and went to town posting 3 times a week. I had fun with it. I did it because I loved it and because I wanted to.
One of the biggest mistakes many people make when starting a blog is that they enter with the mindset that they need to make money. I truly think that readers know if you are genuine, and they can feel your intentions behind what you are doing. It can be a huge let down to hit the floor running and quickly smack into a wall if your goal is to just make money. Building relationships, an email list, a following of people dedicated to you and what you have to say is key to growing as a blogger. If you can do that organically by just being yourself and having fun than you will be successful!
IF YOU ARE AUTHENTIC – THEY WILL COME
Piggy backing off that last paragraph, authenticity is my biggest tip for anyone wanting to start a blog. Copying another blogger WILL NOT WORK. I encourage you to ask yourself who is your favorite blogger? Why? – Now if someone else started a blog and did exactly the same things your favorite blogger does, would you be a fan of them to? Probably not. In fact you may feel sorry for them, and that is exactly what you want to avoid. Authenticity is addicting and people will flock to what is new. Make that be you!
The first things I did when I started my blog was write about all the things that were on my heart and mind. THIS is one of my very first posts. A diary entry! I truly believe that putting my genuine person out there and showing that I am not trying to be anyone but myself, is truly what made my blog grow as much as it has!
FROM HOBBY TO BUSINESS
OK. So how did it grow from a hobby into a business? One of my favorite lessons I learned this year is that what I do has real worth to companies out there and it is ok to get paid to do what I love! After about 3 months of blogging I began getting contacted by companies offering me free product in exchange for a feature or mention in a blog post. Over time as the offers continued, I began to realize that maybe I could view my blog in a more professional way and possibly turn it into a small business of my own.
This idea excited me because I knew I wanted to have something that I could one day turn around and show to my daughters.
That if you put your mind to it, you can do anything you want! With that new drive in me I started putting a lot more time and focus into creating a blogging business with LydiaLouise.com. There have been many ups and downs through the year. I will say the ups absolutely out-weigh the downs and what I have learned in the process is priceless!
Now I have been able to come to a comfortable daily work schedule. I truly run LydiaLouise as a business 7 days a week. Now I have established an engagement strategy for social media that works for me. Now I have developed a media kit, price sheet, and portfolio for working with brands, and I have landed several incredible opportunities that I never would have imagined I could this time last year. Really, I cannot wait to see what this next year brings!
**I hope I have left any future bloggers reading this with some inspiration, and for those interested I want to share in more detail exactly what I did and currently do to be profitable. I am putting together an E-Book with step-by-step instructions on how to start a blog, a to-do list for your first month of blogging, a guide on how to create blog posts that will generate real traffic, my social engagement strategy for Instagram, and as a bonus access to my vault of contacts to reach out to for mentorship and more in the blogging world!**
Interested in getting your hands on this guide? Let me know HERE! I will get you on the list!
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