How to Become a Mom Blogger (and Make Money Doing It)
Being a parent is a wonderful and fulfilling role for many, so much so that they choose to share their experiences via a blog. Learning how to become a mom blogger isn’t difficult, and parents who blog can earn a decent income to support their little ones … you just need to know where to start!
So, what steps do you need to take in order to create your very own parenting or mommy blog that actually makes you some money for your efforts? These tips should help you launch your new mom blog in no time.
Find Your Why
Why do you want to start a blog? Do you hope to make it into a monetary success one day? Or is it something that will help faraway friends and family keep up with your family’s growth? It could even be in the pursuit of helping your local fostering group to help the children there. The why is super important as it will inform your content moving forward, perhaps even changing the whole tone of your blog depending on what you want to do.
No matter your why, you need to figure out what it is before putting pen to paper (fingers to keyboard?) and creating your mommy blog.
Figure Out Your Niche
When writing a blog, you could choose to talk about anything in the whole world. But, to create a successful blog you need to have a focus. It’s this focus which will give you the edge to start building a devoted audience and making money. Whether it is sibling love, baby’s day out or even twins if you happen to have some. Your niche may depend on your situation, what you are passionate about or even simply what you enjoy most as a new parent.
For some, this is the hardest part of starting your own blog. After all, how do you narrow down your niche without a big headache? The simple thing is to work out your why and find a niche that fits it, then you should have both a why and a niche focus for your blog.
Practice Writing
Okay, so you know the purpose of your blog. You know what you want to focus on for topics and articles. Now, you just have to do one last thing: practice, practice and practice your writing some more. It’s all well and good having a blog, but if it’s poorly written and incoherent it’s not likely to attract many visitors (if that’s your goal).
It’s a common myth that everyone has a book waiting to come out of them, the modern equivalent of which is a blog. However, writing takes time, dedication and can be harder if you don’t have a natural inclination for it in the first place. If you plan to start, upkeep and make a success of your blog then good writing is a must. I also recommend defining a schedule and sticking to it. You can plan to add a new article every third day, or to post one new in-depth blog every week, but making a writing plan and sticking to it will help you succeed.
Create Your Blog
Now, this is the most fun aspect of starting your very own parenting blog. The actual act of designing and setting your blog live. There are plenty of free blogging sites, of course, but for the best looking and adaptable blog, you should have a self-hosted site.
For the sake of ease, starting a WordPress or Weebly blog often makes the most sense for bloggers. Both are easy to use platforms, as well as endlessly customizable and cheap to host with services such as Bluehost. If you’re not quite sure how far you will take your blog, then this is also useful as it can help grow your blog however far you may want.
Regularly Post
This is a trick that many new parenting bloggers miss in the first stages of their blog. They post articles when inspiration hits or when time permits, rather than on a regular schedule. A content calendar (schedule) is essential for even the smallest of blogs, however, to help maintain an audience.
This doesn’t mean you have to post an in-depth 2000+ article every week, but, a simple news blast on a Wednesday, anecdotal insight on a Friday and a long piece every two weeks on Monday is a great format to have. It means that your site is constantly being updated, your audience can expect content regularly (and look forward to it), and you have time to write even the long pieces.
Don’t Worry About an Audience
Write for yourself. It’s simple advice, but something that any new blogger should take to heart. Yes, an audience would be nice in order to help monetize your site and make something of it. However, in the first few months of your blog, it’s much easier to simply pretend that the only person reading it is yourself. This way there is a lot less pressure to do well.
Doing this, you may find that people find you more genuine. Meaning your blog starts to make money before you know it, even if that’s not the main focus of your blog (or at least that’s what you tell yourself).
Guest Post on Related Blogs
After you have some content on your website, a great way to get your name out there and create a following is to reach out to other mommy bloggers or websites in related fields and pitch them a guest post. This will allow you to reach new readers (and win them over) and can earn you links back to your website which can help you with SEO (Search Engine Optimization – or ranking in Google).
You’ve Learned How to Become a Mom Blogger, Now What?
If you’re new to blogging at all then there will be a few hurdles to jump over on your way to success. However, as a parent, this will not be something new to you. Sure, there are days when you may want to quit and let your blog sink into the pits of the internet. But, resist this quitting urge!
Before you know it, you could have a blog that is a hit with the parenting crowd. Worth the effort and exactly what you need to get your parenting / mommy blog off the ground.
