When I started my blog, I had no idea where to start. I just knew I needed a name and a website. So after following a WordPress tutorial I found online, I started my blog, johannawashere.com. No one really knew about it because I got too overwhelmed and had no idea what I was doing. I created a bare-bones website knowing I wanted to talk about travel & food but hadn’t posted anything. I didn’t know what else I needed to start a blog.
So I searched for tutorials and what I learned out there was overwhelming. There were so many different ways to start and so many things I had to learn.
What’s a brand? How do I write a blog post? How do I get people to see it? How do I grow a following?
I had so many questions. On top of that, I wanted to make money from my blog so I had even more questions like:
Ads? How do I make money from it? What are affiliate links and how do they work? How can I work with brands?
I, again, became overwhelmed, exited all the tabs and watched some random Youtube video instead. I did this a couple times week and repeated this process for a good two months until little by little, my blog finally looked like something people would fine interesting so I nervously pressed “Publish” on my first post and then my whole journey with blogging started.
That was three years ago and since then, I’ve been able to reach hundreds of thousands of readers, grew my following to 50,000+, started a social media management business, spoke in a couple conferences and even hosted a travel TV show.
The thing I didn’t know when I started my blog was that I wasn’t just learning how to write blog posts. I was also learning other skills like SEO, social media strategy, list building, web design, photography, communication, and leadership. I was learning the skills it took to be an online entrepreneur. Something I didn’t think myself to be three years ago.
So I’m glad I started a blog because my life turned out completely different for the best. All it took was a little investing in myself and a mindset to make it happen. So if you want to start a blog to be on your way to whatever your dream life is, you’re in the right place.
Here’s my post on how to start a blog and make money in 6 steps. This, of course, is a simplified version of all the things I learned online but for good reason– I want you to start a blog with as little overwhelm and information overload as possible so that you can start your journey right away. In other words– don’t start like I did (lol). (more…)
READ MORE