I’m going to give you, my readers, a bit of a blog update. I’ve never done one of these posts so please bear with me. After you’ve read it all let me know if there’s something I left out that you want to know about!
When I started my blog here on WordPress I made a post about the switch. I was on Blogger before but I wasn’t finding it customizable enough for me. If you care to read that post it’s here: Blogger to WordPress. It basically says I found switching easy, and that WordPress seems to fit my needs better. I stand by that statement as I am loving my look here on WordPress and all the plugins, editable items and creative control I have on this website.
For hosting, I’m with Fusix Corp (which my husband works for/is his side business with a partner.) So far so good there – any issues (or back end things I don’t understand) I just ask my hubby and he gets me sorted out. They do that for all their clients (obviously) but I think it’s a smidge easier for me!
There have been a few necessities I’ve looked into or downloaded. If you have a site on WordPress, or a blog in general, I’d recommend looking into any of these (if you don’t have them already!)
Plugins
- Yoast SEO – great tips on bettering your SEO
- WordFence – protect your blog from spammers/hackers
- Google Analytics
- Pinterest Pin Button – makes your images easily pin-able
- Backup Guard – just in case
- NextGen Gallery – if you plan on having a lot of photos you’ll put into albums for sharing/viewing
Other Useful Stuff
- PicMonkey – for editing photos or creating images
- Hootsuite – for scheduling posts. I only use it for Twitter but it has functionality for other sites as well.
- Pixabay – for finding free images to use in your posts
My blog has been here on WordPress for 3 months now and I’m finally starting to see a bit of an increase in numbers. I have to say I’m still trying to decode some of the information on Google Analytics. I also have another stats plugin for my blog and I really don’t understand what the difference between them is. My other stats info says I’m getting almost 5000 visitors a months but Google says 800. Either way, it’s way up from 300 (Google reported) users in May. So that’s something to share in this blog update!
As far as making money from my blog goes, nothing is happening there. I’m resisting ad revenue just because I don’t want to clutter up my blog. I had Google Adwords on my Blogger blog but I didn’t get anything from that. I realize I now have some more readers and such but I didn’t like how large the adwords ads were. I was hoping to get some sponsored posts, or even use my social following for some ad tweets that would pay me something. I’m still looking into that side of things. I have over 2000 followers on Twitter, but that’s still low for a lot of opportunities.
Here are all the sites I’ve joined up with for potential sponsored posts/targeted Tweets – there are a lot!
- Tomoson
- TapInfluence
- Activate by Bloglovin’ – I have a blog space on Bloglovin’ so I didn’t really need to do much to join. Click the heart in my Social Me section to follow me on Bloglovin’!
- IZEA – I have had one “job” with them, so I have $10 just waiting until I make some more so I can cash out!
- Find Your Influence
- Influenster – I did a hair colour campaign with them on my Blogger blog. I got free haircolour but no pay.
- Product Review Moms
- Influence Central
- Webfluential – this is my referral link. If you click this link and sign up I have the potential to make $10. (It’s not automatic, there are criteria that have to be met)
- SocialPubli – this is also a referral link. I have the chance to make money if and when you make money, if you sign up through my link.
- Massive Sway
- Socialix
- BlogHer
- Linquia – This is a referral link also. I’m excited I finally have enough followers to sign up here!
That is all the pages I have bookmarked that I actually visit to look for campaigns. As you can see it’s a lot, but I’m really not getting any engagement from them. Hopefully as my blog grows, my appeal to brands will grow as well! If you belong to any others that you think I should check out, please comment below with a link (referral links are fine!)
I am still getting free “stuff” in exchange for some reviews. Of course my indie authors are still sending me books for review. I’ve also found a few local businesses willing to share their experience in exchange for a blog post. The Kick and Push Festival gave the girls and I tickets for a show, the Four Points by Sheraton is giving us a room at media rate in exchange for a post (watch for it in Sept!), and Emma and I took a Haunted Walk tour at the end of the July in exchange for a review.
That’s it! Blog update complete.
What else would you like to know about in a blog update? I’m getting out 2 posts a week (sometimes 3), but I do find it a bit of work to keep posting that often. I work outside the home 4 days a week so I have one weekday (without the kids) that I spend some of working on the blog. I also put a few hours in over the weekend (when we’re having a “regular” weekend and aren’t away or crazy busy!) I try to spend a bit of time a few evenings a week scheduling posts and brainstorming new post ideas. And then I spend all my other “free” time trying to promote on social media!
Please leave me a comment so I know some people made it to the end of the (super long!) post. And if you have anything to suggest to help me out on my blog, or in the world of social media I am very receptive. Was this post too long? Did I forget to mention anything? Are there other blog areas you want to know about? My writing is only as good what my readers want to see – so please let me know how this blog update was. I plan to create more as time goes by so leave your thoughts in the comments!
~Jess
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