Any business owner will tell you that the secret to success is learning to handle failure. Businesses that stand the test of time have a shaky track record of good times and bad, both of which help to build up their business to become stronger. Lessons are most often learned through trial and error, which means a lot of mistakes are made along the way that help you to streamline a path that works best for your business. As a full time blogger, I know that there’s a lot of choices when it comes to blogging. I made a lot of wrong choices along the way, but it helped me to form a stronger blog and business.
- I wrote what I wanted. There’s a tiny percentage of bloggers who can write whatever they want and people will read (like The Bloggess.) But I found out rather quickly that my life was not very interesting. So I turned to writing tutorials. I’m a great technical writer, but a horrible inspirational one. So instead of writing what I wanted to write, I started focusing on what I was good at and in turn it became what people wanted to read. That whole shift in my mentality of creating solid, SEO friendly, sustainable content, then promoting that content via social media, was the biggest key to my growth as a blogger. I had to dig deep into my Google Analytics to figure it out, but once I did it became a gold mine of information to help me focus on content that helped my page views skyrocket.
- I waited too long to move to WordPress. I, like many others, started on Blogger. As my friends started moving over to WP, I thought it was nonsense. First there was the cost factor – currently my hosting runs about $2,000 per year – plus my other expenses. Secondly, my thought was that Google owns Blogger, so there’s no way another platform could out perform the SEO value of a Google owned version. I was so, so wrong. The benefits of WordPress far outdid the cost. I noticed a huge jump in page views – it doubled in about 60 days. And with more page views comes more ad revenue. I quickly recouped the money I had spent and I started to see a big increase in profit in only a few months.
- I didn’t make building an email list a priority. I blogged on this website for six years before I began to take email list building seriously. My list could probably be 10x the size it is now if I had started sooner. It was there all along, I just didn’t promote it or actively try to get new subscribers. Email subscribers are the ONLY method you have of controlling how your content gets seen. Algorithm changes or social media strategies have nothing to do with your email list. It’s YOUR list. You have direct access to those people without having another business come between you and your audience. That email list is gold – so start building ASAP.
- I overlooked affiliate earnings. Once again, I waited until about a year ago to really learn about how to make money with affiliate sales. With over 7 million people a year stopping by my site, the amount of money I cheated myself out of is insane. It literally makes me sick to my stomach to think of the tens of thousands of dollars I let slip through my hands. Getting started sooner rather than later could have helped me get out of debt sooner. But when you know better, you do better.
- I didn’t spend enough time on education. Nurses, Teachers, Doctors, Lawyers… they all go through continuing education because there’s always something new to learn. But I didn’t even realize that constantly learning about blogging tips, SEO tactics, social media theories, etc. would help me grow my business as a blogger. I just found whatever worked, then did more of that. Things change — and rising to the top as a blogger means you need to learn as much as you can… then keep learning!
If you purchase them individually, the workshops are $119 each. But if you want to really dig deep and learn about all of them, you can purchase the Blog Boost Bundle for only $299. Each of the classes are taught by people I personally go to when I want to learn more about the subject:
Lesley from Chaotically Creative | Email Marketing Instructor
Tasha from Designer Trapped | Affiliate Marketing Instructor
Angie from The Country Chic Cottage | Google+ and SEO Instructor
Bre from Rooms for Rent Blog | Instagram Instructor
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