Blogging goals - A Flourishing Rose

My Favorites for July, 2019

July 29, 2019

It’s been a busy month for me, so this list will be short. I have a recipe, a couple of books and some favorite articles to share. On the blog this month, I accepted my first guest post! I’m happy with how it turned out. The perk of letting other bloggers write for you is that you can take a break from creating content. The second change I’ve made is behind the scenes. I have a new blogging schedule. I’ve been using Saturdays and Sundays for writing new content. I try to write two posts per weekend. During the week, I add images, affiliate links etc. This has taken a lot of the stress off and while I was on vacation in June, I was able to write several posts, so if I’m not feeling up to writing posts on a certain week, I have some content ready to go.

For my favorites for July, I have the basics, a recipe, a book and a few articles. Enjoy.

Recipe

Rosebud happened to see them making an ice cream pizza on one of her favorite shows. She seemed excited about this, so I asked her if we should make our own ice cream pizza. We tried this simple Ice Cream Pizza recipe. Rosebud helped make it and of course, we enjoyed having it for dessert. This recipe would be great for a pizza themed party.

For toppings, we used chocolate sauce, M&M’s and chocolate chips, but you can include any kind of toppings you want.

Books

This time, I’ll include two books that can be used as resources. The first book I found by accident. There was a two books for one credit sale going on Audible. It was an educational themed sale, so most of the books were from the Great Courses series. I wanted to take advantage of the deal, but had no idea what to get. Time was running out, so I ended up choosing The Addictive Brain, by Thad A. Polk. This isn’t something I’d normally read, but I chose it because I wanted to understand. Addiction has been a problem in my family and I guess I wanted to try to understand what was behind their behavior. While people take different stances on addiction, this book focuses on the science and the genetic component of addiction. I tried to keep an open mind while reading it and it actually made a lot of sense. Overall, it was an interesting read and I learned something.

At the beginning of July, we had a new baby start with us at the childcare center where I work. He is the sweetest baby ever. He’s happy, cuddly and playful. He’s also deaf. unfortunately, this makes it harder to communicate with him. He doesn’t sign yet, but we are all learning. As someone with low vision, this is even more challenging for me because most of the time, I can’t see if someone is signing. I’ve been learning a couple new signs per week to practice with him. Since he’s usually laying on the floor in front of me, I can watch his hands closely or feel them, but he doesn’t sign back yet. At least he’s getting language in some form. I know it’s probably not good enough and that frustrates me. I want to do more and be able to communicate with him, so I’ve gotten a couple books to learn the basics. The most useful book I’ve found so far is Baby Sign Language Made Easy, by Lane Rebelo. It’s been the most useful for me because of the large images and good descriptions of the gestures. I need detailed descriptions, especially for the subtle visual things. I know it’s better to learn in person, but now this is where I have to start.

I like that the signs in this book are actual ASL and not made up baby signs. I have some ASL guides as well, but they are not as descriptive. This particular book is mainly for parents who want to sign with their hearing babies, but I’m using it since the signs would be the same whether the baby is hearing or deaf. If I’m showing him a sign, I show him the object right before and after the sign. If it’s a more routine task like a diaper change or nap time, I find that more difficult. I’m hoping that if I use the signs every time we do that activity, he’ll start making the association. If you are interested in teaching your baby to sign, this book is a must have.

Articles

An informative article about the dimensions of self-care. This article dives deeper into self-care going beyond the typical self-care rituals to explore the why and the how.

Work Life Balance: Could It Be a Myth? I think we all are looking for this balance, but maybe it doesn’t really exist?

How to Get Baby to Sleep in the Crib Through the Night.

Are you having trouble getting your baby to sleep in his or her own crib? Are you thinking of transitioning your baby to a crib? This post is definitely for you. It’s packed with tips and tricks for baby sleep and one of my posts is featured!

How Your Negative Self Talk Becomes Your Child’s Inner Voice.

A reminder that we need to be kind to ourselves. Our little ones are always watching.

There you. have it, my favorites for July 2019. I’ll be back next month with more, but come back to visit throughout August. You’ll be seeing some back to school posts and other fun surprises.

1 Comment

Blogging

How to Leave a Good Blog Comment

June 24, 2019

You know what really makes my day? Getting a really good comment on one of my posts. Blogging is hard work. I write content, do a bit of research, find images, create pins and then promote posts once they are published. This process is the same for every post. When I get a really thoughtful comment, it makes my efforts worth it. When I have taught someone something, made them feel less alone or simply made them think from a different perspective, I have achieved my overall goal for this blog.

If you are a blogger, there are several reasons why you should make commenting apart of your blogging routine. First, comments are what connect you with other bloggers. It is recommended that you find several blogs that you really enjoy within your niche and comment on them regularly. This way, you are building a relationship with other bloggers in your niche and bringing traffic back to your blog. They may start commenting on your blog as well making it a win-win for both of you. Next, comments help with SEO. A comment that uses key words from your post will help your posts rank higher when searching on Google. Finally, comments equal back links to your site. The more back links you have, the more credible your website will be and your domain authority will go up.

If you aren’t commenting or getting comments, you are missing out, but the important thing is your comment should be meaningful and strategic. How do you do that? Well, that’s what I’ll be going over in this post. I’m not an expert on everything blogging, but I have had other blogs in the past and A Flourishing Rose has been up and running for over a year now. With my previous blog, I got over 100 followers by simply commenting on other blogs. I did not have much of a social media presence back then and was blogging by trial and error. It didn’t take me long to figure out that commenting was the best way to build up my network.

Make It Meaningful

When you leave a comment, you want to show the blogger that you are interested in his or her post. If you just say something like, “good article” or “great post”, that doesn’t tell the blogger anything. Why was it a great post? To leave a good comment, here are some questions to ask yourself. The answers will help you leave a good comment.

What did I like about this particular post?

What did this post teach me?

Can I relate to something in this post?

Did this post make me think differently and if so, what changed my mind?

What is your response to the call to action in the post?

Is there something you can add that the blogger missed?

Did you disagree with something in the post? If so, what is it?

Did the post inspire you to do something? If so, what?

Commenting Takes Time

In order to leave a good comment, you need to take the time to read the entire post. It’s painfully obvious when someone leaves a comment without reading the post. Those comments are often generic, but if you read the post, you can answer one of the above questions or think of an entirely different response that is unique. Another reason to read the post is to find the call to action. I often put them towards the end of my posts, but there can be questions throughout. For example, a call to action might ask, “what does your self-care routine look like? Tell me in the comments.” Other calls to action may be that the blogger asks you to try the recipe, download a printable, watch a video, click on links for further reading etc. These are all things you can respond to when commenting.

Keep SEO in Mind

As I said above, when you leave a comment, it becomes apart of that bloggers post whether it is good or bad. Everything in that post can be searchable through Google or another search engine. Assuming that the blogger is paying attention to SEO, you’ll want to sneak some key words into your comments to help that blogger’s posts rank higher with Google. A comment like, “thanks for posting” does not add to the posts value. However, if the post is about baby lead weening, it’s safe to assume that “baby lead weening” is one of the key word phrases for that post.

Here’s an example of a good comment. “I want to try baby lead weening with my daughter. I think we will try cooked carrots and sweet potatoes for her first foods. Thank you for sharing the feeding tips and the suggestions for baby’s first foods. I have bookmarked the list.” Do you see how I included some key words, mentioned which foods I would try and let the blogger know what I appreciated about their post?

Here’s another example of a wonderful comment from one of my lovely readers. Rose writes, “Oh, man. I don’t think I could have read when the air hits your brain. I am not squeamish about very much but I think the situations would’ve gotten me more than the medical things. I congratulate you on 50 reads. I’d love to know what’s on your TBR list for 2019!” Not only was it obvious that she read my post as she mentioned specific books that I read, but she gave me an idea for a future post. She also gave me something to respond to as she continued the conversation from my post. I like to respond to every comment I get, so it definitely helps when there is substance to the comment. You don’t have to write an essay, but you want to write at least two or three sentences.

Be Careful About Link Dropping

If you only leave a comment to drop your links, that will be obvious. Not only is it rude, but it appears spammy. If you want to link drop, here a couple things to consider. Does that link have anything to do with the blogger’s post? For example, with my previous blog, I did a weekly favorites series where I’d round up a list of my favorite blog postseach week. When I published the post, I’d leave a comment on each person’s post that I linked to letting them know. I wouldbn’t just link drop and run though. Here’s an example.

“Your ice cream cone sensory bin is adorable. I will have to try it with my preschool class. I have included your post on my weekly favorites list which can be found here. Thank you for sharing this wonderful idea.” It took time, but I would get lots of gratitude and appreciation for sharing their posts.

Link dropping can be a slippery slope, but if you feel it relates to the bloggers original post or it contributes meaningfully to the conversation, you can include it, but I’d be cautious. My final note about links is that you definitely want to include your blog url in the appropriate box. That is what will drive traffic back to your blog. Most comment forms have fields for your name, E-mail address, blog url and comment.

Summary

To summarize, a good comment asks a question, answers a question or provides a different perspective. In short, it brings something new to the conversation. Some rules of thumb for commenting include read the entire post, give the comment some substance, keep the blogger’s key words in mind and don’t link drop unless their are special circumstances. Is there anything I forgot? What makes a good comment for you? Scroll down and let me know.

9 Comments

Blogging, Motherhood

How To Get Through Blogging BurnOut

May 28, 2019

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, I’ve talked about creating a set schedule and sticking to it. Posting on a regular schedule is an important part of a successful blog. That way, your audience knows what to expect. I’ve been trying hard to get my posts out on Tuesdays and Fridays, but things have been different over these past few weeks. I’m lucky to get posts out on time if at all. I know there’s been silence for about two weeks now because honestly I’ve had no motivation to write. I’ve still been actively promoting my blog on social media, updating old affiliate links and creating new pins, but I haven’t done what I love most, writing and creating new content.

My reality is that I’m a working mom and I don’t want every waking moment that I’m not at work to be spent on this blog. While I love blogging, I still need to spend plenty of time with Rosebud and I need time for myself. Time where I can just relax to enjoy a book or a tv show instead of typing away on the keyboard. I’ve worked on my blog almost every night for a year straight and I finally needed a break. I’d look at my long list of post ideas and none of them stood out. Then I felt guilty for feeling unmotivated and lazy. Yeah. I could just drag myself out of bed even earlier again or stay up past midnight to force myself to write another post that my heart isn’t in or I could just take a break and come back refreshed. Obviously, I’ve made the second choice. I wondered if other bloggers were dealing with burn out, so I reached out to one of my mom blogger groups on Facebook. I asked them what to do when I feel overwhelmed with blogging. I asked what I should do when my motivation isn’t there and I just can’t get it together. They gave me some great ideas and I wanted to share them with you.

Reset Your Priorities

Ashley from A Sweet Life with Style.

Totally a newbie here, but I had to really take a step back and reset my priorities. As much as I love blogging and influencing, I had to realize it was taking away from what matters most – my kids and leaving me COMPLETELY overwhelmed. I am still overwhelmed every single day but at least there isn’t guilt of not being with my kids on top of that ! lol no advice.. but definitely can relate!

Take A Break

Stacy from Protecting Your Pennies.

Honestly, I just take a break. Probably not the best thing to do but I do. I’m working now to build up some posts that I can have ready to go and saved that would be applicable at anytime so that I can schedule those if I am having an off week or 2.

Repurpose Old Content

Heather whose blog is still brand new and under construction suggests repurposing old content? Hire out a blog post? I’m struggling with a husband working random hours (nurse; so he’s on 3 days, off 4 and in my hair!), plus one kid in school, the other I’m working with preK stuff till he starts preK this fall. I’m trying to batch work. And getting up early. But take time for you, too. If you’re burnt out you won’t be good to anyone. Write random thoughts about that down (maybe you’ll be able to bring it together for a post of burnout/reviving yourself). Start posts and ideas randomly, as you can, so you have something underway in the future. You can always add to it and then finish it up in weeks like this. Do a quick ‘live’ video for your audience. Something to say hey, I’m a mama, taking some me time but I’ll be back. Update an old post and repost it. I hope some of these ideas are helpful.

Write Just to Write

Kaci from Mykew.net.

Don’t be too hard on yourself because life happens. Maybe try writing just to write vs trying to “write a blog”. I’ve had to do that a couple times and ended up with a couple blog posts at the end of it because I felt like I was being real.

Create A Schedule

Jho from Empowered Moms at Home.

What I did is wake up earlier than the kids. They sleep very late, like 11pm-12 midnight, and wake up late around 10-11am. So I wake up at 7am or try to… Sometimes I wake up at 9am and work on my blog during weekdays. I find it helps that I only publish every other week. I’ll do weekly soon, but for now I can’t put so much since I’m still on the foundation/learning stage. I still am overwhelmed, but having a daily&weekly schedule to follow helps a lot.

Find a Blogging Group

Tanya from The Mama Life.

I am in a wonderful group on Twitter and we do guest blogs and such when we find we are burnt out. It happens more than not. II work a full-time job as well as parent. You get the point. I took a two month break from writing anything but continued to share content on my social network and repost older posts. My traffic hasn’t declined and my audience is understanding….

Write Posts in Advance

Britta from HomeSweetHomeMaker.

When I do get in the mood I write forever 🙂 Last week I wrote 10 blog posts! I also keep a calendar to schedule them out. I do one post each week because that seems to be what I can keep up with. I always do the month in advance, that way if I get in a rut I know that month is at least taken care of. So in May, I’m working on June’s. So if I don’t write at all in May because I wasn’t feeling it, May was already done in April and I still have time before June gets here!!!

I also keep a LONG list of ideas. So if something pops into my mind while I’m driving or shopping I jot it down and keep a list at the end of my calendar. Then when I need an idea I write that in in the calendar. If I can’t get into it when the time comes I’ll push that idea out a few months and pick another topic.

I used to try to write each post as it came to me and that was so stressful. Writing in advance and scheduling my posts is SO. MUCH. EASIER.

I write the article, do the featured image and pin on Canva and add them in, then schedule it. The day or day after it posts, when I have time, I pin it a few times and get it on the share schedules. 🙂

You can’t expect yourself to always be motivated. Find a way to organize things so that it works according to your schedule.

I only have one child and stay at home, but I still have other responsibilities. I spent about 30-90 minutes daily on my blog. I do it with my cup of coffee while my toddler eats breakfast. This is when I do the share threads. I set aside one nap time each week to work on writing. 🙂 That’s it.

Really, it’s all about organization. Once you figure out a schedule it isn’t hard.

I want to thank these amazing bloggers for their suggestions. They gave me the push I needed and gave me inspiration to put this post together. Blogging is more difficult than it looks. There is a lot more involved than most people imagine, but when my creativity is flowing, I really enjoy it. Burnout can exist no matter the job or activity if your life is out of balance. This wonderful post written by Beth from Balancing Bravely lists 8 Surprising Lessons About Burnout that are Essential for Working Mom Success. Is there anything we missed? How do you get through blogging burnout? Tell me in the comments.

13 Comments

Blogging, My Favorites, Parenting

My Favorites for April 2019

May 4, 2019

It’s better late than never, right? Here are my favorite things and blog accomplishments for the month of April. This time, I have another book, a fruit smoothie recipe, Peeps play-dough and several articles.

Blog Accomplishments

I’m so excited! I made enough Amazon affiliate sales to get my account approved. For those who don’t know, you need three sales within the first six month period or your account gets closed. My first time around, I only got 11 clicks and no sales. This time, I’ve gotten 69 clicks and five sales. While the clicks are minimal compared to a lot of bloggers out there and the commissions are small, it’s something. I have to start somewhere. My second accomplishment this month is the increase in traffic. It’s not a huge amount, but it’s slow progress.

Fruit Smoothie Recipe

I’m always looking for tasty recipes that Rosebud will love and if she can help me in the kitchen, it’s a bonus. We were making pretend smoothies in her toy blender and I had just bought a bunch of fresh fruit. She had never had a smoothy before, so I asked if she wanted a real one and she did. I made smoothies often before she was born and here’s the recipe we came up with.

Ingredients:

1 cup yogurt,

1 cup almond milk,

1 banana,

1 half cup blueberries,

5 strawberries,

A handful of grapes.

Directions:

Chop fruits into smaller pieces and add to blender.

Blend until you get the desired consistency. I have a smoothie setting on my blender. It took less than a minute. I’ll try it with different fruits next time.

Book

I only read two books in the month of April, so there wasn’t much to choose from when picking my favorite. I enjoyed Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. There were a variety of stories. Everything from his speech therapy lessons as a little boy to his days living in France while trying to learn the language.

Peeps Play-dough

I had been seeing Peeps play-dough pins on Pinterest for a couple months now and knew that we had to try it. Here is the recipe we used.

I used five of the pink bunny peeps. I added four table spoons flour and one table spoon crisco. Melted it in the microwave for 30 seconds and then mixed it up. We ended up with a small ball. I was hoping there would be more play-dough, but there was enough to try it out.

I started out with big Easter themed cookie cutters, but there wasn’t enough play-dough for that, so I took out the plastic eggs instead. We have two different sized eggs and she liked rolling balls and putting them in the eggs. Eventually, she was pretending to cook, breaking up the play-dough and putting it in her mixing bowl. This play-dough dried out quickly, but it was a different texture and fun to experiment with.

Favorite Links

This first link definitely struck a chord with me. As an early childhood educator, I see the consequences of this every day. I see the kids who have no idea how to play. They wander from place to place not sure what to do with the toys. they don’t understand that they can pretend. A box doesn’t have to be a box. The kids get frustrated quickly, have super short attention spans and for some of them, their time in our program is the only time they play outside. This article is a good read.

Loss of Childhood – Are We Pressurizing our Children Too Much?

Another related article I saw in April was, My Childhood vs My Kid’s Childhood.

I could totally relate as it was a throw-back to the 90’s. I wrote a similar post last year. If you grew up in the 80’s or 90’s, I’m sure it would take you down memory lane.

One of my sensory bins was featured in this post. Are you not sure what to do with all those Easter eggs? Check out this post for some fun ways to repurpose those plastic Easter eggs.

Since many of us have lost the fine art of socializing, I thought this article about internet friendships was a good read. I think that you can develop a real friendship online, but of course it helps if you can eventually meet them. There’s nothing like sitting down with a friend for a chat. Online friends can be a good source of support and sometimes they can break some of the isolation.

Since spring is finally here, I’ll leave you with this amazing list of 60 fun summer activities for kids. There are so many cool ideas that I’d love to try with Rosebud. There’s something for every family and I was lucky enough to be included in the round up.

As always, thank you for reading. I’ll be back next month with another round of my favorite things.

3 Comments

Blogging, My Favorites, Parenting

My Favorites for April 2019

May 4, 2019

It’s better late than never, right? Here are my favorite things and blog accomplishments for the month of April. This time, I have another book, a fruit smoothie recipe, Peeps play-dough and several articles.

My Favorite Things for April, 2019 pin

Blog Accomplishments

I’m so excited! I made enough Amazon affiliate sales to get my account approved. For those who don’t know, you need three sales within the first six month period or your account gets closed. My first time around, I only got 11 clicks and no sales. This time, I’ve gotten 69 clicks and five sales. While the clicks are minimal compared to a lot of bloggers out there and the commissions are small, it’s something. I have to start somewhere. My second accomplishment this month is the increase in traffic. It’s not a huge amount, but it’s slow progress.

Fruit Smoothie Recipe

I’m always looking for tasty recipes that Rosebud will love and if she can help me in the kitchen, it’s a bonus. We were making pretend smoothies in her toy blender and I had just bought a bunch of fresh fruit. She had never had a smoothy before, so I asked if she wanted a real one and she did. I made smoothies often before she was born and here’s the recipe we came up with.

Ingredients:

1 cup yogurt,

1 cup almond milk,

1 banana,

1 half cup blueberries,

5 strawberries,

A handful of grapes.

Directions:

Chop fruits into smaller pieces and add to blender.

Blend until you get the desired consistency. I have a smoothie setting on my blender. It took less than a minute. I’ll try it with different fruits next time.

A Pillow with glasses and a book ready to be read.

Book

I only read two books in the month of April, so there wasn’t much to choose from when picking my favorite. I enjoyed Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. There were a variety of stories. Everything from his speech therapy lessons as a little boy to his days living in France while trying to learn the language.

Peeps Play-dough ball

Peeps Play-dough

I had been seeing Peeps play-dough pins on Pinterest for a couple months now and knew that we had to try it. Here is the recipe we used.

I used five of the pink bunny peeps. I added four table spoons flour and one table spoon crisco. Melted it in the microwave for 30 seconds and then mixed it up. We ended up with a small ball. I was hoping there would be more play-dough, but there was enough to try it out.

Peeps play-dough and cookie cutters

I started out with big Easter themed cookie cutters, but there wasn’t enough play-dough for that, so I took out the plastic eggs instead. We have two different sized eggs and she liked rolling balls and putting them in the eggs. Eventually, she was pretending to cook, breaking up the play-dough and putting it in her mixing bowl. This play-dough dried out quickly, but it was a different texture and fun to experiment with.

Boy floating in cardboard box reaching for a glowing star.

Favorite Links

This first link definitely struck a chord with me. As an early childhood educator, I see the consequences of this every day. I see the kids who have no idea how to play. They wander from place to place not sure what to do with the toys. they don’t understand that they can pretend. A box doesn’t have to be a box. The kids get frustrated quickly, have super short attention spans and for some of them, their time in our program is the only time they play outside. This article is a good read.

Loss of Childhood – Are We Pressurizing our Children Too Much?

Another related article I saw in April was, My Childhood vs My Kid’s Childhood.

I could totally relate as it was a throw-back to the 90’s. I wrote a similar post last year. If you grew up in the 80’s or 90’s, I’m sure it would take you down memory lane.

One of my sensory bins was featured in this post. Are you not sure what to do with all those Easter eggs? Check out this post for some fun ways to repurpose those plastic Easter eggs.

Two women smiling

Since many of us have lost the fine art of socializing, I thought this article about internet friendships was a good read. I think that you can develop a real friendship online, but of course it helps if you can eventually meet them. There’s nothing like sitting down with a friend for a chat. Online friends can be a good source of support and sometimes they can break some of the isolation.

Since spring is finally here, I’ll leave you with this amazing list of 60 fun summer activities for kids. There are so many cool ideas that I’d love to try with Rosebud. There’s something for every family and I was lucky enough to be included in the round up.

As always, thank you for reading. I’ll be back next month with another round of my favorite things.

0 comments

Blogging, Personal Development

My OneYear Blogging Anniversary

March 19, 2019

A year ago today, I published my first post here on this blog. I hear a lot of people say that they are afraid to start a blog, so they spend months and months planning all the details. They get everything set up first. The website, the social media, they have their theme perfect etc. Not me. I just wrote and when I thought it was good enough, I clicked the publish button. That’s not to say I didn’t give my blog any thought. I did. I struggled to come up with a name. I had created another blog, published one post and decided it wasn’t the direction I wanted to go. I tested out Blogger and WordPress. I did some research about which platform would be best and which hosting company would meet my needs. Eventually I settled on one, but I didn’t have any content planned. I figured I’d write whatever comes to mind. This brings me to the first lesson I learned with the launch of my new blog.

Make a Plan

I knew from the beginning I wanted to monetize my blog, but it sounds silly not to plan ahead when it could potentially become a business. I suppose it’s apart of my self limiting beliefs. Sometimes I wonder who will read my blog? Will anyone care about what I have to say? Then will anyone buy the products I recommend? The only way to know is to try, but there has to be strategy involved. Over the past year, I didn’t make a dime, but I’ve learned to plan ahead. I have a master list of posts, a posting schedule that I stick to as much as possible and am working on strategies for using social media to bring traffic to my blog. I also have a strategy for working on posts. I start with a basic outline or full rough draft depending on how well my writing comes together. Next, I do some editing and then search for pictures. Usually this takes place over multiple days. By the final day, I’m making the final edits, adding tags and finally creating a pin image before publishing. I still write from the heart, but there is now a method to this madness.

Community is Everything

In the blogging world, you need to connect with other bloggers. Facebook groups have become so valuable to me in the past year. If it weren’t for the members of these groups, my blog would get virtually no traffic. Something that I already understood was the importance of commenting on others blogs. This is one way to build a connection. Yes, it leaves a back link to your site, but more importantly you are giving attention to another blogger’s work and often times, they will reciprocate. I love getting comments on my blog. My greatest accomplishments are the comments where readers tell me, “I really needed to read this today.” Making someone feel less alone and or offering support to other moms is the whole reason I created this blog. I like sharing children’s activities, but the posts I love the most are the ones where I share something more meaningful. Something that can connect with other human beings on a deeper level. If I’ve done that, then I’ve succeeded.

Flexibility

When I first created the blog, I was on fire. I had so many ideas. I was posting a lot more. I knew consistency was key, but I ran out of steam quickly. Life got busy and I started feeling guilty if I didn’t post every day or three times per week. Now I’m lucky if I post twice which is my goal, but I’ve learned that one really great post is better than five posts that were thrown together at the last minute. I feel guilty about posting less, but I’ve learned that I need to use my time and energy wisely. I need to spend time with Rosebud. I need to occasionally take a night for self care. Sometimes I just need to step away from the screen and that’s okay. Building a following, monetization and my overall goal of using my blog as apart of my future business is going slower than I would like, but that has to be okay if I don’t want to become totally burnt out.

It’s Hard Work

I knew blogging wasn’t easy, but I had no idea there was so much involved. I spend a lot of time creating content, but you know what takes up just as much time? Promotion on social media. Not only self promotion, but sharing and commenting on other people’s content. Remember I said we needed to build community? Well, making those connections is hard work. You have to keep commenting and keep sharing content so that fellow bloggers will comment on and share yours as well. I never realized how much time it would take to build up a following on social media. These days, most blogs are on multiple platforms which can be a full-time job in itself. I’ve learned that I can’t always be on social media posting every day. Although you need to keep posting to keep your followers engaged, I don’t have enough hours in the day, but I do my best to keep everything up to date.

There’s Still a lot to Learn

Finally, I’ve realized that there’s still so much to learn. I’m starting to explore seo. Pinterest is barely accessible, but I have been working with it over the past month. I will write more about that in a future post, but it’s another platform to get used to. I’ve recently began using Amazon affiliate links again. I have to redo the links in my previous posts, but I will be working hard to create content that make people interested in the products. I still have some things to learn about affiliate marketing. I’m always trying to improve my writing and to generate more ideas. There is always room for improvement, but at the same time, I have to be proud of what I’ve learned so far. I never thought I could set this blog up on my own, but I have. I didn’t know if I’d still be up and running after a year, but here I am.

Here’s to another year of blogging, learning, growing and achieving my blogging goals. what are your blogging goals? What are your biggest accomplishments so far? Tell me in the comments.

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Blogging, Personal Development

Blogging Goals for 2019

January 15, 2019

I started this blog in March of 2018 and I’ve learned a lot since then. In my welcome post, I mentioned my previous blogs. One was dedicated to early childhood education. It focused on my experiences in the classroom and educational activities. My other blog was more about day to day life. My early childhood blog had a small following, but nothing substantial. I think what helped was all the time and energy I would put into it. I had time to build up a Twitter following and interact more. I had more time to comment directly on other people’s blog posts. Although I was proud of that blog, I lost my passion for working in the classroom and the blog basically died out. I knew nothing about SEO. I didn’t use Facebook and wasn’t apart of a community of any kind. It was very basic. It was fun in the beginning and then I let it go when it wasn’t.

This time around, I’m definitely more excited about my blog. I’m passionate about being a mom, creating content and sharing experiences that might help others. I’m happy with my blog, but it could always be better. In order to make anything successful, you have to plan and set goals. Even if you change the goals, you should have something to strive for. Eventually, I want to incorporate this blog as apart of my business. Whether it be childcare, coaching or both. So, I’m keeping this in mind when I think about my blogging goals.

1. Find additional ways to increase traffic

My main goal is to increase the amount of traffic to my blog. Since March, this has been a challenge. As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I am unable to effectively use Pinterest. This puts me at a disadvantage. Many mom bloggers I know use Pinterest as their main source of traffic. I think my content would do well on Pinterest, but since it is inaccessible to me and I do not have the means to pay a virtual assistant to create and schedule pins, I have to think of other creative ways to promote my blog. Most of my current traffic comes from Facebook groups. In 2019, I need to work on finding other traffic sources for my blog.

2. Make posts more SEO friendly

As I’ve already said, I knew nothing about SEO before and not much has changed. I use tags, but I haven’t done my research on which key words I should be using to bring more traffic. I have increased the amount of back links which can bring up my ranking with Google, but it’s not just about back links within your own blog, if reputable sites link back to your blog, that brings the ranking even higher. My goal is to read more articles and maybe take a course on SEO in 2019.

3. Write at least one guest post

On some of the Facebook blogging groups, I see posts asking for guest posts. Guest posting on another blog is a great way to promote your blog because you get exposed to a wider audience. I’d like to guest post, but I don’t know what I’d write. Do I just take one of my post ideas that have been floating around? What if they don’t like what I write? What if it’s not good enough? This thought process may seem irrational, but these are the questions that go through my head. Of course, I don’t have to guest post, but it would be a great opportunity to reach a broader audience. The whole idea makes me uncomfortable, but I could start by hosting a guest post on this blog and simply return the favor.

4. Rejoin Amazon Affiliates and make the required three sales

As you may or may not have noticed, some of my posts had Amazon affiliate links. In my older posts, the links are still there and will take you to a product, but I do not get a commission. Unfortunately, I did not make any sales in 2018 so, my account was closed. The great thing about Amazon Affiliates is that you can reapply. I’m waiting until the traffic to my blog increases before I try again. Now I post links to products for your convenience and I love sharing the products that I use and believe in even if I don’t make a penny. I’m planning to reapply for Amazon Affiliates within the next few months depending on the traffic.

5. Create and follow a schedule

Back in December, I had a final session with my coach and we discussed my blog. My main focus was creating a schedule. At the time, it seemed that Tuesdays and Fridays were the best days to post. Now I’m rethinking it. I still want to post twice per week, but I’m wondering about rearranging the schedule. I’m so worn out on Mondays that I can’t seem to find the energy to put together a post for Tuesday. I try to write on the weekends, but Rosebud is no longer napping so, it’s harder to find the time. Maybe Mondays and Fridays would work better, but then again, there’d only be two days between posts and then nothing for several days. I need to get my butt in gear and schedule posts ahead of time, but as a multitasking mom, when do I have time for that? This goal is a lofty one, but it’s one I really need to work on.

To recap, my goals are to find additional ways to increase traffic, make blog posts more SEO friendly, to write at least one guest post, to rejoin Amazon Affiliates and to create and follow a posting schedule. What are your blogging and or business goals for 2019? Tell me in the comments.

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