Nearly three years ago, I started a blog. I knew absolutely nothing about how blogs worked or how to make money writing blog posts. My blog had no pictures and at first, it didn’t even have a way to subscribe — nada.
As you’ve probably guessed, that’s a picture of how my blog looked originally over there on the right. Pretty sad, huh?
After a year or so, I decided to get serious and learn more about how blogging worked. After a lot of blundering around, I started catching on and trying different ideas to make my blog earn. Some of them didn’t work for me — you don’t see an Amazon book cart in my sidebar anymore, for instance. But others worked well, especially as my blog grew its audience.
Fast forward to 2011. The blog is now making a meaningful contribution to my income. I’m starting to take fewer freelance assignments and spend more time on the blog. I believe I’ll see that trend accelerate as I go through the rest of the year.
So it’s an exciting time. In the next 2-3 months, look for me to deliver more information to help readers grow their freelance income, which is what I absolutely love. I am STOKED.
To celebrate, I’m holding my second free blog review event today!
A lot of readers have asked me how I can spend time on all these blog reviews. First off, I really enjoy doing it. I also get a lot out of it, as I learn a lot about what struggles people are having with their blogs.
Hearing your questions helps me develop the material for an upcoming Webinar about earning from blogging — tell you more about that in an upcoming post.
So the free review is my thank-you for the feedback you give me.
One of the big things I’ve learned is that while earning from my blog is terrifically exciting and empowering, I also love to give away free stuff.
So here we go!
The free blog-review rules:
- Give me a link to your blog in the comments below.
- One blog and one question per entrant, please.
- I’ll take a look and leave you one tip on how your blog might be able to make money (or more money, if it’s earning already). If you have a specific question, ask it and I’ll try to answer — otherwise I’ll tell you about what jumps out at me.
- I’ll review the first 50 blog links posted, or stop at the end of the business day PST, whichever comes first…so don’t delay.
- Feel free to leave your link and ask a question even if we hit the limit…who knows what feedback you might get from readers.
- If you don’t have a blog yet but have a question, feel free to ask it.
- Everybody who leaves me a question about blogging in the next 48 hours will receive a special gift — a one-hour teleclass recording and handout on 20 Secrets of Blogging Success. This was a members-only class I did for the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors…and I’ve just gotten permission to share it with my readers.
- I’ll also place everyone who leaves a question onto a first-priority list to get the details on the upcoming Webinar — and give them first crack at a special, limited-quantity discount offer.
I learned how blogs make money slowly and with a lot of trial and error. After I won Top 10 Blogs for Writers last December, I started getting more and more questions from readers about how I grew the blog from the sad little thing it was into a useful blog that could capture that kind of attention. Watch the blog in the next couple weeks for tips from my journey to help you skip the time-wasting and move your blog forward faster.
Look forward to checking out your blogs!
