Mama blogging – how should it be done?
I started my mama blog for two main reasons. First, my life revolves around my husband, my kids, and my mamahood. I am a wife and mother first and foremost, and I love blogging the stories of my life.
Second, my husband works so hard to provide for us so that I can stay home and teach my beautiful babies. I would like to be able to make a little bit of money through my blogging to help him out so that he doesn’t have to worry so much about our finances.
My mama blog has been active since spring of 2017 but I struggle with how to make it work. Spending countless hours reading successful blogs, I read about how to have a blog that makes some money, but the ability to do that myself escapes me.
Some blogs tell me to have some sort of freebie to offer those who join my email list. Great. My only problem – what? I have thought about making a free chore chart, or a free daily schedule, but I honestly don’t have many great ideas. I am able to take great ideas and tweak them for my family, but I have more difficulty coming up with my own great ideas.
Other blogs tell me that I need to promote my blog by signing up for all the social media accounts possible. Twitter, pinterest, facebook, instagram. I have a facebook account, but I don’t spend much time there. My teacher/mama duties don’t leave me much time to sit and surf Facebook. My time can be better spent.
As far as all the other social media accounts, I haven’t even looked into signing up for them. Using these platforms seems to me to be manufacturing relationships out of thin air. As a shy introvert, I have extreme difficulty initiating friendships. I have a few close friends, but I have no desire to have a whole passel of shallow friendships. I need the heart connection, and I do not believe that I would have success in making heart connections over social media.
Because of this, promoting myself and my blog is literally impossible for me. So I am stuck. How do I get my blog enough views to be able to make a little bit of money without the standard promotion techniques? I make sure that my SEO is good before I publish, but I know that that is not really enough.
The other big tip that I have come across often is to have something to offer my readers. Some tips or advice or ways to do different things. Do I have my own opinions on the best way to homeschool? You bet, but I am by no means an expert. How can I help people solve problems that they have when I haven’t even figured things out for myself yet?
The best way that I learn is through reading someone else’s stories. If I can find someone with a situation that seems similar to mine, then I can learn what might work for my life. I usually use stories of experiences in my life to share advice when a friend needs some help. That is how I share what I’ve learned, and that is how I intend to blog.
So, how can a shy introverted homeschooling mama make money blogging? I have no clear answers, but here is what I am going to try.
1. I am going to spend 1 hour a day three days a week reading my favorite homeschool and blogging blogs to find ideas that might work for me.
2. I am going to write for 30 minutes four days a week to practice creating quality content.
3. I am going to work for 2 hours a week figuring out how Pinterest works and how to make quality pins.
4. I am going to publish a post at least once a week, just to get some content out there.
I’ll try these things for one month from today and see where I am at the end of October. Hopefully I will feel a little less confused and overwhelmed by then.
If you are a mama blogger, especially if you are just in the beginning, I would love to be able to connect with you. Maybe sharing the journey will make it a little bit easier.
