How I Launched and Grew My Blog Anonymously

Thinking About Blogging?

Two years ago, I would have been mortified at the thought of launching a mom blog. But after our son was born, I was desperate for new parent friends and eager to balance my analytical career with something more creative. So I bit the bullet, found a domain name and got to writing. 

I started out on this blogging journey with zero expectations and tons of doubts. I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy writing, I doubted that anyone would read it and I worried that I might be too introverted to successfully market a new blog.

But I quickly learned that I LOVE writing about my experiences as a new mom and sharing my story is so rewarding. Whether you’re looking to connect with and support like-minded people, craving a creative outlet or just hoping to bring in a little extra cash, I highly recommend starting a blog.

Go for It!

I started blogging in September of 2017. In my first four months blogging, I made so many rookie mistakes. To name just a few:

• Picked a domain name that didn’t reveal anything about what I’d be writing
• Tried to lean on other bloggers without building relationships first
• Started marketing my blog when there were only a handful of posts
• Didn’t worry about creating eye-catching and consistent social media graphics

Four months into blogging, I knew there were a million things I would do differently if given the chance. So rather than try to pick up the pieces, I scrapped my first blog and started over from scratch.

In my first 60 days since Launching Mom’s Got it Made, I’ve had over 30,000 unique visitors from all over the world. Seriously, HOW NUTS IS THAT!? I’m not a writer and I’m definitely not a parenting expert. Somehow, In under two months, I’ve still managed to create a platform where I can relate to and support other new parents. Even more amazingly, I’ve been able to market this blog without sharing it with my personal contacts.

By spending a few hours a week blogging, I’m slowly getting over my fear of putting myself out there. So based on my experience alone, I vote you start that blog! If you do what I did and start out semi-anonymously you have absolutely NOTHING. TO. LOSE.

The rest of this post is dedicated to providing you with a step-by-step breakdown of tools I have used to help get Mom’s Got it Made off the ground. I recommend devoting at least a week to each of these steps.

Week 1. Before You Get Started

Now that I’ve talked you into blogging, there are a few steps I would recommend taking before you spend a cent on your blog. These are all things I wish I had done prior to launching my first blog. Instead, I dove into blogging head-first and made a series of expensive and time-consuming corrections as I went.

READ some blogs in your planned niche

Pay attention to details like layout, titles, images, and logos. Start commenting on other blogs and getting your name out there. As you find blogs you like, follow them on social media and pay attention to what they post. Build a spreadsheet of blog links and blogger names and emails. You will need blogger friends to help you get off the ground and the easiest way to connect with other bloggers you admire is to fangirl them.

When I got serious about blogging, the first thing I did was send a mass introductory email to my favorite mom bloggers. Most ignored me, but the dozen or so that did respond have become my incredibly helpful cheering squad.

Even if you don’t have a domain name picked out – start a Pinterest for Business page

If you have an existing Pinterest account you can convert that or you can create a brand new account under your potential blog name. It is really easy to alter the name and URL of your Pinterest account so it’s no biggie if you end up changing it.

More than 90% of my traffic comes from my Pinterest activity, so it can’t hurt to jump-start your page. Start by creating some boards, pinning articles that are relevant to your target audience and following other pinners.

WRITE your face off

Write at least five posts prior to purchasing a domain. This will help you to ensure you actually like writing in your planned niche. Additionally, I recommend jotting down at least 20 more ideas for posts. If you can’t come up with 20 potential blog posts, you may want to consider expanding your topic area.

Getting a jump on writing will help you in a couple of ways. It will give you a clearer picture of your blog’s purpose before you invest in a domain. On top of that, having a few posts written up front will free you up to focus on other components of blogging. Things like design and graphics, social media and outreach can be super time-consuming when you’re starting out.

This approach will also give you a chance to try out writing like a blogger. A few things I’ve learned so far:

• Try to write like you’re having a conversation with your readers. Bold, italics and ALL CAPS are all your friends.
• Keep your sentences and paragraphs short
• Try not to assume that people are interested in you. Mostly, people are reading in search of useful tips that they can glean from your experiences and apply to their life.
• Link to your other posts whenever you get the chance
• You will get no comments unless you specifically invite people to weigh in
• Download Grammarly (for free) to help check your spelling and grammar

Week 2. Time to Actually Build a Site

Once you’ve done some preliminary research and writing, it’s time to find a domain and start building a site. Just a heads up, from here on out I’ve included a few affiliate links. I have only referenced companies and resources I am actively using and loving. Check out my full disclosure statement here.

Sign up for Web Hosting

I knew I wanted to use WordPress.org as opposed to WordPress.com. WordPress.org allows you to download “Plugins” which can help you to track, monetize and build your site. If you are even considering turning your blog into a business, starting out on WordPress.org will make life a lot easier down the road.

If you go with WordPress.org you are opting to create a “self-hosted” site. This means you will need a separate hosting company.  The first investment I made in my blog was signing up with Bluehost for site hosting for $3.95 per month. I have absolutely no technical skills, and their team has been consistently patient with me despite my ignorance.

Snag a Domain

The Bluehost hosting package includes one free domain so the next thing I did was grab my domain. Try not to rush into this. Finding a domain you like is a SUPER-FRUSTRATING process. There are so many friggin’ blogs! I can’t even tell you how many times I came up with the perfect blog name only to realize it was taken. (I’m giving you the side-eye right now Mom in Motion and A Mama in the Making).

Once you’ve found an original blog name, I recommend signing up for corresponding email and social media accounts immediately. Even if you’re easing into social media, you want to make sure the handles are reserved for you if you need them down the road. I grabbed Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Gmail accounts. I also converted my Pinterest page to match my new domain name.

Up until my bumpy Facebook and Instagram debut a couple weeks ago, I focused on Pinterest only. By starting with only one social media account, I was less overwhelmed right out of the gate.

Start Building Your Site

I use a ton of free resources to create the look and feel I wanted for Mom’s Got it Made.

• Theme: Blog Way
• Social Media Image Design (Mostly Pinterest Images): Canva
• Free stock photos Pexels, Unsplash, and Pixabay. If you plan ahead and anticipate stock photos you might need, you can take full advantage of Storyblocks 7 Days of Free Downloads.

Now’s the time to share your first five posts and create one or two other pages. At a minimum, you should have an “About Me” page and a “Contact” page in addition to your blog home page.

Play Around with Widgets

You can add widgets to areas like the sidebar, header and footer of your blog. Widgets are an awesome way to organize your site. I have used subscribe, social sharing, categories, text search and archive widgets.

Every theme is a little bit different, but you will most likely have access to several designated widget areas.

Word to the wise – if you use a “subscribe” widget, make sure you don’t show the number of subscribers. The default setting will invite you to “join 0 subscribers”. Similarly, if you’re in your first month of blogging, you don’t need an “archives” widget.

Tell Google you Exist

Sign up with Google Analytics and verify your site with Google Webmaster Tools. Pinterest, Bing and other search engines offer site verification as well; however, Google is the biggie. This won’t immediately drive traffic to your site, but it will expedite the process. Two months in, I’m lucky to get 1 – 2 daily pageviews from Google.

Week 3: Download Some Plugins

Plugins are the absolute best! By using plugins, I’ve avoided having to learn anything technical about web design. Most are available for free or at least offer a free version. Below are a few of my favorites that I currently use.

Yoast SEO

What is Search Engine Optimization? How do you optimize content to appear in search results? Don’t worry about it! Just download the free Yoast SEO plugin and it will tell you what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong.

Monster Insights

Another free plugin that I use to link up my blog to my Google Analytics page.

Social Warfare

I use this plugin for my social sharing buttons. There is a free option, but I just sucked it up and bought the “Pro” version for about $30 a year.

Back when I had confined myself to Pinterest I was using the free PinIt plugin which added a “Pin this” button to all the images on my page

MailChimp

MailChimp is a tool for managing your subscriber list which offers signup forms, email templates and tools to build a landing page. It is free for up to 2,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month. I am in absolutely no danger of hitting that so I suspect I’ll be using the free version for a while.

Full disclosure, building my subscriber list is on my blogging bucket list. It’s not an area I’ve focused on to date so I don’t have a ton of experience with MailChimp just yet.

UpDraftPlus

UpDraftPlus provides free site backup services. I have it set to automatically backup my site to a Google drive folder every 12 hours.

Week 4: Spread the Word!

First stop, Pinterest

Now that I’ve decided to actively promote my blog, Pinterest is my absolute favorite promotion technique. The overwhelming majority of my traffic finds me through Pinterest.

First, you will need a blog Pinterest board, for reference here’s mine. You should also set up at least ten other boards that you can pin to that are relevant to your blog topics, again here’s mine.

When you’re starting out, I recommend using the free version of Canva to design pinnable images for each of your posts. I also recommend checking out Tailwind to schedule your pins in advance. Through Tailwind, I spend 45 minutes to an hour on Pinterest scheduling my pins for the week. I started with the free version of Tailwind, but once I had more than ten blog pins and more than ten group boards to pin them to, I switched to the paid version.

Eventually, you will want to design a cover for each of your boards (I used Canva for this as well). It is also worth taking the time to identify a category for each board and enter a description. Pinterest is a search engine – it will promote your boards for you if it can identify what they are about.

Pinterest Group Boards

Assuming you’re brand new to all of this and don’t have a lot of followers on Pinterest, you also may want to join some Group Boards. Here is a searchable directory of more than 65,000 group boards you can join. Joining group boards is a lot of trial and error. You may follow the instructions and request to join 20 group boards and only hear back from one or two.

Group boards are great because anyone that follows the board may see your pin. In other words, even if you have no followers, you can get your pin in front of an audience by pinning to a group board. Pssst, if you’re starting a mom blog, you’re welcome to join my baby group board or my parenting group board. Simply follow me on Pinterest, then email me at MomsGotItMade@gmail.com with a link to your Pinterest account. 

Keep the Social Media Ball Rolling

Social media is important for a few reasons. First and foremost, it is critical to driving traffic, especially if you’re not relying on your personal contacts to read your blog. Additionally, it is a great way to interact with other blogs and an easy way for readers to interact with you.

Even if you aren’t very active on social media, I would suggest creating accounts right away. That way, you can accumulate a slow trickle of followers while you focus on other aspects of blogging.

Social media is particularly important if you’re planning to monetize your blog. A lot of companies are more interested in working with bloggers that have a significant social media presence. Plus, more often than not, your social media accounts will enable companies that want to work with you to find you.

Although I got off to a rocky social media start, Mom’s Got it Made is now on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Here is how I’ve used each one:

• Pinterest: I use Pinterest to drive traffic to my blog and find other blogs that I am a fan of.
• Facebook: Facebook has been the most helpful for meeting other bloggers. There are tons of private Facebook groups where bloggers can connect, collaborate and ask for help.
• Instagram: Instagram is a great way to share a more personal side and connect with brands. Within three days of creating my Instagram account (and having it reactivated after Instagram booted me), I received an offer for a free product based entirely off of my first three Instagram posts.
• Twitter: So far, Twitter has been dead useless to me both in regards to driving blog traffic and connecting with other bloggers or brands. I am going to continue to post sporadically in the hopes of slowly accumulating a few followers.

Make Yourself Some Blogger Friends

Remember that email list of bloggers you admire? Now is your time to reach out to them and introduce yourself. Let them know that you’re a fan of their blog. Don’t be afraid to ask for their help.

Try not to take it personally if they don’t respond right away (or at all). A lot of people who blog got into blogging in order to make their own schedule, so bloggers aren’t always the most responsive bunch.

(Optional) Tell your Friends!

If you’re planning on sharing your new blog with your friends and family right away, start reaching out! Encourage them to “like” your new social media pages and subscribe to your blog.

I skipped this step for the time being. Eventually, I do plan to let my friends know that I started a blog but I don’t ever plan to share anything blog-related on my personal social media accounts.

Tell Me All About It!

Looking for feedback? Have technical questions about how I set something up on Mom’s Got it Made? I would LOVE to hear from you and talk to you about it. Since I’m not sharing my blog with my friends and family just yet, I don’t have a lot of people to talk blogging with! Feel free to contact me – I would love to help you out in any way I can.

More to Come

Stay tuned! In the coming months, I plan to share more detailed posts about various aspects of blogging.