![]() Elaine is an established female entrepreneur blogger and member of the Guest Bloggers Wanted community (a place for UK lifestyle & parenting bloggers to find new collaborations & partnerships), I caught up with her to find out a bit about her blogging journey and pull out some tips and tricks about growing a blog audience and how to make money blogging.... Hi Elaine, nice to meet you! So, tell us, how long have you been blogging? It’s been a little over 2 years now, but previous to starting my own blog I was an intern for an online magazine, which was basically a blog, for about a year. It wasn’t the writing aspect that intrigued me to sign up as an intern, I was quite a terrible writer honestly, instead it was all the exclusive events I got to attend, restaurants I got to try, and products I got to review that I loved and of course since it was a publication I had to write about my experience which forced me to hone my writing skills. I actually had no aspirations to start my own blog. I worked in the wedding industry and loved my job as the National Wedding Sales Manager but needed a creative outlet. But when my boss denied my request to attend my brother-in-law’s funeral, I knew I was in a toxic environment no matter how much I loved my job and knew that I had to quit. So I fell back on the one thing that brought me extreme joy and creative freedom – blogging. Can you tell us about your blog LadyBossBlogger.com and who it is for? It’s for current and aspiring female entrepreneurs who want to learn how to start an online business and turn their blog into their full-time job. We post two kinds of posts on the blog – interviews with female entrepreneurs and informational posts on all the aspects of starting an online business and monetizing your blog. I started the blog for myself to learn how to become a LADY BOSS and a BLOGGER and that is exactly what happened. I was my very first student so I can attest that my methods actually work! ;) I’ve helped thousands of women start their own online businesses and learn how to start, grow and monetize their own blogs with my online courses – courses.ladybossblogger.com. Were you a complete blogging beginner when you started Lady Boss Blogger? I had some writing experience, but the technical aspect took me for a spin! I had no clue how much work it would be to start a blog from scratch and set everything up correctly on the backend. I felt like I was barely keeping my head above water during the first few months because there was so much to learn. Blogging when done right, is SUPER technical. What I mean by “done right” is actually making money from your blog, and not just peanuts, like making a full-time income from it. The publication I worked for made next to nothing for the amount of work it took to run it, which is why it wasn’t sustainable and why it has since shut down. I was super sad when the founder told me that she was shutting down her magazine to pursue other interests. She had over 1 million readers and tons of traffic, but her monetization models weren’t up to date. It just goes to show that it’s not about the stats, it’s all about the strategy. I wish I knew what I know now about blog monetization so that I could have helped her. What has LadyBossBlogger.com given you in your life you didn’t have before? Incredible opportunities and increased confidence. When people learn that you’re a blogger, it’s crazy how much free stuff they throw at you! I’ve been gifted $1000+ designer dresses, loads of hi-tech beauty equipment such as Red Light Therapy anti-aging devices and healthy Infrared Gemstone Filled Mats among other things. In addition to free stuff, companies are lined out the door ready to pay you to promote them! I’ve also been asked to speak at 7-10 day retreats in Bali and Canada that were completely comped and at digital media conferences around the United States. LadyBossBlogger has been featured in 200+ websites, magazines, books and blogs. The very first time I shared the full story behind LadyBossBlogger was in the Huffington Post a year after I started my blog. Before that, I was terrified to advertise my blog too much… if you read the story you’ll know why. But that interview gave me the confidence to not hide behind my blog anymore and to speak up for other women in toxic situations. What three tools could you not run your blog without? 1. WordPress Scheduled Posts – this is the plugin that lets me schedule out all my posts in advance so I can travel and do what I need to do as my daily blog posts go live. 2. JetPack – I love this plugin, it shows me all my traffic stats in one place and it’s easy to understand and interpret. 3. ConvertKit – this is the email marketing service provider I have used since I started my email list. Name three inspirational ladies you’ve interviewed on your blog and tell us why you chose to tell us about them. 1. Emily Lyons – She started her event staffing and modeling agency when she was just 23 years old with $80 in her pocket. She has been featured extensively in business-related pieces in Forbes, Huffington Post, MAXIM, FHM, NY Post, Globe and Mail and has worked with celebrities like Justin Bieber and Drake. She not only valued my blog enough to pay for her feature even though she has a MASSIVE social media following, she also reached out to me personally and told me she loved my Instagram page! 2. Maria Von Losch – This Instagram celebrity opened her first store when she was just 22 years old and is now also the author of 2 books. She has won loads of fashion styling awards but her favorite up to date has been the editor’s pick for “Vanity Fair International Best Dressed”. She styles young Hollywood actors and actresses and has a super popular fashion and lifestyle blog. We connected via email about both being half Chinese! She is Chinese Romanian and I’m Chinese German. 3. Joelle Tremblay – Her motto is “Failure is an option” and she was also the very first person that ever paid me to get interviewed on my blog. At that point, my blog was only 1 week old, and the fact that she was willing to invest in me helped me to persevere and value my services. In fact, I didn’t notice until just now that her motto isn’t “Failure is NOT an option” which is what I read 2 years ago and what made me keep going haha!!! What is your advice for getting great interviews on your blog? Interview great storytellers! There is an art to telling a truly great story that keeps people intrigued. You can tell who the great storytellers are by the intro on their about me page. You have a lot of voices featuring on your blog, can you tell us how have you maintained a solid voice and brand for ladybossblogger.com? I personally review everything before it gets published to the blog to make sure that the format is correct. While the voices may be slightly different, the format is consistent, and the blog posts are all written from an informational perspective, meaning they are written to teach and inform the reader. I can’t personally be an expert on everything which is why having expert guest posts are important. And finally, we would love to know how you have monetized LadyBossBlogger and what you would say is the best way to make money blogging. 1. I started by selling “interview slots” and to my amazement, it worked! 2. Then I tapped into sponsored guest posts – some written on my blog, others written for their blog – but basically did freelance writing work. 3. I purchased this affiliate marketing course which completely changed how I looked at blogging – instead of exchanging my TIME for MONEY, since I was doing service based work, I started to learn how to make passive income on my blog and on social media. 4. Finally, I took everything I learned and turned it into a course called “How To Start A Money Making Blog”. I teach all my money making strategies in there. It’s incredible how much you can learn from blog posts, but when it comes down to actually making a full-time income, you won’t find that information on the internet for free. Check out Ladybossblogger here.
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AuthorWritten by Cheryl A Clarke Chief Happiness Officer & Content Marketing Freelancer @ Ginger Marketing (unless stated otherwise) Blog CategoriesPopular content marketing postsTop Udemy Courses*Archives
October 2022
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