this post has been a long one in the making and probably my most requested topic…other than mom fails, which are plenty!!
this little space is typically not about blogging, nor do i intend it to become a main focus..but, as i’ve grown in this community, it’s a frequent question that pops up in email, messages on FB, and DMs on instagram. i typically get 4 main questions when it comes to blogging so i thought it would be fun to break it up and do a little mini series on my experience!

for all my blogging friends… you will probably learn little to nothing from this specific post other than just how non-technical i am. {the other posts are for you guys, promise!} this is just for all the newbies who started out like we did with a handful of babes wanting to write some stuff down..and exactly how i would answer if we were sitting having coffee together. so grab a cup my friend…

FUELING MAMAHOOD BLOG SERIES

1. i want to start blogging….how and where do i start?!
2. can you really make money and how do i do that..and how much are we talking here?! {coming soon!}
3. how do you work with brands and do you actually like the products/clothes/brand you write about? {coming soon!}
4. how do you manage blogging, family and life…how do you do it ALL?! {coming soon!}

i hope to answer your questions and give you the information you’re looking for without a whole bunch of useless information…that being said, if you have questions i’m not answering, feel free to leave them in the comments or shoot me a message and i’ll update! a quick google or pinterest search will bring literally thousands of posts and there are blogs that are specifically dedicated to how to blog…this is not one of them, but i also try to be as transparent as possible around here and i’m happy to help and always answer questions…so hopefully this will be what you’re looking for!
let’s get this party started!

why did you start blogging?
this is long winded…i started my very first blog when zach and i realized we were struggling with infertility. it was never public and i don’t ever plan to make it public because i was in a pretty dark place and needed somewhere to write it all down, but it was a place for me to journal. fast forward to going through treatments, finding a donor, then realizing we were pregnant with twins and then a high risk twin pregnancy with vasa previa…. i found myself on bedrest at 19 weeks with too much time to research and there was literally NOTHING personal on the internet about vasa previa or donation in the realm of infertility. i was dying to read any one else’s experience and vowed then that when i could, i would get something out here so that no one else had to feel as alone as we did. since then, we’ve had couples all over the world {literally} contact us thanking us for being so transparent on a topic that was so hush-hush as if it was a bad thing…as well as one mama who thanked me for saving her baby’s life because they were diagnosed with vasa previa after reading about it here… all of that to say, i never meant for this to become a ‘business’…i did it because i loved it, i wanted more information, and when i finally got things up and running around here, i had just quit my full time job to be a stay at home mama to 6 month twin girls {what was i thiiiiinking} and needed a way to document the girls’ milestones. trust me, check out some of those early posts {and i mean like the first 1.5 years} and you’ll see what i mean!
if there ever comes a day {and i’m sure there will} that i don’t enjoy blogging, i will walk away from this space and still have a beautiful journal of my kids growing up..and that was my goal.
**takeaway: in my opinion, do NOT start blogging because you want to make some easy money. i will tell you to this day, i put WAY more time into this space than the money i bring in and yes, there are bloggers who make 6 figures…but they’re far and few in between and that is their full time JOB…and i am not one of them. if you want to start a blog, do it because you have a passion…because at the end of the day, if no one reads your stuff or no one cares… it shouldn’t be the end of the world.**

what platform do you use?
when i very first started, i started on wordpress.com and while it was fine, i did it because i had no idea what i was doing and i wasn’t sure if i would continue to do it. over 2 years later, i am on wordpress.org and i own my own site… looking back if i could do it again, i would have just bought my own domain and started here from the beginning..but hindsight is 20/20 and i literally knew nothing about blogging when i started. people ask about wordpress vs. blogger and honestly, i don’t know a whole lot about blogger but it’s debatable in the blogging community and i don’t think it’s life or death which one you go to. i do know it’s a pain to switch over…but you can always pay someone to do it for you if it gets to that point.

how do i start?
ha… i get this one all the time and a quick pinterest search will definitely do better than what i’m about to say but, if you were sitting here drinking coffee with me, this is it…just register and start a post?! no one will care…maybe your best friend and your mom but, no one else will. and no one else did when i first started…but that’s where i’m at in life right now. i’ve read posts that say you should have a full month of content up before you go live and while i’m sure there’s value in that… i was writing about my weekends, spit up and the fact that i actually kept 2 tiny humans alive…so. that’s not what i did. and looking back, i wouldn’t have done it any differently. i don’t have time for that nonsense and that wasn’t my goal. if your goal is to get in this to make the big bucks…1. i say good luck. 2. i think you’re going to get burnt out. and 3. you have NO idea how much goes on behind the scenes of blogging!

how do you bring traffic to your site?
when i very first started, i had NO idea how i was planning to get my content in front of the eyes of others… and even now, it’s a question that comes up on a weekly {if not daily} basis on other blogging boards because of course, you want others to see your content. one thing i’ve really struggled with is balancing creating new content that is relevant for all my regular readers vs. creating evergreen content {think content that people in a year from now still are searching for and wind up on your page} vs. promoting old content. up until now i’ve kinda just done whatever…but more recently i’ve started putting together a plan.
as it stands, my biggest referrals for traffic are {in order}: facebook, pinterest, instagram. then organic searches.
looking at that, i REALLY should be putting a heck of a lot more effort into pinterest and way less on instagram, but i simply love the instagram and the community behind it so i can’t really say i’ll step down from that… BUT i literally {like as of 2 weeks ago} got on tailwind {sign up + get your first month free} and am working on revamping some old posts…which has already been bringing in more traffic.

if you have any questions feel free to leave them below or shoot me a message! make sure to stay tuned for the following topics:
how to make money blogging
how to work with brands
how to manage it all