|I started this blog in October 2016 with a plan to write informative and practical posts about topics related to mental health and wellness. My intention was to share the knowledge that I have gained through both my education and my experiences working in the helping field with others in a easy-to-understand way. In this post I will share with how my original plan has evolved over time, and how well I am meeting my goals of being a mental health blogger. When I first started posting on my blog, I quickly realized that there was a lot I didn't know about blogging.. and I mean a LOT! I knew I had some technical skills with computers.. I definitely had writing skills down pat.. and of course my knowledge of mental health. That should be good enough... right? Oh, how I was very wrong! As soon as I learned there was quite a lot to learn (and a huge learning curve to ascend) I logged on to Facebook and joined a few groups that I found that were connected to blogging or online entrepreneurship. This was a fantastic decision! The amount of information I learned from others in these groups and from the blogging community in general was invaluable. I went from feeling overwhelmed and that I really had no clue what I was doing, to feeling like maybe I could keep up. It was really exciting to hear about how other people organize their blog and posts, as well as the passion and ambition they had for long-term goals for their business. So today I wanted to share some of lessons I have learned along the way, as well as the first ever short-term goals I set for myself this month (to gain more followers) as well as some of the long-term goals I have in store for my blog and therapy business to come. February 2017 GoalsThere are many ways of helping your blog and website flourish (paying for advertisements, promoting through word-of-mouth, forcing your sister to proof-read your writing) and one of the most fruitful areas of promotion is to gain more followers on social media. In February 2017, I set myself a goal of reaching a certain number of social media followers on each platform that I spend the most amount of time on. It's interesting to review the final numbers to see the sites that saw huge growth in followers and others that either trickled in or made zero growth. Check out the results below! As the numbers in the growth column show, I did quite well at increasing my followers on each social media platform, so I feel quite proud of being able to connect with others and share content that readers feel compelled enough to follow me for. It's also glaringly obvious that I haven't put nearly enough effort into increasing my e-mail list followers, but don't worry.. I have a plan for this! One of the pieces of advice I continue to hear is that building a loyal e-mail list is central to a thriving business, and if you're interested in what I have planned to entice others to join my mailing list, check out my long-term goals below. Google Analytics Yet another wise blogging tip I have learned along the way is to sync your website with Google Analytics. I have to admit that I don't quite know how to interpret all of the data that this service brings in, but I do know that it's very useful to be able to access this behind-the-scenes information, especially when it comes to traffic acquisition. The screenshot below shows that the vast majority of my social network acquisition (traffic that originates from a social media platform to my site) is from Pinterest. I learned quite early on in my blogging bootcamp days that Pinterest is actually a search engine, rather than a site that you connect in more meaningful ways with others, such as Facebook. It's clear to see that Pinterest is a very useful tool at helping others find my site and read my content. Have any tips to share about how you gain loyal followers and a consistent blog readership? I would love to hear your advice in the comments below! Blogging Tools & RecommendationsWhether you are a seasoned blogger, or just starting out, finding out what works for other bloggers can save you a lot of time and can also help to reduce feelings of stress, overwhelm, or burn-out. Here are some of my own suggestions that have made my blogging life easier over the past few months: Photo/Graphic Editing:
Website Creator:
Newsletter Marketing:
Social Media Scheduling: Lessons Learned So Far
Please note that some of the links on this page are embedded with affiliate links that I may be compensated for at no additional cost to you.
6 Comments
2/27/2017 06:11:10 pm
That's a great list of resources Heather! Congratulations on your social media growth! Way to go!!! And thank you for the sweet shout out to my stock photography shop!
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2/28/2017 10:56:11 am
You're very welcome, Yami! And thank you for helping me with my blog so much already. :) Your stock photography is beautiful, too.. how could I not share?
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3/1/2017 03:00:14 pm
Awesome post! I really relate to what you said on lessons learnt so far in blogging. Like you said, there is a steep learning curve. Thankfully we have so many tools at our disposal, like the ones you showed above.
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3/1/2017 07:30:59 pm
There are so many great tools out there! And they make blogging life SO much easier.. especially ones that schedule posts for you! :) Thanks for the comment!
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Wow, this is so inspiring to read! I just posted my February post so it's great to see how other beginning bloggers are doing. And oh, how overwhelming it was this first month! And I've got so many plans! Planning is absolutely key, as I'm starting to learn now. Great job with everything!
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3/2/2017 01:56:30 pm
Thanks for your comment! It's great to connect with other bloggers and cheer each other on. And I'm glad to hear that things are getting easier for you as you learn more - I feel the same. I keep referring back to the motto 'one thing at a time' when I start to feel overwhelmed, too. It usually helps! ;)
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