Blogging

Do you want to start a blog, but don’t know how to make extra cash to start your blog?

Blogging for beginners can be overwhelming when you are trying to figure out how to get started blogging to make money.

Have you ever sat on your couch as you crunch the numbers for your budget and felt your heart racing? Maybe you start wondering where all your money goes, because you definitely aren’t spending it on fun shopping sprees and dinners out.

Pretty sure, all your cash is going to diapers, baby food, baby stuff, and bills! Have you ever thought…  how are we ever going to get out of debt? Buy a “new to us” car? Afford a family vacation?

That was me in 2016. I was pregnant with baby number 3 and I was a stay at home mom with a 4 year old and 2 year old.

It was that moment that I thought I had to do SOMETHING to help out with our finances.

Now I make money blogging and today I’m going to share tips on how I made extra cash to pay for the initial investment to get my blog started.

Blogging for Beginners: Make Extra Cash to Start Your Blog

~ This article may contain affiliate links. I only suggest product or services I believe will benefit my readers. All opinions are 100% mine! ~

So I embarked on a work from home journey to help out with my family finances. As I scoured the interwebs, I found a bunch of scams, a few work from home opportunities that looked possible, and one business idea that had the potential to grow into substantial income.

I decided that my ultimate goal was to start a profitable blogging business, and I would need extra cash to get started.

You can start a profitable blog with these ways to make extra cash to start your blog. My initial investment for my blog was $300. ($300 includes Bluehost webhosting and a course Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing)

Find out EXACTLY how much it would cost for you to start your blog to day!

Here’s the one thing that takes an hour a day, but will kickstart your profitable blog without going into debt.

You need a side hustle to start making some initial money before starting your blog. I spent about an hour a day for 3 months working different online jobs from home. I was able to pay for all the necessary tools to get my online blogging business started without going into debt.

I know if I can do it, so can you!

#1 – Leapforce

Leapforce is a search engine evaluator job that you can work from anywhere that you have internet connection. This has been my favorite way to make money online while being a stay at home mom. The work is kind of boring, but it’s nice because it’s predictable.

I love that they pay on time every single month and corporate was very easy to work with. There were a few times I missed my project or had problems and they were always supportive.

I can’t tell how much I make with Leapforce due to a non-disclosure, but you could easily make enough money to start your blogging business in a month!

Join Leapforce here! 

#2 User Testing

User Testing is a way to test websites and apps for user experience. These tests pay $3 – $10 for a 5 – 20 minute test. You can take the tests on your computer or on your phone. You basically speak into your computer or phone’s microphone and describe your experience on the website or app that you are testing.

I love that User Testing pays 7 days to the minute from when you finish a test and they pay to a Paypal account. You may not qualify for every test but you could possibly get 5 – 8 tests per week.

Join User Testing here!

#3 Surveys

Taking surveys is a very easy way to make some extra cash! I would spend a few minutes up to about 30 minutes taking surveys every few days. My favorite survey companies pay to Paypal instead of earning a gift card. I also prefer survey companies that pay you even if you don’t qualify for a survey, which can happen fairly often.

I love taking surveys because it’s something that doesn’t take a lot of mental energy. I can do surveys from my phone while I’m rocking the baby to sleep or the kids are playing independently etc.

My favorite survey companies are…

• Mintvine
• Pinecone Research
• Ipsos
• Survey Junkie
• Vindale Research

#4 Swagbucks

Swagbucks is a super easy way to make extra cash to start your blog. There are several ways you can make extra cash with Swagbucks from taking surveys, earning points with free & paid offers, watching advertorials (short videos), online shopping, and referrals.

I love watching videos with Swagbucks. I usually will turn on the videos while I’m folding laundry or washing dishes. You don’t actually have to sit and watch the videos. You can earn points while the videos run and you do something else.

Join Swagbucks here!

Want more ways to make money from home? Here is a list of 55 Ways to make money online!

When to start a side hustle to save money for your initial investment and why you will regret not starting sooner.

Ok, so I told you that I started making money online to invest in my blog in 2016…

BUT I actually started thinking about blogging as a work from home job in 2011.

Guess what…

I was scared! Maybe you are too?

Have you ever found yourself comparing some *aspect of YOUR life* to other people in your life and then felt totally incapable of doing anything of value?

Like there’s no possible way I could have anything to say that someone else hasn’t already said…and not to mention, I totally don’t have it all together like those other bloggers!

Well, those other bloggers don’t have it all together either (I mean there’s probably a few who do, statistically speaking), but most bloggers just know how to pose a really pretty picture!

All this to say, now that I’m making more money than all my other side hustles combined with my blog (so crazy!!) I wish I had taken a big scary leap of faith and…

started my blog sooner! 

Why most new blogs fail in 6 months, and why knowing this will dramatically improve your odds of creating a profitable blogging business.

Can you believe that most blogs don’t make it past 6 months?

Yeah, it’s a tough business to get into because it takes hard work, consistency, and a willingness to always be learning.

But here’s the secret, most new blogs fail because they don’t have a plan. Starting an online business is just like starting any other business it takes commitment and a strategy for success.

If you’re not willing to save some extra money and invest a small start up fee for your business then you’re much more likely to walk away when things are tough.

There are so many times when I’ve thought “I’m not sure I want to do this anymore!” But I don’t walk away because I’ve invested my time and money. 

The three factors that make a successful blogger and how you can use these to your advantage.

The three biggest factors that make a successful blogger are consistency, perseverance, and willingness to learn. 

Blogging can be tough especially if you are brand new to blogging like I am. There is so much to learn!

And while you may think that a successful blogger knows how to tell stories, connect with people, create amazing products, etc.

The reality is that successful bloggers are those who don’t give up and they keep learning with every new challenge.

With this mindset you can go into blogging prepared to face challenges and make learning your goal and measure of success.

The one thing that’s keeping you stuck while millions use this exact tactic to start their dream blogging business every single day.

Here’s a fact that just might come as a surprise to you… fear is the number one reason people never get started on their dream.

Whether your dream is to start a blog, lose weight, run a marathon, do a pull-up (this is totally me), or anything else you can imagine. FEAR is what holds you back.

And trust me, I get it there’s a lot to lose when it comes to putting yourself on the line and trying something new and different. You probably don’t know any bloggers in real life, so it seems kinda scary.

But there’s hope! Have you ever heard the phrase “doing it scared”? It’s a mindset that is all about taking hold of your dreams and chasing them even if you are scared!

You can start a work from home side hustle to support your dream of becoming a profitable blogger! You CAN “do it scared” with the right support. Join our How to Start a Profitable Blog Facebook group to find like minded people who want to help support you in your dream of starting a blogging business!

Are you considering starting a blog to make money from home, but wondering how much does it cost to start a blog?

I started blogging 10 months ago and gave myself the goal of earning $1000 per month by the end of the first year. I’m excited to say that I was able to reach that goal in 10 months, and I want to share with you how you can start a blog on a budget. I only spend $23 per month on my blog right now, but I didn’t start that way.

I was spending $30 per month with Convertkit email service, subscriptions to Tailwind ($15)  and Boardbooster ($10), buying stock photos, and more. In all I was spending about $60 per month and I was making $0.25 in ad revenue!

That’s crazy right?! I realized that I was going to have to cut back and find free alternatives. So I’m hopefully going to save you some cash and help you start a blog to make money before you are spending more money on your blog!

How much does it cost to start a blog?

~ This article may contain affiliate links. I only suggest product or services I believe will benefit my readers. All opinions are 100% mine! ~

I think the most responsible way to start a blog is to create a budget, and then save up your money to start your blog. If you are starting a blog to make money from home, you need to think of this as a business not just a blogging hobby.

That means that you need to plan for the cash and time investment it will take you to start your blogging business.

You can start a blog for about $150. Here’s how:

• • Webhosting Service (Bluehost about $71.98/yr OR Siteground about $70/yr)
  • Free WordPress Theme

Tailwind (Pinterest scheduler) $15

• Free stock photos (Pexels and Pixabay are my favorites)
• Graphic design Canva.com
• Email Platform (Mailerlite)
• Blogging Professional Development ebooks/courses (a full list of excellent resources reasonably priced to help you grow your blogging business below!)

Here are the details!

#1 Webhosting (Free vs. Self-hosted)

I could write an entire blog post on why you need webhosting, but ultimately it comes down to the fact that you want to make money blogging and having your own domain (www . YOUR BLOG NAME . com) makes you look more professional.

People tend to trust someone who looks authoritative in their field, and a professional looking blog gives you that very important visual online.

A self-hosted site has more options for you to customize your blog. Free sites like blogger.com are SLOW which hurts your pageviews, ranking in Google, and your overall business.

I started with Bluehost as my webhost, and had a great experience. I purchased the 1 year subscription to give myself one year to see if I could make blogging work as a side hustle. Even though you save more money the longer the contract you sign-up for I wanted to give myself a time limit so I didn’t waste money.

TIP: Use Bluehosting or Siteground (similar companies with similar pricing) to host your website. Install WordPress as your platform to write your content. WordPress is the standard platform for the blogging world. I have heard SO many people have problems with sites like Wix.com. Although I have seen successful blogs from SquareSpace, but most of the successful bloggers I know use WordPress!

Difference between Bluehosting vs. Siteground

Bluehost had some problems with sites going down about a year and a half ago. I never experienced that myself when I was on Bluehost. I did have my site go down occasionally, but only for about 4 minutes at a time.

Bluehost has since claimed they have fixed their problems and is working hard to keep all their bloggers and website owners happy.

I switched to Siteground because I needed to move up to a higher grade (because of pageviews) and they were offering a special discount at the time. I have been happy with both services. They both have excellent customer support and will walk you through every step of setting up your blog.

I think for my first year of blogging Bluehost was perfect because it included a free domain name in the package. I don’t think Siteground has that option right now.

TIP: They both want your business so if you hang out on the site for awhile and then select a program you think you want to purchase, but don’t purchase immediately a pop-up will appear with a special discount 😉

#2 Free WordPress Themes

Themes are the design of your website. You can upload themes onto your WordPress platform to customize the look of your blog. There are many free WordPress Themes available, but they are not all equal!

I have a selected a few free WordPress themes that other bloggers are using with great success. I think starting with a free WordPress theme is a great idea, because you can monetize your blog without making a huge investment.

Free WordPress Themes to Try

• Hueman Theme
• Anissa Theme
• Illdy Theme

If you want to get a paid theme, then I highly recommend the Genesis framework. Many bloggers use this to create their blog and it has everything a blogger needs to make money blogging. It’s also easy to find designers who can customize or redesign your blog in the future.

So what do you need to look for in a theme?

#1 Must be responsive

Responsive means that your blog will go from desktop computer to mobile device by adjusting the layout. This is hugely important since almost 90% of traffic is coming from mobile devices!

#2 Browser compatibility

Make sure that the theme layout works on a variety of different browsers; Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc.

#3 Plug-ins

Make sure the theme you choose supports popular plug-ins.

Yoast plug-in for SEO

Pretty Link (free version) for affiliate links

Easy Azon for selling on Amazon

#4 Always check Ratings and Reviews

Ratings and reviews are important! Read through to see if there are any major concerns. I also like to ask for opinions in blogging Facebook groups. You can find blogging Facebook groups by using Facebook’s search bar.

#3 Graphics and Blog Promotion on Pinterest

In this section I’m going to cover the following:

• Tailwind (Pinterest scheduler) $15
• Free stock photos (Pexels and Pixabay are my favorites)
• Graphic design Canva.com

The fastest way to grow your audience is by using Pinterest. I went from 7000 pageviews per month to over 21,000 pageviews by using a Pinterest strategy! I tripled my pageviews in 1 month, and my pageviews have been increasing since then too! (Pinteresting Strategies is the book that has changed my pageviews!)

In order to have success on Pinterest, I think it’s a good idea to use a scheduler.

But the key to major growth is being active on Pinterest daily. I love Tailwind because it has changed the trajectory of my growth!

Stock Photos

In order to get traffic from Pinterest, you need to use beautiful photos. Now you may have time to take your own awesome photos, but I don’t have time to take pictures. I barely have time to shower most days!

I love using FREE photos from Pixabay and Pexels. I also use free photos from Ivory Mix. You can sign up for her free library and she gives away 5 – 10 free photos each month!

Before you use free photos make sure that you can use them without having to show the copyright. Pixabay and Pexels only use picture that are allowed to be used by anyone for any reason. You can’t use any picture you find on Google because that is considered someone else’s property and you can get in big trouble over the pictures! Be careful!

Graphic Design

I am technically challenged! Graphic design is not my gifting, so I need something that is easy to use and FREE makes it even better. Canva.com is where you can go to create the “Pins” you will use on your blog post to pin to Pinterest.

It’s super easy to use and you can upload images from Pexels or Pixabay or your own images and then create text overlay for the images. Here is a recent image that I created in Canva.com.

They have templates for everything from Pinterest pins, Facebook posts, Instagram posts, and Ebooks!

#4 Email Platform

You need an email platform because you are going to be collecting thousands of emails! Your email list is one area that you have totally under your control and doesn’t risk algorithm changes like on Google or social media.

I prefer Mailerlite because you can get free service up to 1000 subscribers! It includes landing pages, email automation, forms, and more. I also think Mailerlite is the easiest platform to use. You can customize your emails easily and there is support available all the time if you ever get stuck like me!

Mailchimp is another free resource, but I think the landing pages are SO much better with Mailerlite.

#5 Blogging Professional Development Courses & Ebooks

I am a life-long learner. I love blogging because it is constantly challenging me to learn something new everyday. You don’t have to buy any courses or ebooks in order to start a profitable blog. BUT if you are looking to make money as soon as possible with your blog, then I highly suggest learning from people who have already done it!

The very first course I bought was Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing. I knew that my purpose for blogging was to make money from home, so I wanted to get the affiliate marketing in place as soon as possible.

Michelle of Making Sense of Cents makes $100,000+ per MONTH as a blogger! That’s crazy to me! I love her style of teaching, no fluff it’s just straight forward information you need to know. The Facebook group with the course is extremely valuable as well. Michelle is very involved and shares student content on all her  social media channels!

This course is $197 but goes on sale every few months for about $169. You don’t have to buy this course, but I just wanted to give you an idea of how I started investing in courses!

Ebooks & Courses that I highly recommend! 

#1 Pinteresting Strategies by Carly of Mommy on Purpose

Cost: $32

This book is Carly’s Pinterest strategy that has taken her to over 252,000 pageviews per month. She helped me triple my pageviews in one month with Pinterest. You get lifetime access to the upgrades she makes as Pinterest changes it’s algorithm. This book is a CRAZY value for only $32! She is SO good at researching Pinterest and finding out what works. I love it and re-read it several times!

#2 Blogging by Number E-Course by Suzi of Start a Mom Blog

Cost: $47

Suzi is an amazing blogger that gives you so much helpful information. You can go over to her blog and get her 12 month plan for creating a profitable blog! She is so dedicated to giving you a quality product for a reasonable price, because she knows we don’t have hundreds of dollars to throw at our dream right now!

She walks you through step – by – step how to start a blog and make it profitable from the beginning.

#3 How to Blog for Profit without Losing Your Soul by Ruth Soukup

Cost: $14.98

Ruth Soukup is the blogger at Living Well Spending Less. She has a full time blogging business with a staff and is also the creator of Elite Blog Academy ($750 blogging course!!). She gives you a great outline for all the things you need to do to start a profitable blog in the book How to Blog for Profit without Losing Your Soul. You can seriously learn almost everything you need to from this book, but it doesn’t come with support like the Blogging by Number E-Course.

So you can get your profitable blog started for as little as $150! What do you think? Are you ready to start your blogging business?

~ This article may contain affiliate links. I only suggest product or services I believe will benefit my readers. All opinions are 100% mine! ~

Hey guys! Welcome to my blog series, Blogging Behind the Scenes!

I started this series Blogging Behind the Scenes because as a new blogger there are a million things to do and a million more questions. I am documenting all the “Aha’s” and “Oh no’s” that happen while I build my blog Smart Cents Mom.

I have been trying to find a way to create extra income without having a traditional job (like my job as an elementary school teacher) since my first son was born over 5 years ago. I’ve had several side hustles that range from childcare worker at our gym to my current job as a search engine evaluator with Leapforce.

Smart Cents Mom was started because I realized that my side hustles were never going to make residual income and the only way to make more money was based on time (which I don’t have much of!).

A little about me

I launched my blog on September 5, 2016. Yes, I launched on Labor Day…which may or may not have been a bad idea. I picked the date way back in July and decided to just go with it because getting started and sticking to a deadline is the hardest part of starting a new blog.

Here’s a little background on me. I worked as a full-time elementary school teacher for 10 years. About 2 years ago, I left my teaching job to stay home with our 3 boys. I have never had a web presence before so my blog and social media sites are brand new!

I have been working for Leapforce as a search engine evaluator for 6 months and spent 3 months working as a virtual assistant for my dad’s small business writing blog posts and social media.

I keep seeing bloggers post their updates for each month. I’ve read hundreds of income reports. The one thing I’ve noticed is that there aren’t many who have no experience with social media or blogging.

All that to say…this little blog and experiment are brand spanking new!

Week 1 is in the books!

My word for the pre-launch and first week of going “live”…HUSTLE

I spent a lot of time connecting with friends and family who I thought might be interested in my niche topic of stay at home moms working from home and personal finance. I also spent time connecting to other bloggers to start forming a tribe. It hasn’t happened yet, but I have met some great bloggers and look forward to building friendships.

My first week in numbers:  

589 pageviews on my site.

It’s not stellar, but considering this is all new, it feels good to start to see some numbers! Facebook Groups have been a huge part of growing my pageviews. I can clearly see on days that I was active in a Facebook Group my pageviews show a clear increase in traffic.

I created an opt-in for my overall website called the 7 Day Extra Income Challenge. It’s a simple e-course that gives you loads of information every day about ways to earn extra income.

1 thing that hurt my pageviews this week:

My comments at the end of all posts disappeared. I spent HOURS trying to figure out where they had gone. I contacted my theme provider to no avail. By Thursday, I was ready to throw in the towel on this whole website thing. I don’t really do well when there is adversity! But in the final moments by God’s grace, I removed all my plug-ins and poof! My comment box showed up on all posts.

Somehow I lost my cell phone charger this week too. Ugh! You don’t realize how badly you rely on something until it’s gone. So I bought this phone charger and am back up and running. I do a lot of things for my blog on my phone. I promote content, write emails, research, watch video courses, and even write blog posts from my phone. I don’t think this directly affected my pageviews but it was definitely frustrating!

1 thing that helped pageviews:

I spent a month getting 30 blog posts ready for the launch week, so that when people came to my blog it looked more established. I think this helped with pageviews because people were able to click to other articles on the blog.

Pinterest 184 followers

My Pinterest following keeps growing steadily. I watched a webinar from Melyssa Griffin on how to gain followers on Pinterest. She is amazing and has Pinterest down to a science! I also listened to a podcast from Side Hustle Nation with Rosemarie Groener talking about how to use Pinterest. Check out this one little trick that I did to immediately see an increase in my Pinterest followers!

Facebook 99 followers. (Sooooooo close to 100!) 

I definitely plan on celebrating small victories so I can’t wait to hit 100! I have a lot to learn about Facebook, just not enough time to fit it in my day right now.

I really HUSTLED on my personal Facebook profile. I sent a message to about 200 of my Facebook friends who fell into the category of someone who might be interested in my blog topic: mom’s looking for work from home opportunities and interested in personal finance. I sent messages to over 200 friends and 45% of those friends LIKED my page and about 30% who LIKED my page also joined my email list!

I decided to take this approach after watching a webinar with Melyssa Griffin and Darrel from Convertkit.

Email Subscribers 37

I am using Convertkit as my email provider right now. I started in August with MailChimp and Hello Bar. I had problems with Hello Bar showing up on my page. I loved that MailChimp was free, but I was going to have to upgrade for $15 per month. Hello Bar (free version) didn’t work for my site, so I looked into the Sumome app that has landing pages and forms that pop up when readers visit my site. Sumome is fantastic at converting readers with the great layouts they have, but it is to expensive for me right now.

So I opted for Convertkit because they have forms and landing pages that are easy to build in their system. They also have a tagging and segmenting system that is really useful in sending effective emails.

I didn’t realize that I had to publish my automation ( 7 Day Extra Income Challenge opt-in). Ughh!

So once I published my automation, my subscribers started receiving their Challenge. Oops! Lesson learned!

Here’s the cool news…out of my subscribers I have a 45% open rate for my first newsletter I sent out that basically introduced myself. I also have a 36% open rate for the Opt-in and 14% click through rate!

That got me excited!

Courses I have been using:

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing: This course is all about affiliate marketing from Michelle Schroeder of Making Sense of Cents. I started my blog to be a business, and I love that Michelle teaches you how to have a legit business through affiliate sales. Michelle regulary makes $50,000+ per month through affiliates on her site. The material in her course has been AH-mazing to have as I start my blog. I’m doing things the right way from the beginning so I won’t have to go back and change them later. Eventually I’ll write a review of the course, but for now you should know it is an awesome course! One of the best parts is she acts as your cheerleader and mentor through her private Facebook group for the course. Check out the course Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing.

MelyssaGriffin.com: This is a website and not a course, but Melyssa Griffin is ALL about pinterest. Her free courses about Pinterest are so full of tips and tricks for growing your Pinterest traffic that I haven’t had time to get her course Pinfinite Growth (course you pay for). My advice sign up for EVERYTHING with Melyssa, you won’t regret it!

Here were my top posts from this past week:

Legit Work from Home Jobs that Pay $10 per Hour

Women Seeking Financial Freedom

Smart Success Stories: Interview with Dawn Nicole

Goals for the Rest of the Month:

• Create new images for popular posts and promote those pins on Pinterest
• Finish setting up Boardbooster
• Spend 30% of time writing/creating content and 70% of time promoting posts
• Commenting on my 5 favorite posts on a regular basis

Thanks for stopping by! Hope this gave you a little insight into my first week as a blogger!

Related Posts You Might Enjoy!

• Want Great Content for Your Blog? Try This!
• Bluehost Guide
• How to Start a Blog

Products You Need:

• Bluehost Hosting: This is super easy to use webhosting that you can get for as low as $2.95 per month! The setting up process is streamlined and integrates easily with Wordress. You can see my Bluehost Guide and How to Start a Blog for more info!
• Convertkit Email: Convertkit is easy to create newsletters and automations (sending emails in a sequence like for an email course or product launch). Convertkit is simple to use with the abilities of more expensive email services (like tagging and segmenting) without the big cost. They even have landing pages and forms (not very good looking but if you’re on a budget, definitely usable!).
• Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing: This is the course with Michelle Schroeder on how to use affiliate marketing to make money from your blog. Michelle regularly earns $50,000+ from her affiliate income! Learn from the best!

~ This article may contain affiliate links. I only suggest product or services I believe will benefit my readers. All opinions are 100% mine! ~

If you are like me and you’re just starting out thinking about WHAT to blog, it can feel overwhelming. Where do you begin? What do you talk about? So you can write about anything! But if you want to monetize your blog the key question you should be asking is How do I meet the needs of my audience? Having your audience in mind will be the path to creating content that ROCKS!

Before you get started make sure you know who your audience is. This is super important because knowing who your audience is will be key in helping  you write great content. You can determine your audience by deciding if you have an audience that centers around a topic vs. a demographic?

A topic audience means that your blog is centered around a specific topic, think of your topic as an umbrella and all the ideas will be underneath. So for an example, you start a Healthy Fit Mom Blog. Your umbrella is Healthy Fit Moms, your audience is moms who want to get fit and be healthy, your blog ideas that fall under the umbrella are workouts for moms to do at home, healthy recipes, healthy snacks, how to fit exercise in with kids around, etc.

A demographic audience means that your blog is centered around a certain group of people that share common traits, again using the umbrella analogy you are going to have for example the millenial college student lifestyle blog. Your audience is college students and your blog ideas under the umbrella are life on campus, music, fashion, etc.

Even if you are a beginner like me and you don’t actually have a following yet and you don’t have a huge email list or subscribers, you can STILL CATER YOUR CONTENT TO YOUR DREAM AUDIENCE. The first step is recognizing who you want to reach with your awesome blog content.

Now you know the type of person you want to reach, let’s go find them!

1. Write to your audiences’ pain points.

Think about what your reader wants changed in their lives or fixed RIGHT NOW and what can you deliver to help them fix that. Use your knowledge and experience to help your readers solve real problems now.

You may be able to think of your own general problems, but your list from your own sweet brain isn’t going to last you very long. You need to get social, and that leads us to our next step.

2. Facebook Groups

If you aren’t a member of any facebook groups  you need to jump on the bandwagon and join! Seriously! You can find great nuggets of content gold by joining facebook groups, because this is where people are talking. This is where people are sharing their pain points, their struggles, and asking questions. This post literally came about because I was “listening” to the conversation in a facebook group.

I have joined 15 facebook groups all surrounding the focus of my blog. It’s super easy to find groups that are related to your field. Simply type in a key word phrase, for example, “work from home mom group” and facebook will show you all the related work from home mom groups. I prefer to join the closed groups, because they are run with rules so it’s not spammy. Remember you are here to LISTEN not to get traffic to your site or sell something.

Then when you see someone ask a question, bring up an interesting topic, or gives you an “AHA” moment just click that little arrow in the right hand corner and click “save for later.” You can go back to that conversation later to get your writing mojo flowing!

Facebook groups are great for 2 reasons they let you engage with your dream audience before you really have one and you are able to hear people’s pain points often ideas or struggles you hadn’t even thought of!

I love Facebook Groups so much that I have started one of my own. We would love to have you over here at Smart Cents Mom. We want to inspire you, encourage you, and help you achieve your goals! And have some fun along the way. You can JOIN my Facebook Group “Smart Cents Mom” Just click Join Now!

You can JOIN my Facebook Group “Smart Cents Mom” Just click Join Now!

Here’s a list of my favorite Groups I’m apart of:

Naptime Nation

Grow Your Blog

Growing Social Media for Bloggers

Oh, She Blogs!

3. Research Topics

Use search engines like Google and Pinterest to find out the most popular posts addressing people’s pain points in a field related to you. Since I blog about extra income, work at home, personal finance, blogging tips I can choose any of these fields put it in the search engine and I will see a bunch of blog posts or articles that fall under that topic.

I can also use Google Trends to see what are popular queries related to keywords I put in the search engine. I can also see what are queries are rising in popularity.

4. Read through 5 – 10 blog/article posts and make notes about:

• On Pinterest: How many times was the post repinned? (More repins the more popular) Is this a popular topic?
• What could have made this a better post? What was missing? What value could you add? (DO NOT COPY!)
• Read the comment section. What are people asking questions about? Are people asking for more information? This is a great place to find a way to add value to a topic.

5. Curating Content/Blog Round-up

There is SO much content out there. There is SO much HIGH QUALITY content out there. Make a point to answer questions by researching a pain point and finding 5 – 7 AH-MAZING blog posts/articles that would bring real value to your readers. Think of sites like BuzzFeed or Hello Giggles who share HIGH QUALITY content for their readers. You can easily share their blog site as long as you reference them in the post.

So there you have it, 5 tips on WHERE to find your next blog post. I genuinely hope these tips help you to start writing great content! I would LOVE to have you apart of our communtiy where we inspire and encourage each other to reach our goals.

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Tell me, Where do you find your content? What content resources do you have?