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Crochet blog – January update

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Hello everyone. Welcome to my crochet blog – January update with a couple of free patterns to start 2021. I have been reviewing and overhauling old blog posts. Turns out the last time I sent a general update was back in April 2019! There is nothing that points to success as a blogger better than consistency 🙂 Possibly why my little blog is still just that…. a very little blog!

Anyway – thank you for reading, despite my lack of proper application to the task.

Project Updates

Lockdown Lapghan

In recent months I have been working on two projects. Firstly I created a pattern for a Lapghan using only one stitch, five colours and a pattern suitable for beginners. I called it Lockdown Lapghan and have worked it up in two sets of colours. You can see these below.

Lockdown Lapghan - berries in snow
Lockdown lapghan – Berries in the snow (with Milo)

lockdown lapghan - autumn sunset
lockdown lapghan – Autumn Sunset

The pattern for the Lapghan is spread across three separate posts as follows:

Lockdown Lapghan charts available to download here

Lockdown Lapghan basic pattern in UK and US instructions here

Lockdown Lapghan finishing and edging instructions here

New Large Heart and Edged Heart patterns

The other project I have just completed is a new crochet heart pattern. This is based on my previous heart pattern which remains my most popular (only popular) blog post. I wanted to create a larger sized heart. This one is c 10cm across when worked in chunky yarn. The free pattern for the new large heart is available here and I have also just added an edging pattern which is shown below. The original post for crochet hearts in three sizes is here

free pattern for new large heart
new large heart pattern

New Large Heart Edging – UK instructions

Starting at the centre of the top of the heart in a contrasting colour work 6 Dc. At the top of the heart into the next stitch work 2Dc. Work 2Dc into the next stitch then Dc into the following stitch. Then work 2Dc into the next stitch and 13 Dc down the left hand side of the heart. At the bottom of the heart work 1 Dc into the gap made by the chain on the previous row then 3Dc into the bottom stitch of the heart.

We are going to complete the second half of the heart edging as a mirror to the first. Work 1 Dc into the gap made by the chain on the previous row then 13 Dc up the right hand side of the heart. Next work 2Dc into the next stitch then Dc into the following stitch. Work 2Dc into each of the next two stitches. Finally work 6Dc down the centre of the right hand side of the top of the heart and finish off.

New Large Heart Edging – US instructions

Starting at the centre of the top of the heart in a contrasting colour work 6 Sc. At the top of the heart into the next stitch work 2Sc. Work 2Sc into the next stitch then Sc into the following stitch. Then work 2Sc into the next stitch and 13 Sc down the left hand side of the heart. At the bottom of the heart work 1 Sc into the gap made by the chain on the previous row then 3Sc into the bottom stitch of the heart.

We are going to complete the second half of the heart edging as a mirror to the first. Work 1 Sc into the gap made by the chain on the previous row then 13 Sc up the right hand side of the heart. Next work 2Sc into the next stitch then Dc into the following stitch. Work 2Sc into each of the next two stitches. Finally work 6Sc down the centre of the right hand side of the top of the heart and finish off.

crochet blog January update - New Large Heart - edging
new large heart pattern with edging

That is it for the crochet blog – January update. Spot the new year’s resolution to be better at posting updates and newsletters and blogging in general. Expect more in February (or not 🙂 ) Happy Crocheting!

Annie 🙂

Blogging is NOT EASY!!!!

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How many pins and blog posts have you seen that tell you how EASY it is to start a blog? These posts make it sound so quick and so simple that everyone should be doing it, but is it really that easy? There are lots of bloggers who only blog about blogging and they all claim to be sharing their ‘secrets’.   Some will ask you to sign up for courses or pay for resources that turn you into an overnight blogging success.  In my view there really is no need to spend any money until you have started on your blogging journey and have done all the things that you can do without paying out!

The bloggers telling you how easy it is, are making good money by selling the dream of an easier lifestyle. A lifestyle where you have passive income and you don’t have to leave your house. They give the impression that blogging is all about creativity.   For the vast majority this will only ever be just a dream.   Like anything blogging requires hard work and quite a lot of skill and knowledge!  The dream sounds less attractive when described honestly but it is till a dream!!

Find out whether blogging is really for you!

Following the advice so many bloggers push out can get you to the point where you have paid out for services to support your blog but have no blog because (sorry I am going to say it again!) Blogging really isn’t easy!

There is some good news though.  If you are really serious about starting a blog, there is so  much you can do to validate your ideas before spending any money at all.   This is the tough love bit here – are you really serious about starting a blog and why do you want to do it?  I produced a short decision tree and workbook to help you decide whether blogging is for you and whether you are ready to spend money and launch your blog…..  you can see the decision tree in the picture below and download the workbook as a free printable below.

Is blogging for you – Letter (13030 downloads ) Is blogging for you – A4 (12589 downloads )

Learn from my mistakes!

My own blog journey started a few years ago when I first began reading all the pins on Pinterest talking about how easy it was to start a blog and make a fortune. Despite loving my day job I was interested in starting a blog as a hobby that could eventually provide an income stream.   I have also always harboured dreams of being a writer ?

After spending a year or so with ‘start a blog’ on my do list I had made NO PROGRESS other than to collect pins and read more blogs on how EASY it was. 

Finally getting started……

After about a year I bought myself a domain name and entered into a hosting contract. One of the things I did learn was that getting a domain is the safest route to protecting your work. I didn’t even look at pure blogging solutions like blogger or blogspot.   These might have been an easier route to get started.   The reasons I went for my own domain were:

  • I wanted to be in charge of my own destiny and not be bound by rules set down by the platform – rules that are subject to change.   I own my own website and control everything about the content myself
  • I wanted to be able to ‘monetise’ my blog.  I will put up a separate post on how this is not easy either but for now suffice to say that this means I wanted to be able to generate an income from my blog.

Besides all that, it is so much fun thinking of names for your site and the deals the hosting companies offer seem such bargains. I bought my domain and started paying for hosting waaaay too early in the process. There was a lot I could have done before investing.

Hosting – only pay for what you need

Pretty much all the blogs I read seemed to recommend Blue Host. However, after doing my own research at the time, I went with 1&1 IONOS and they have been great.  It is always worth checking out a number of hosting providers and picking the best deal for you.  It is also worth checking for reviews of the services provided as quality of service can change over time.

When you start to set your own blog up, whoever you choose to host your blog, check out their offers and plans. You probably only need to go for the basic level and watch out for lock in type deals. If you find blogging is not for you then you will want to be able to end the commitment.

A lot of the ‘advice’ and ‘secrets’ shared by bloggers suggest hosting plans that have a two-year lock in.  This means that low price you are quoted will need to be paid montly for 24 months or more before you can end the contract.   Not such a low commitment after all!    There is also sometimes a statement on the ‘start a blog’ blogs to the effect that special pricing for hosting is only available through links from someone’s blog. In my experience that has not been true. If you go straight to the hosting company via google the same pricing is often available.

Affiliate Links

Links from blogs do two things…. firstly, for you they are an easy way to find the businesses that can help you set up.  Secondly, they can provide payment to the blogger who publishes the link. These payments are called affiliate payments and range in value from zero through a few pennies but can also be very lucrative for the blogger if someone (like you) follows a link and then makes a purchase. It doesn’t cost you anything more and bloggers usually recommend services that they value themselves.

I am an affiliate for a number of products and businesses but so far (just over two years in) have not had any affiliate income. That said, I have not pushed that side of my blog. My motivation in publishing this blog post is to ‘tell it like it is’ warts and all. I would be delighted to generate some affiliate income but only from people buying products and services they really need, with their eyes open!

WordPress – the best and the worst

Anyway, climbing down from my soap box……So far, so easy but …. so far no blog! The next stage was to upgrade my hosting contract to include WordPress. Again, an easy step and then to download and set up my blog using WordPress. Downloading WordPress is very easy. Setting up my blog using WordPress – not so easy!! WordPress is an amazing tool but NOT EASY!  

In fact this is the point at which it became really hard!! Everyone skips over this bit in their instructions on blog set up but the set-up is NOT straight forward. There are default settings you need to change. Everything is written using terms that make no sense unless you have A LOT of knowledge.   

Getting to grips with WordPress! 

I finally cracked this stage of the process when I found some genuinely free resources. The link below will take you to a vlog about setting up WordPress blogs and I cannot recommend these tutorials highly enough. I hope they continue to be available – at the time of writing they are still there! I found them with a simple but quite specific google search. Here is a link http://imarkinteractive.teachable.com/p/understanding-wordpress

You need to set aside a reasonable amount of time (I am talking a few days) for this education and set up. I also found I needed two screens on the go so that I could work on WordPress on my laptop and watch the tutorial at the same time on an iPad. There is A LOT to learn and to be honest I skimmed a bit and now regret that. I would like to be better at the ‘nuts and bolts’ than I am. Time spent learning would definitely have paid back in saved time later.  

Don’t Expect this to be quick!!

As you work your way through the technical set up you have to make all sorts of decisions on appearance and layout. It becomes a strange mix of technical and creative. I think the guy behind the tutorials also offers a service to create your blog for you and those services are readily available elsewhere. If you are purely creative rather than technical and have the money to spend then paying for set up might be an option you want to consider. I think pricing can be ‘reasonable’ but still not something I could have afforded to do!  

Sticking with the tutorials and technical learning I managed to get through and once you are through this set up stage you do actually have a blog!! Woo hoo!!! Now…. what are you going to say/write?    

I remember getting to this stage and wishing that I had spent time creating more content before getting bogged down with the technical side and starting to pay for hosting! Here is my suggested list in the order I wish I had worked when I started.   Some of these overlap with the free workbook above that will help you decide whether blogging is for you.

8 tips to get you into great shape for blogging BEFORE you spend any money!

  • Decide on the subject you want to blog about.   Wisdom out there says pick a niche and stick to it.   I haven’t been able to do that very well – which could be one of the reasons for my lack of success!   I blog about around at least three different themes – crochet, planners and blogging.  I am not (nor do I claim to be) an expert in any of these.
  • Research other blogs in the areas you have selected.  
  • Make lots of google searches in the areas you have picked and note which blogs come up in the searches – these are your competition. 
  • Work out which key words in google searches return these blogs as the search results.   See if you can find searches in your subject areas that do not return many blogs or other resources.  You will need this list of key words later!

All this and no money invested yet!!…..

  • Next….decide on a name and branding – themes, colours, picture styles.   Write down what your fonts and colour schemes will be
  • Write some content – this could be in Word, in an email, in a notebook at this stage but write as much content as you can.   This will show you whether you are capable of writing consistently in your chosen area.   The more innovative and newer the material you write, the more likely you are to attract visitors to your blog.   The process of typing this into your blog is only a tiny part of the effort required to run a blog.  Coming up with new material on a regular basis is a big and important part and a big factor in determining your success or failure.   As a start point, having four or five quality blog posts ready to go would be a good start.
  • Take photos or use an app like Canva to generate images in the formats used by social media platforms like Facebook and Pinterest.  You will need these to market your blog.
  • Develop a following on the big social media platforms.   Pinterest is amazing for this, Instagram and facebook can also be useful.   I believe Twitter is good but I don’t use that much  at this stage myself so I cannot really comment.   More on this in a later post.

Once you have completed these steps I would say you are in a good place to set up your blog and at that point it would be worth spending on a domain name and hosting.

Still want to be a blogger!!?

As I said at the top of this post Blogging is hard!!!   It is possible though. Along my blogging journey I have found some excellent resources and some genuinely helpful blogs and amazing people.  That said, I am writing this in March 2019 and currently have average page views of around 1,500 and average income of £1.30 per month! Needless to say my outgoings are FAR higher. I am not sure this will ever deliver me an income but I am going to keep going.   

The main reason I am keeping going is that I can see it build. Very slowly but it does build… you can read some of my blog progress updates here. I put out a few updates then life took over and I had a little break. When I came back after three months I found that I was still getting a building number of page views.   This was a major lesson for me. As I said above having content that people want to read is really important!

Ok Blogging is NOT easy but it is SUPER rewarding

Another reason I will keep going is job satisfaction.    I get incredibly excited when I see that people are visiting my blog.   I am completely thrilled when I get a comment from a real person who has read my blog and wants to make contact.    I use Google Adsense to try to monetise my blog and the days when I earn £0.01 are great days.   Days when someone clicks on an advert and I earn a few pence are AMAZING days.  

As I said above I work as an affiliate for a number of businesses that I have used and value highly.  I didn’t include the links above but will include them here so legally I have to include the following text.  Some of the links in this post are affiliate links and if you follow them could generate a small payment to me at no additional cost to yourself.  

Useful tools and apps to help you build your blog

1&1 – for hosting and domain name registration.   Follow the domain name registration link which will take you to a screen where you can test (at no cost) any domain name you can think of and see whether it is available.   Once you have a name you like you can purchase that domain name and leave it there or you can purchase a hosting package with WordPress if you are ready to take that step.

Canva – great for creating images for your blog and for social media.   More on this in a later post but I couldn’t work without Canva.   At the time of writing, they offer a reduced package for free which is as far as I have gone and  also  a free trial of their full application.   My art work lets me down I think so this is maybe something I should be spending more time on but there is so much I can still do without spending so it won’t happen any time soon!

Tailwind – invaluable for promoting your blog.   Again, more on this in a later post.  

long term investment of time pays off

I don’t get very much time to work on my blog.    I get about five hours during the week whilst I am commuting to work and generally get four or five hours at the weekend to focus on new content.   Progress is slow but I have a long long list of things I could be doing or doing better.    I can see that blogging could be a full time job.   Once again the bloggers who tell you that this is easy or that you can make your fortune and imply that you can do this with very little effort, are seriously misleading.    I would not want to put anyone off – if you would like to become a blogger – go for it!!!!  

Here are my final do’s and don’ts

DO NOT

  • overspend on set up (unless you have done everything you can AND can afford to invest).  
  • depend on this to make your fortune unless you make it a full-time job and give it all your focus. 
  • expect it to be easy!!!!    

BUT….. DO

  • connect with like-minded people.  
  • learn from other people’s mistakes and triumphs (do lots of research).  
  • put out good content
  • focus on social media as the means to market your blog.

I am planning two more posts on this theme.   Marketing your blog is not easy and Monetising your blog is not easy…..    till then…..

Happy blogging!

Annie 🙂

Full time working parent who blogs

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Hello and thank you for clicking through to this page. If you are here for a general explore – please scroll on down! 🙂

I have been finding it very rewarding to work on my blog in my spare time, evenings, weekends, holidays, the (very) occasional lunch hour at work. BUT – I also find it difficult with such a huge list of things I know I need to do for my blog and NO TIME to do them.

I have seen lots of groups to support bloggers and I have joined a few of them. It is great to be in a group of people who are supportive and who understand what you are trying to do.

There seem to be a lot of stay home Mums and Dads in the groups. I know what that is like (ie very tough) – I have been there/done that. However, my current challenges are different.

I am looking to understand whether there is any demand for a group of bloggers who share the same challenges…..

I work full time in a job that demands far more than the 9 to 5.
I have a long commute – 5hrs a day (so I do blog work whilst commuting!)
I have children who are doing their exams over the next few years

If you would like an invite to join my group please drop me an email to Annie@stickytapeandstring.co.uk or leave a comment here and if there is enough interest we can get started supporting each other!!

thanks for your time!
Annie 🙂

Blog progress #6

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Hello and welcome to my August update.    Note – this post is focussed on my progress as a blogger – if you are here for the crochet please visit the craft projects section of my  blog!

It feels like I have been able to make some real progress this month as I was on holiday from my full time day job for a week or so.     I will include my stats for August compared to July at the bottom of the post.    But the key headline is that traffic to my site has more than tripled in the month.   Here is how I did it:

Actions taken to drive blog traffic

Write new, relevant content – One post I wrote early in the month grabbed the attention out there on Pinterest and I had two or three very exciting days where traffic to my site increased.   This also had a lasting impact as I acquired new followers on Pinterest.   As I had more time available this month I was able to write a new free pattern which again drove additional traffic to my site.   There are lots of actions you can take to drive traffic but having solid content makes it all so much easier.

I used the power of Pinterest –  I use Tailwind to manage this for me but also pin manually from my daily commute.   I am an affiliate for Tailwind so if you click on links on my blog to explore Tailwind that could generate a small payment to me at no additional cost to you.   However, that is not why I am recommending this tool.   Tailwind is a great way to maintain regular pinning, especially if, like me, you work full time and have to cram all your blogging into the weekends and evenings.    The reason I recommend it is simple.   I could not do without it.

I started with the free version but I now pay for a higher level of membership.    I am a member of five active tribes within Tailwind.     These are groups of people who are pinning in the same interest groups.    I post every new pin I write to the relevant tribe which then means that other tribe members see it and if I am lucky they add it to their scheduled pins.   Some of the members of the tribe have many more followers than I do so if I am lucky and one of my pins is selected by a tribe member with a big following it can really help!

Every Sunday I get my Tailwind schedule loaded up with my own pins and pins from other members of the tribes I belong to.    I can schedule pins for a couple of weeks or more but generally only set up one week at a time.    My Pinterest following is growing steadily.    This drives much of the traffic to my blog, and I am sure that this is in no small part down to Tailwind.

I Got started on Instagram – (with the assistance of my children!).   August was my first month on Instagram.   I found it really easy to find like minded people on this platform.   I also found it much easier to share work in progress quickly.    The format is based more heavily on images and there is no click through option so you only need a photo of your work and a few lines of text.

You need to set up a business account which gives you access to insights and stats on how your posts are doing.    This also enables you to include a link to your blog on your profile page.   You get information on how many profile visits you have had in the last seven days.   Those are important because those visits have been to the page that has your blog link and could have driven traffic.

You get an immediate response when you put new material up which is lovely and you can ask for views/opinions which can be helpful.     I haven’t explored the ‘story’ side of Instagram yet.   It is on my do list because I understand you can set up links to your blog from your story.    I can see my blog traffic increase when I gain new followers and put up new content.

Invested more time in Facebook – I had a Facebook account but hadn’t really had chance to use it.    This month I started to get involved in blogger support groups.   If you search for groups in your niche to join on Facebook they will all have their own set of rules you need to follow.   Find groups that fit your needs that have rules you can buy into and put in an application.   It really is worth while spending time on this.   There is so much support and help out there and you will find you can help others too which keeps it all going.     I started working on Facebook late in the month so didn’t see much impact as of yet.   I plan to spend a lot more time on Facebook in September.


So that has been my month!   Here is the impact.

Blog Progress Report – August 18

  • Pinterest followers – 770 (up 67 this month
  • Instagram followers – 313 (up 313 this month!)
  • AdSense clicks – 11 (up 5 this month)
  • AdSense income to date – £1.59 (down £0.23 this month after one really well paid click in July!)
  • Amazon affiliate income – 0
  • Shareasale income – 0    (Tailwind affiliate links)
  • Subscribers – 14 (an increase of 11 :-))
  • Etsy listings – 10
  • Etsy sales – 0
  • Page views – 2,178 (up 1,588 this month!)

I am delighted with progress but worried that it has been a blip that will be hard to maintain…. tune in next month to find out.    Happy blogging!

Annie 🙂

Blog progress #5

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Hello and welcome to my (definitely not weekly) update!     The last time I posted on progress with my blog was mid June.   Since then my day job took over and I haven’t really been able to put out new content.    I have been finding ways to spend what bit of time I had profitably though.   This post covers what I have learned.   At the bottom of the post I will share my progress for July 18 and going forward I plan to share monthly.   Please note – this is an update on the process of running and developing my blog rather than on the crochet side.    For crochet updates and patterns – please check out the craft projects area of my blog! 🙂

How to keep up blog progress when you have NO time!   10 ideas below.

It takes a long time to craft a blog post.   At least, it takes ME a long time to craft a blog post.   Maybe some of you have them tripping off your fingers and all the technical tweaks and twiddles just glide through in your world….. mine is more of a struggle.    Write, read back, edit, read back, scrap and start again, write, read back repeat….  then once I have a post I am more or less happy with…. time spent fighting with the idiosyncrasies of the technical side to post and promote the work.   I could go on – but basically I need a good few hours of clear time to be able to put up a post.    Usually this is a weekend task but there are times when my weekends are just too full.    I have the odd fifteen minutes here and there but no solid block of time.    The list below covers what I have found to be the best uses of these short bursts of time.    These are also the things I do when I am out of inspiration for a new blog post.


Brainstorm ideas for future posts.   You can do this whenever, wherever – as long as it is safe to let your mind wander.  Always carry a notebook!

Take photographs.   Keep an eye out for useful shots.  It doesn’t matter if they are not perfect – you can always crop them and focus on just a small element of a larger shot.   They could give you ideas for a future, more professional shot.

Keep up on social media.   Do you promote your blog on all social media sites?   Does one work better for you than others?  If you are travelling or have a short break in your day.   Make sure you are set up to use social media on your phone and put in any time you have building your network and engaging with your potential audience.

Keep on top of email and comments.   It doesn’t take long to respond to individual emails or comments.   However, if you let them build up it can feel like a big task.  It should be fun/exciting when you get contact from your followers.   Feedback is also a potential generator of ideas for posts so again – keep your notebook handy!

Read other blogs in your niche area and consider what appeals to you.   What works well and why?   What can you learn and apply to your own blog?

Contact other bloggers in your niche area or related subjects and give them support.  I don’t know about you but I am soooo thrilled when someone contacts me with supportive or constructive comments.   I don’t do enough of that but plan to do more!   It only takes a minute or two to leave a comment.

Reschedule Pins on Pinterest that you do not feel have had as much success as they could have had or reschedule Pins that were very successful first time round.   I use Tailwind for this.  I think you can use it for Instagram too but I am only a beginner on Instagram and haven’t yet linked my account to Tailwind.   When you reschedule old Pins make sure the links back to your blog are working!   Please note – these links are affiliates link so if you do click through to the Tailwind site it could generate a small income for me at no additional cost to you.   However, Please note, I am recommending Tailwind because I really rate it!

Develop more content in your niche – for me this means designing crochet items or producing crochet.   Working on existing projects is something I can do when I am too tired to think so it works well when I am busy.

Re-read your own blog (critically).   Blogs build over time and it is easy to forget what you have posted previously.    If you re-read it can help generate new ideas or you might find that there are posts that need a small edit to be brought up to date.   Make sure all the old links are working.   I often find I am reading old articles on other people’s blogs and they are normally still relevant but sometimes the links are no longer working.

Sketch out a draft post.   If you don’t have time to write a post but you do have an idea albeit very high level, get it down on paper or capture it on your device.   This could be in a note app or in the wordpress editor as a draft post.   It is much easier to flesh out an idea that is already written down.  At least – that is my experience!

Those are my 10 ideas.    I hope you find them helpful and that you find the time you need to work on your blog soon.

Finally – here is my status report.   Showing progress in July

  • Pinterest followers – 702
  • AdSense income to date – £1.82   (up £1.70 this month)
  • Amazon affiliate income – 0
  • Shareasale income – 0
  • Subscribers – 3 (myself, my son and MY FIRST actual subscriber – woo hoo!)
  • Etsy listings – 10
  • Etsy sales – 0
  • Page views  – 590 (up 170 this month)

Still a long way to go 🙂  Happy blogging!

Annie.

blog progress #4

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Hello and welcome to my fourth weekly update.   This week is different for two reasons.   Firstly I realised that this is an anniversary of sorts – I set up my blog around a year ago.   Secondly I have decided to split the blog progress updates from the crochet blog because I am not sure whether all readers would want to see both.

The realisation that I have been working at this in my spare time for a little over a year now surprised me.   It feels like I have only really been working on this for a couple of months.   I didn’t put much time into it at first and I didn’t set myself any goals when I started.   Big mistake.    Everything feels a lot more focussed now and in the last two months I have started to make real progress.

My top tips from a year of blogging.

1.  GET STARTED

I spent so long dreaming about starting a blog; talking about starting a blog; reading the work of other people who were starting a blog….  you get the idea.   I spent so long doing everything BUT start this blog.   It can all feel a bit daunting at first but it is like all large tasks, you make a start and chip away at it and before you know it you have a blog!   One thing is certain, if you don’t start, you will never have a blog.   The first step I recommend is get yourself a domain.   I use 1&1.  Many people recommend Blue Host.   If you want real ownership of your content and flexibility to monetise your blog one day it is better to host it on your own domain.   The link below will take you to 1&1 where you can have fun checking out potential names for your blog.   1&1 have very low pricing for starter packages.   At the time of writing these start at £0.99 per month for the first year, £4.99 per month thereafter.  You probably won’t need more than a starter package – if you do that would mean your blog had really taken off and would be a nice problem to have!!   Don’t let anything hold you back – make a start today and get your blog off the ground.

2.  WORDPRESS

WordPress is a really easy way to get your blog up and running and it is free.    1&1 offer a download which takes minutes to load.   I paid for a ‘theme’ when I started because I read that some of the free themes do not allow you to set up advertising.  Here is a link to one of my first posts from last year  where I went into more detail on setting up your blog and included a link to the free tutorials that helped me get started.   The more you work with WordPress the easier it gets so again my recommendation is JUST GET STARTED!!

3.  MONETISE straight away but don’t stress if nothing much happens!

I waited until the last few months to get started with monetising my blog but there is no reason to wait.   Many of the affiliate schemes out there and advertising plans accept newbies.   I am a member of the 1&1 affiliate programme as you can see from the link above.   This has not brought me any income so far but it could do – at no additional cost to my readers.

I also use Google AdSense which is great fun if only for the trackers that show how many page views and clicks your site has gained.   See my status report at the bottom of this post.

My final recommendation is to join Shareasale through which you can apply for links for products and services you want to recommend.   There is no charge to you for this. When readers of your blog click on these links you will earn a small income at no additional cost to your reader – everybody wins!   Join shareasale.com, Earn Cash!

4.  USE SOCIAL MEDIA

Use social media to build up a following which will then drive traffic to your blog.   Whatever your niche build up a profile in that subject area.   This year I have used Pinterest mainly.   There is a huge amount of help and advice out there on Pinterest and facebook in particular where you can also link up with other bloggers who help and share in your progress.   I have found Pinterest to be a quick way to build a following.  Facebook seems to require more work and I haven’t really used very much as yet.    Twitter and Instagram also help drive traffic  but again need more time spending on them.   These are on my list for this coming year.

5.  PUT OUT CONTENT REGULARLY

I have had the most success when I have put out content on my blog weekly or bi weekly.   With Pinterest I have gained the most followers when I have pinned around 20 times per day.    My pins are partly my own content but also quality content that I have found on Pinterest.   Pinning takes time and to be effective needs to be spaced through the week.

I use Tailwind to schedule my own pins and pins from my Tailwind tribes.   This allows me to put in a couple of  hours on my blog at the weekend and benefit all through the week when I am busy with my day job!  Using Tailwind has enabled me to build my Pinterest following quickly.

Tailwind tribes are genuis – they allow you to find like minded bloggers and make connections that give you the chance to promote their work whilst showing them your posts and gaining help from them.

I am a member of the Tailwind affiliate programme but have not yet earned any income.   Tailwind is free to use at entry level but I have now upgraded to a paid service.   I simply couldn’t run my blog without Tailwind as I am so pushed for time during the week.

The other recommendations I have read up on but cannot claim to have experience of yet are as follows:

  • Build a mailing list – I just set mine up so will report when I know more
  • Guest post on other blogs – I received my first invitation to do this and I plan to take that up when I have some really good content to share
  • Build your network – comment on other blogs and follow like minded bloggers.   This is very much in my plan for the coming year.There is so much you can do when you have a blog, so many strategies to try.   It doesn’t have to take up all your time though.   To repeat myself (again) – my heartfelt recommendation is to give it a go – just get started.   I have had so much fun doing this this year and I am looking forward to a successful second year.


    Finally – here is my status report.   Showing progress in the last seven days:

    • Pinterest followers – 602  (up 27 this week)
    • AdSense income to date – 40p   (up 8p this week)
    • Subscribers – 1 (me – it was a test)
    • Etsy listings – 10
    • Etsy sales – 0
    • Page views last seven days – 61 (up 27 this week)

My focus this last week was on Pinterest board descriptions and I have increased my following more rapidly so it could be that that has been paying off.    Next week I plan to work on my group board applications.    That’s all from me.  More next week.

Happy blogging!

Annie 🙂