Profitable Mommy Blogging

My final assignment as an intern here at Profitable Mommy Blogging is to write about The Best ___ Ever!  I have thought and thought about what I wanted to share with you.

After much consideration, I have settled on “How to Create the Best Blog Ever!”  An alternate title could be “What I learned during my 10 week internship at Profitable Mommy Blogging with Kelly McCausey” but that just doesn’t have the same kind of ring to it, does it?

When my internship with Kelly McCausey began I had been blogging for about 1.5 years.  I had written hundreds of posts on a variety of topics- mainly related to managing my home and family.  I had a basic knowledge and understanding of blogging but, I wanted to learn more!

Here are a few things I learned in the last 10 weeks:

Create a blog around a topic you are passionate enough about to read, write, eat, sleep and breathe.

Passion is the key ingredient that separates effective bloggers from those who fizzle out.  It’s what attracts us as blog readers and sets us apart as blog writers.

I am passionate about home and family (that’s us to the right).  I love to share stories, ideas, products, tips & tricks about managing my home and family. If you aren’t sure what you are passionate about, read and work through LaTara’s 5 steps to determine a woman’s passion.  Passion about your topic is essential for long term success!

Publish a blog post every single day of the week.

Whether you use an editoral calendar or just wing it, having fresh content every day is vital to build your readership!  If nothing new has been published then readers aren’t going to come to your blog.

This doesn’t mean you have to write every day.  Just post every day.  With small children in my home writing daily is difficult for me.  That’s why I LOVE the schedule and draft features on my blog. They allow me to write posts as I have time and publish them later.

Utilize a variety of writing styles for your posts.

My favorite writing style is narrative.  I enjoy telling the stories of my family’s activities, but narratives all the time can get boring.  Variety keeps readers interested so consider using a list, narrative, an interview, a cross-blog conversation, or link love to change up the flow of your blog.

Use WordPress and pay to have your blog hosted.

My personal blog is on Blogger because, well… it’s free.  And I am all about free!  But after 10 weeks of using WordPress here at Profitable Mommy Blogging I am a WP convert!!

Uploading and postioning graphics is easier.  Plug-ins make a blog more personal and useful.  AND I can write my posts in Google Docs, including links and formatting, then copy it into WordPress without losing anything.  You CANNOT do that with Blogger!

Be social!

Networking brings readers to your blog.  Be active on Twitter (follow me as stephmommybrain).  Join communities like Mom Bloggers Club and Twitter Moms.  Read and comment on blogs both in your niche and out; also bigger, smaller and the same size as your blog.

Respond to your reader’s comments by email and in the comment section.  Participate in memes and carnivals. Building relationships with readers keeps them coming back.

Include affiliate links to products you believe in.

Moms love hearing about products from a friend so why not include product recommendations on your blog?  By using affiliate links your readers (and friends) can learn about great products and you can earn some money.  Just be sure you read the find print when signing up to be an affiliate!

Have fun!

Give yourself a Hot Mama Makeover and then blog about it.  Wear a cute t-shirt about blogging.  Attend a blogging conference or meet-up.  Blogging can be a great source of income but when it gets to be more work than fun consider taking a little break before you burn out and lose your passion!

Those are just a FEW of the things I’ve learned during the last 10 weeks thanks to Kelly McCausey.  Now that the internship is over, I’ll be using these ideas to create the best blog ever!

What do you do to create the best blog ever?