Q: What is On Page SEO

On Page SEO: Working on your on page SEO means you’re structuring your blog posts correctly to provide a good user experience. This includes using H2 and H3 headings, bullet points where applicable and easy to read paragraphs. You can see more tips for on page SEO here.

Q: What are Backlinks?

Backlinks: These are links from other websites that link to your blog. When a high authority site, for example Forbes.com , links to your blog post, it sends Google a signal that your content is valuable. The more backlinks you get from larger sites, the more authoritative your blog becomes and the higher your blog posts will rank.

Q: What are Long Tail Keywords?

Long Tail Keywords: This is the phrase you’re targeting to rank for on Google. The reason you’re going after long tail keywords is because the competition is a bit lower. It’s easier to rank for “how to lose weight after pregnancy” than it is to rank for the shorter term “how to lose weight.” Keyword research is a bit of an art. You’re looking for keywords that you’re knowledgeable about, that you’re able to rank for and that have a decent monthly search volume. In the equation above I didn’t use “low competition” because if you’ve already blogged for a while, you may be able to rank for more competitive words. If you’re just starting your blog, look for low competition keywords. I also didn’t state to only go after high monthly search volume words. If you’re writing a post dedicated to promoting an affiliate product, you can go for lower monthly search volume words. Because if you do have an affiliate blog post that ranks high, your conversions will be better. For example, this mom blogger made almost $1,000 per month just from Amazon’s affiliate program because her blog post reviewing baby play mats ranked number one. Lastly, you want to write a blog post on a keyword that you’re knowledgable about. Most blog posts that rank in the #1 spot are over 2,000 words long. So make sure you have advice and new tips to share on the topic you’re targeting.

Q: Why should you start a blog?

You can Make Money Help out financially while staying at home! After hard work, many mommy bloggers make $2K-$10K a month. You get Adult Interaction Crave adult interaction? Blogging allows you to connect with other amazing moms, build friendships and support each other. It's a great Creative Outlet Blogging is a great creative outlet. Use your passion or your degree in a new creative way online! You can have a Global Impact I can't tell you the number of times I've gotten comments or emails from moms across the world thanking me for changing their life. Even if in just a little way, you can make the world a better place through blogging!

Question 1

What is On Page SEO

Accepted Answer

On Page SEO: Working on your on page SEO means you’re structuring your blog posts correctly to provide a good user experience. This includes using H2 and H3 headings, bullet points where applicable and easy to read paragraphs. You can see more tips for on page SEO here.

Question 2

What are Backlinks?

Accepted Answer

Backlinks: These are links from other websites that link to your blog. When a high authority site, for example Forbes.com, links to your blog post, it sends Google a signal that your content is valuable. The more backlinks you get from larger sites, the more authoritative your blog becomes and the higher your blog posts will rank.

Question 3

What are Long Tail Keywords?

Accepted Answer

Long Tail Keywords: This is the phrase you’re targeting to rank for on Google. The reason you’re going after long tail keywords is because the competition is a bit lower. It’s easier to rank for “how to lose weight after pregnancy” than it is to rank for the shorter term “how to lose weight.”

Keyword research is a bit of an art. You’re looking for keywords that you’re knowledgeable about, that you’re able to rank for and that have a decent monthly search volume.

In the equation above I didn’t use “low competition” because if you’ve already blogged for a while, you may be able to rank for more competitive words. If you’re just starting your blog, look for low competition keywords.

I also didn’t state to only go after high monthly search volume words. If you’re writing a post dedicated to promoting an affiliate product, you can go for lower monthly search volume words. Because if you do have an affiliate blog post that ranks high, your conversions will be better.

For example, this mom blogger made almost $1,000 per month just from Amazon’s affiliate program because her blog post reviewing baby play mats ranked number one.

Lastly, you want to write a blog post on a keyword that you’re knowledgable about. Most blog posts that rank in the #1 spot are over 2,000 words long. So make sure you have advice and new tips to share on the topic you’re targeting.

Question 4

How Much Does it Cost to Start a Blog?

Accepted Answer

Blogging is hands down one of the most inexpensive side hustles to start. Basically, all you need is a website and a good internet connection. Of course you can get fancy and pay for an expensive theme and logo, use super advanced tools or pay $5,000 for someone to design your website for you. But really, you don’t need any of that when you’re just staring.

The only expense you have to pay for when you’re just starting a blog is a good host. A host is a company that manages the servers (computers) to store all of your blog files (pictures, posts, etc) and makes them available online. In short, it’s a computer that’s always connected to the internet. And on this computer, aka server, lives your blog files.

To host your files on this computer that’s always on and connected to the internet, costs less than a cup of Starbucks coffee per month. For less than $3 per month, you can have a blog that is accessible by the entire world!

Starting a brick and mortar store would cost thousands per month in just rent alone, and you’ll only have access to the hundred or so people that walk by your store each day.

The essential tools you need to start a blog:

Good Host – less than $5 per month
Internet Connection
Dedication

Fancy tools you can get later as your blog grows:

Professional Theme ($50 – $250)
Email Marketing ($10+ per month)
Shopping Cart ($9+ per month)
Online Course Hosting ($30+ per month)
Membership ($10+ per month)
Premium Plugins

You can grow a money making blog without fancy tools. With the essential tools I listed above, you can easily grow your blog to $1,000 per month and then look into more advanced tools when you’re ready.

Question 5

Examples of Successful Blogs

Accepted Answer

<ul><li><a href="https://startamomblog.com/what-is-a-lifestyle-blog/">Lifestyle Blogs</a></li><li><a href="https://startamomblog.com/blogs-for-women/">Blogs for Women</a></li><li><a href="https://startamomblog.com/start-art-blog/">Art Blog</a></li><li><a href="https://startamomblog.com/how-to-make-money-with-a-photography-blog/">Photography Blog</a></li><li><a href="https://startamomblog.com/make-money-mom-fitness-blog/">Fitness Blog</a></li><li><a href="https://startamomblog.com/kids-activity-blogs/">Kids Activity Blog</a></li><li><a href="https://startamomblog.com/how-to-start-make-money-with-kids-activity-blog/">Kids Craft Blog</a></li><li><a href="https://startamomblog.com/homeschool-blog/">Homeschooling Blog</a></li><li><a href="https://startamomblog.com/blog-make-money-direct-sales-business/">Direct Sales Blog</a></li><li><a href="https://startamomblog.com/how-to-make-money-with-a-mom-fashion-blog/">Fashion Blog</a></li><li><a href="https://startamomblog.com/how-to-make-money-as-a-stay-at-home-mom-ideas/">Ideas to Make Money as a Stay at Home Mom</a></li></ul>

Question 6

Why should you start a blog?

Accepted Answer

You can Make Money

Help out financially while staying at home! After hard work, many mommy bloggers make $2K-$10K a month.

You get Adult Interaction

Crave adult interaction? Blogging allows you to connect with other amazing moms, build friendships and support each other.

It's a great Creative Outlet

Blogging is a great creative outlet. Use your passion or your degree in a new creative way online!

You can have a Global Impact

I can't tell you the number of times I've gotten comments or emails from moms across the world thanking me for changing their life. Even if in just a little way, you can make the world a better place through blogging!

Question 7

Can blogging help to grow an email list?

Accepted Answer

One of the biggest benefits of starting a blog is that it will help you grow your email list. And once you have a solid email list, you can skyrocket your income!

A blog will help you showcase your knowledge and share advice with your audience. You can direct your readers to landing pages, enable pop ups or have a clear call to action to your free offer.

They’ll exchange their email address for your free course, template, checklist or audio book. There are so many ways to grow your email list.

I recommend both Convertkit and Mailerlite to grow your email list. You can try out Convertkit for free here and learn more about how to use the tools in my List by Number course.

Question 8

What types of businesses need a blog?

Accepted Answer

A blog can help you grow your income in any business. Blogging can help you bring in new customers, build your brand and improve the trust readers have in your products.

Here are business ideas that can all benefit from having a blog.

Question 9

Common Blogging Vocabulary and Definitions

Accepted Answer

Is the blogging world confusing? Let me break it down into super simple terms and think of your blogging world like your own home.

Blog – Your own little corner of the internet. It’s your website where you will be able to write articles and share your expertise, connect with readers, and make money through advertisements and many other methods. Think of it like your home. It’s your own personal community. You can have friends over, you can share your knowledge, and you can pretty much do whatever you want!

Web Host – Your web host is the company that actually stores all the pictures, text, and other bits of code that run your website. It’s your own little hard drive in the sky. When people go to your website, they are connecting to your web host to actually see and read all the content on your blog. Think of your web host as your landlord. You pay rent to them every month so that you have a home.

Domain Name – Your domain name is your street address on the internet. It’s how people know how to find you. Could you imagine if we didn’t have addresses for our homes!? What a mess that would be.

Theme – Your theme is the basic structure of your website. It controls how your fonts look and it keeps the entire website held together. It’s basically the foundation of your home that you can build all your content on top of.

Pages – Your blog is made up of pages and posts. Pages are generally the more static pieces of content that are built up once and are referenced constantly by your viewers. Examples of this are:

Your “Home” page
Your “About Me” page
Your “Start Here” page
Your “Resources” page

These tend to be the pages that you will find on the top menu of websites. I like to think of them as the load bearing walls of the house. They are important in pulling the home all together!

Blog Posts – Posts are generally the one-off articles that you write to share your thoughts and advice with the world. Unlike pages, posts are meant to be read in succession – so you will often find posts linking to one another, and having a list of “related posts” at the bottom of the site that try to keep your visitors on your site and engaged.

I think of these as the interior walls of the home – they are important at creating flow and organization in the home, but you can always edit them / change them / add more. You have a lot of flexibility with your posts.

Plugins – Plugins are little power-ups that you can add to your website. Want to put a button that prompts people to share your post on Twitter? There’s a plugin for that! Want to make money by selling printables directly from your blog? There’s a plugin for that too!

I think of plugins like furniture and little doo-dads around the house. They all serve a specific purpose, and you can put them in and take them out as your needs change over time.

Traffic – Traffic is how many people stumble across your site. Traffic is the lifeblood of any online business (really, any business at all!). Traffic can come from a few main sources:

Social Media. When you write a new post and share it with your friends in a Facebook group, you’re getting traffic from social media.
Search Engines. What does the term “googling” something mean? It’s when you search the internet to find an answer to your problem. When you write the perfect post that answers someone’s question, you’ll get traffic from Google over time!
Email list. Over time you will build a close community with your subscribers. These are people who like your stuff so much they want to hear from you in their email inbox (a very personal place!). Every week or so, check in to say hi! And share your latest blog posts with them.

WordPress.org vs WordPress.com – This one confuses a ton of people and I totally understand! Basically, there are 2 ways to use the WordPress platform. WordPress.org is called “self-hosted.” That means you have complete control over what you do to your website. You can put advertisements on it to sell products, you can collect email addresses to build your audience… you can basically do anything you want in order to grow your business online. I like to think of it as living out in a rural area that doesn’t have any homeowner’s association with strict regulations on what you do in your home or in your front yard. You’re in the driver’s seat.

WordPress.com is a “hosted” solution. Basically, you live in their HOA, you have to play by their rules. This means you can’t put ads up on your site (they actually put ads on YOUR site and THEY make money… oh goodness!). You also have a very limited selection of themes and plugins to customize your site (white picket fence anyone?).

The bottom line between these two platforms is this: If you want to build a business online, you need to get on WordPress.org. If you just want to share your thoughts in an online diary and you don’t plan on turning it into a business, wordpress.com should be fine.

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