I am excited to announce a new series here on blog ambitions: the New Blog.
A few months ago, you might have noticed me advertising for a person who wanted to start a blog that hadn’t launched. I interviewed several people who wanted to start blogging. I had them submit an example post and did Skype interviews with the final contestants. It was fun to see all of the ideas different people have for their blogs.
It was actually hard to decide on one blogger to work with, but have been so happy with my choice.
I have partnered with a brand new blogger to show you what it is like to start, build, and grow a blog. Every month I will be reporting on the New Blog’s progress and sharing the blogging strategies we implemented during the month.
Why the New Blog?
While I have a lot of tutorials for seasoned bloggers, many of my posts are geared towards helping new bloggers get started blogging and become better bloggers.
A lot of new bloggers (and even long time bloggers) wonder:
Can you be a successful blogger in the first year?
Does it really take a long time to get blog traffic?
Can you really make money blogging? Or is it just a big hoax?
I think that you can.
I want to help you share your ideas and expertise with the online world and profit monetarily for doing it (because while helping people and following your passion is nice, it’s even better to earn something for all of your time and energy.)
Follow the New Blog and put the things we do with the experiment into action on your blog!
The New Blog went live this Monday, with a good number of followers and a great first day of traffic! (we’re talking in the hundreds – you’ll see at the bottom of the post.)
About the New Blog
The New Blog is going to remain anonymous because I want all of the traffic to the blog to be “organic” (side fact: i dislike that word). Here is what I will tell you about the blog and blogger:
- It is a healthy lifestyle blog: posting recipes, workouts, and other well-being related posts.
- The blogger has never blogged before
- The blog’s platform is self-hosted WordPress
- The blog is using the Genesis framework + Restored316 theme
- The blogger plans on publishing new content 2-3 times a week
- The blogger will work on the blog for about 15-20 hours a week.
Goals for the New Blog
- Have a social media following and newsletter list before going “live”
- Steadily grow traffic and following without plateauing.
- Earn at least $2,000/month by the end of one year (working only part time on the blog)
What would you like to see the New Blog accomplish in the first year of blogging?
What we did the first month
These are the actions we took on the blog from July 10th – August 10th. The New Blog went live on August 10th.
- Completed the 19 steps outlined in my How to Start a Blog series.
- Researched blogs within her niche and blogs that complimented her niche.
- Had a profile picture taken for social media accounts, blog sidebar, and about page.
- Wrote a brief coming soon statement + what readers can expect to see on the blog.
- Created a coming soon landing page to collect so that she could:
- Work on building a social media presence and newsletter list .
- Set up the theme and customized the colors.
- Completed 2 weeks worth of posts. These posts are formatted in WordPress and ready to go. The first month of blogging is hard, because you spend so much of your time promoting yourself. We felt it was important for her to have a good start on blog posts. This way she can focus on promoting the blog and have time to come up with new content without feeling rushed to publish something.
Traffic and Follower Report
We set up the coming soon landing page on July 21st and started promoting and tracking on July 22nd. From July 22nd – August 10th only the coming soon page was visible. It included her coming soon statement, an email list opt-in and links to social media accounts. During that time she had 515 visits (sessions).
Traffic Report
Social Media Followers before going live.
- Twitter – 111
- Pinterest – 541
- Facebook – 266
- Instagram – 200
- Bloglovin – 0
- Newsletter Subscribers – 122
Income and Expense Report
- BlueHost – $59.40 for 1 year of hosting – did you know that blog ambitions readers get an additional discount off already reduced prices? All you have to do is click on this link.
- Genesis Framework – $59.95
- Restored316 Designs theme – $50.00
Total Expenses: 169.35
No income to report yet.
Day 1 – Launch day.
At the end of day one, I got an email from the blogger that said this:
“I feel like a hustler. I really don’t even know what that means but I just feel like all day I’m just promoting, pinning, commenting, sharing, etc etc. LOL!”
Yep. That about sums it up.
Here is what the first day looked like
- The blog went live with 2 posts: a welcome/introduction and one post within her category.
- An introductory newsletter went out announcing that the site was live and thanking everyone for following her in her new blogging adventure.
- The blogger participated in relevant link parties to promote the post
- The blogger participated in Pinterest and commenting threads in Facebook blogging groups to help her posts get more exposure.
- The blogger shared her posts on all social media accounts. You’ve probably seen my famous graphic. It’s true. You can’t just build it and people will come. You’ve got to like it, pin it, share it, tweet it, etc… and then they will come.
Traffic for the first day
How many visits did you have the day you went live? I did not follow my own advice when I went live with this blog. I had 6.
Takeaways to apply to your blog.
- Facebook is still alive! The blogger has been very successful with Facebook. Yes, it is hard to show up in the feed, but a lot of people still use Facebook – making it a valuable platform to focus on.
- Let your friends and family members support you in your blogging adventure. A lot of people are hesitant to tell their friends and family members about their blog. They don’t want to be judged or the don’t want to seem too pushy, but the truth is they can really help jump start your blog traction. Tell them about how excited you are about your blog and they’ll be excited for you too. The more people that share your blog, the better.
- Commenting on blogs really does help you build relationships and get traffic to your blog. I’ll go into this in more detail on my post about how to have traffic and followers before going live with your blog, but a large portion of the blog’s traffic has come from commenting on other blogs.
I will be sharing the New Blog’s traffic and income reports every month. Check back next month to see how the first month of blogging goes!
What do you think of the New Blog experiment? Do you think we can accomplish our goals? What else would you like to see a new blog accomplish in the first year of blogging?
UPDATE: The new blog series is finished and going on two years! Read the entire series here:
Launching the New blog (you’re reading this post)
Month 1
Month 2
Month 3
Month 4-6
Month 6-12
First year blogging
Two years later, from new blogger to full time blogger
Hi Kristie!
I recently found your blog through your Facebook Live with Suzi from Start a Mom Blog. I loved it – it was very reassuring that I was doing all the right things with Pinterest.
Anyway, I’m curious about the 19 steps you mentioned in this post. I followed the link but the post only outlines 4? Is there something I’m missing?
Either way, I love this idea of a complete journey of a new blog. I have already read through several of them.
Thanks!
Hi Jeanette! I’m glad you liked the FB live with Suzi and that you’re doing well on Pinterest. I’ve moved the steps to an email opt-in since posting this article and increased it to 26 things you need to do when starting a blog.
What a cool experiment! It was very interesting to see the progress of the new blog.
I have a couple of questions I was wondering if you can offer any advice:
– You mention above “Work on building a social media presence and newsletter list – tutorial on how we accomplished this coming soon!” Where is the tutorial? Can you provide examples on types of posts/promotions used?
– What are “relevant link parties” to promote the post?
Thanks!
Hi I just stumbled upon your blog and wish I found this 5 months ago when I launched my blog with no Facebook presence. Just Pinterest. Since then I signed up for Facebook and some groups. My blog is about cake decorating. It’s still not getting the traffic I would like but I am working on it.
It was very good for me to read about the success of the new blog and see that everyone feels this way the first year. Keep doing what you do. By the way I never leave comments on websites but I felt like this warranted one.
Thank you for leaving a comment! Pinterest is a good place to start for a cake decorating blog. 🙂 The graphic you made for your Elmo cake is great! I would suggest that you make all of your pictures inside your posts full width. It will look nicer and easier for people to follow your tutorials. Hang in there, blogging is a long term game. You got this!
Thank you so much Kristie.
I am definitely going to make those changes. This means so much to me. Your website is wealth of information. Your comments with tips to improve has given me the extra push I needed to keep on going. Once again thank you.
Yay! I think you’ll notice a really big difference in your posts when your pictures are full width. (looks like full width for you is 703 pixels wide) You got this. 🙂
Kristie
You’re awesome. I made the changes you suggested to my new posts and they look much better. The older ones I’ll change in the next couple of weeks. What huge difference. Thank you so much.
I AM SO HAPPY that I came across your blog! I started working on a new blog and was all set to launch it on July 1st, but after reading this article..I will hold off for one month to follow your steps. Thank you for sharing
Yay! You will be so much happier with your new blog if you have some people reading it when you go live. I know it’s hard waiting to launch, but it will be worth. Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks for subscribing for the start a blog checklist! How is it going?
Hi, Kristie-
I am looking for some information on how to build the email list and social media following before going live.
I am just beginning (not live yet) and I am also using Genesis and a Restored315 design theme. I’ve started my Instagram and Twitter accounts just to get things rolling and to become familiar with the programs, but I thought the email list is built when the visitors subscribe from Facebook or the website. Please feel free to send me to one of your posts explaining this. Thanks so much, Rose at ‘Sock Box 10’.
Hi Rose. Facebook, twitter, and instagram are all tools you can use to market your blog and your email list. You will need to set up an account with a provider like MailChimp to collect emails and then send out emails. You can check out my post on how to set up mailchimp and then this post for creating your first list. Once you have that set up, use your social media accounts to advertise you blog. Read this post for tips on getting subscribers before you go live.
Good luck!
I am so happy you sent me an email about the 3rd month of this blog. I had no idea this was even going on. I was excited to jump back to month one, and learn and read as I go. I just wanted to say thanks! Love this. I currently blog on wordpress.com but hoping to launch my own .com very soon 🙂 This is perfect timing!
I’m so excited to follow along with this series. I am in the process of trying to start a blog and have already found so many of your tutorials helpful! Can’t wait to hear about the New Blog!
Hopefully these strategies work for your blog launch too! What do you plan on blogging about Stacy?
I’m so anxious to continue with this series. You MUST post more than once a month. That is a long time to wait for the information. ( I understand the stats are monthly) I hope you will cover how to establish the social media channels. Especially how to start collecting the emails before going live. I’ve struggled with this for awhile now.
You have inspired me to move forward with the launching of my blog. Thank you from all of the newbies waiting to hear how this site progresses. You are appreciated.
Here it is Karen, the post detailing how to get followers before your publish your first post. Hope it helps you gain followers for your own blog.
This was so darn helpful to read already. I’m definitely going to be following this new bloggers journey and attempting to mimic. I’m a baby blogger as well and I’m trying to self teach as much as I can. Thanks so much for sharing!!!
Chelsea
You’re doing great as a baby blogger, I love your site and blog’s focus. I need all the mommy help I can get!
What would you like to see the new blog accomplish this year?
What a great idea Kristie! It’s amazing the progress this blogger made before ever even launching. I’m wondering how on earth they received so much traffic on their first day. That’s pretty impressive. If they keep hustling like this, they’ll definitely be making $2000/mo by the 1 year mark!
I’m working on the finishing touches for the follow up article on “how” she got that much traffic on day 1! Will let you know when it goes live.
Wow! How exciting…I must admit, I’m a teeny bit jealous as I’ve been pouring my heart out since relaunching my blog (been blogging 3 yrs) and haven’t gotten stats like that. Keep up the great work and I can’t wait to see what works and doesn’t work for the newbie! Thank you!
What an awesome head start she already has! I was thinking of starting another blog so I will be following this closely.
I repinned a recipe pin and it got hundreds of repins that I am privy to even though it is not my pin. If that is any indication, a recipe blog will do very well. Too bad that I can’t cook nor take adequate photos. Lol.
So excited to follow this…this is one lucky blogger having you on her side 🙂
Thanks Deonna. I’ve got your back too! Seriously. Email me.
Way cool Kristie! Blog commenting is alive and well….and if I ever STOP writing and publishing an eBook daily – 127 books on Amazon now 😉 – I’ll return to hardcore blog commenting. For now way too busy writing to comment freely but I still pop in to keep my bonds strong and to spread the word. Love this idea and I love the stress on Facebook traffic too.
Thanks for sharing!
Ryan
Ryan, that number of eBooks is CRAZY! I’m still working on my first one and it is not as close to being done as I want it to be.
I was actually just reading an article the other day that referenced you and said that you built your business on blog commenting. I can’t remember where now though.
I put massive work into the launch of my last blog (it was not my first) and I am launching a new blog soon and there are some things here I need to do that I didn’t do before…especially collecting emails & building social media before the actual launch! Great post!
That’s awesome that you’re launching another blog soon Jill, you’ll have to check out how to get followers post (although, it will help significantly that you already have such a loyal following on other blogs!)
Wonderful idea for following a new blogger and see how/why it progresses. Please make sure to mark the post for following this so we will know it is in the series. Love your blog. Tell that baby to hold on just a little longer. We need your follow-up post. Getting ready to launch a blog so this is very timely.
I will make sure to mark the posts for you. You know I’m a big fan of categorizing and tagging. The post on how to get followers should go live this week! Can’t wait to see your blog when it goes live too
I love this post and will defiantly be following along, I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled to see if I can spot the blogger too. It will be interesting to see if I can guess who it is!
Haha, it’s been interested to see how many people are on the search now to find the new blog!
Love this! A goal of $2,000/mo. by the end of the first year?! Wow! I’d love to figure out that kind of plan for my blog! Looking forward to following along.
Hopefully the new blogger and YOU can make that much money a month within the year!
Kristie, this is AWESOME! I’ll be following along for sure! 🙂
Thanks Kara!
Dang, where were you when I first started blogging! LOL Those numbers are impressive. I look forward to following this series because I suspect it’ll be helpful to both newbie and novice bloggers such as myself. Very grateful that you’re sharing this information with us!
I’ve been very impressed with her numbers so far. Her following is growing fast too. I can’t wait to share more of the process with you all.
Anything specific you would like to see the New Blog achieve in the first year?
Wow! This is really neat! I’m definitely hopping on board…can’t wait to see how this goes!
Glad you’re on board!
This is fascinating and I’m so excited to follow along and to to learn some new tips and tricks for my blog!
🙂 Hopefully you will. Love your new goals post by the way. I think it’s great to have a focus on three main things. Your blog rocks Ange. You and the New Blog have some similar topics… to bad I’m keeping her anonymous or I’d introduce you…
This is so, so cool! I will definitely be following along. I am in the first year still, but I am not anywhere close to turning a profit. I will be interested to follow along and maybe crush it in my second year. 🙂 What a cool idea! You’re brilliant!
Awe, thanks Amanda! I’ve been wanting to do this experiment for a long time now and finally got the ball rolling. Hopefully you and the New Blog will be successful this year!
Hi Kristie,
I *love* this new case study! Such a great idea – and I *thoroughly* approve of keeping the domain private. I see too many bloggers revealing their domain and then showing just how much traffic they’re getting. Unsurprisingly the figures are always skewed – so this will be a far more “real”.
One question – what did your blogger do to kickstart their social following before launch? Did I miss this somewhere?
Richard, I’m glad you love this case study, that means a lot coming from you. Have any other goals in mind that you would like to see the New Blog achieve?
You didn’t miss the part about how the blogger kick started their social following before launch. A full detail post on that is coming soon! (that is if I finish writing it before baby comes)
Hi Richard, here is the post detailing how she kickstarted her blog following.