My First 3 Months as a New Mom Blogger + 5 Mistakes I Made

Get the lowdown of the first three months as a new blogger

It’s official.

I’m a mom blogger. It’s been three months since I’ve been blogging and it’s been a whirlwind, to say the least. But, what’s happening over here?

What’s the whole point of blogging if I’m not monetizing my blog, growing my email list and doing what ALL the other bloggers are doing out there?

Well, I am a stay-at-home mom.

That’s my top priority.

My blogging journey was born out of the idea of wanting to start a blog and sharing my tips and experience as a mom.

Sure, I’m a first-time mom, but I know a few things about organizing, hacking my way around and being a mom. And I thought I’d share my blogging journey too!

Why am I not earning an income on my blog?

In due time!

Blogging is such a new thing for me. Every day I’m reading until midnight learning as much as possible about blogging, monetizing your blog and building your email list. I know that if I want to make an impact as a SAHM, I have to pull my weight around and that means finding ways to get income into this house.

During these three months as a brand spanking new blogger, I had to learn:

• How to use WordPress!! (it’s getting easier now)
• Figure out Pinterest (so many little things about pinning and your profile!!)
• Learn how to write a blog post (it’s not like your high school report on mammals)
• Figure out how to put SumoMe sharing buttons on this blog
• Learn to customize my theme and learning a new theme
• Figure out about affiliate marketing
• Figure out Amazon Associates
• Wondering if I need an email list
• figuring out a ton more…

During these three months, I was mostly behind the scenes figuring it all out.

I just don’t have time to monetize my blog…until now.

I recently wrote a big post on 63 ways to live on one income so you can be a stay-at-home mom for good. By far, this post has been my MOST popular one ever, in terms of social shares.

I still haven’t figured out why I don’t have much engagement on the blog in terms of blog comments. Anyways, so this big post, since it’s my most popular blog post, I’m going to monetize it (if I haven’t already) using affiliate marketing.

I will see how that will do!! I’m excited to see if I can generate some dollars with this blogging thing early on – even though I haven’t a clue what I’m doing 🙂

Why am I not building an email list?

*Sigh*

There’s just too much to learn regarding blogging, right? I don’t want to bog myself down with having to learn all about emailing, email platforms like MailChimp and then how to grow my list..

This is way too much for a new blogger. I’d rather focus on blogging and monetizing first. If that doesn’t pan out, I’ll think about creating an email list. But, here’s the thing: I want to offer amazing free guides and resources to my readers!

But, how do I do that without having people sign up to my list to access these freebies? Well in my chores post, I created a downloadable printable of a chore list and all you have to do is click on the image and it immediately opens up a Google sharing sheet!

How cool is that?? I LOVE this idea. I can offer these printables and resources and make my readers happy. And I know pinners like free printables!!! The pins associated with the chores post has a lot of repins too!

So in the three months I’ve been blogging, I’ve written four blog posts.

I know! It’s not the greatest…I have more “mistakes” coming up. The four posts I wrote are:

1. The Reason I Became a Stay at Home Mom
2. The Secret to Getting More Done With Kids at Home
3. Why Your Child Needs to Do Chores (+ Free Chore Idea Printable)
4. 63 Ways to Live on One Income (And Be a Stay at Home Mom For Good)

As you can see from the last two headlines, I read a lot about headlines during that time! 🙂 And, you know what? Those last two have more pins and shares than my first two. So, my learning is totally paying off!

But, I still made massive mistakes during my first three months blogging.

Mistake 1: Switched My Theme Multiple Times

One thing I learned is that if you pick a theme, play around with it and customize it and then switch themes…when you go back to your original theme, your customizations don’t save!

I was playing around one night with free themes and ruined what I was working on for Smart Mom Ideas! I finally gave up and switched to a completely new theme.

It’s okay I guess. I like the font at least 🙂

But, the mistake was having a non-functional site for a day or two. Now, granted, I don’t even have 100 people visiting me….yet 🙂 but I have to be careful about just “playing” around with themes.

Mistake 2: Not Being Consistent

Here it is! Isn’t this the bane of every blogger’s existence? Not having the time to write??? Other moms I know think I have all this precious time at home to blog and go for coffee and just frolic in the tulips all day!

No…I’m doing chores, cooking, running errands and still trying to get more done. I’ve gotten better (like having to time block “blog writing” in my day), but a week can go by and I have no post.

So the plan:

• Figure out a months worth of blog topics
• Time block blog writing in my day
• Consider waking up earlier (hmmm…)

Mistake 3: Not Being Consistent With Pinning

I love Pinterest! Don’t you? I can spend hours pinning and reading and checking out other pinners. It truly is my digital scrap book. But, here’s the thing: if you’re not consistent with pinning, you’re going to have a hard time growing your following.

Until a few months ago I didn’t even have a Pinterest profile so this is all kinda new to me; but when I find something I love, I learn fast! So when I set one up, I didn’t have content to share. So I had to make it look like I did by creating two pin graphics for each blog post (smart eh??!).

Then I learned all about group boards and how that can help you grow your blog and followers. I joined a few mom type groups, but it was a struggle to grow my followers to at least 100.

I just don’t have the time to go on every day to pin my content. I know there are schedulers out there, but I can’t justify spending money when this blog isn’t generating any money.

For now, I’m just doing the best with pinning at least 15-20 times a day when I can 🙂

Mistake 4: Not Having a Content Plan

I think because I’m not consistent with my posts, I should probably have some sort of content plan, right?

Basically, as of now, I just hop on Pinterest and find topics that way. But, that’s not working and I end up just going weeks without writing anything.

I have to sit down and just come up with at least 6 topics to write. It may not be once a week, but it’s a start.

Mistake 5: Making it Hard for My Readers to Know Me

I’ve been so busy I haven’t even explained who I am and what I do and all that jazz.

I’m not that comfortable with showing my face, but I don’t mind talking about myself on this blog. The plan is to do a little “about me” blurb so that it’s helpful when new readers come to read my posts.

There it is! What happened in my first 3 months as a new blogger. I know now that I enjoy blogging immensely and I can’t wait to see the possibility in six months or a year from now!

If you’re a new blogger or mom blogger, comment and tell me about your new blog!