ProBlogger Podcast: Blog Tips to Help You Make Money Blogging

UPDATE: Because our free March Content Sprint was so popular we are now running a series of paid 7-Day Content Sprints running Live: 13-19 July 2020 17-23 August 2020 14-20 September More information and sign-up here: https://problogger.com/contentsprint/ A Free 7-Day Course to Create New Content Does your blog need a momentum boost? We've decided to run a LIVE 7-day Content Sprint to help support you create a plan and 6 new pieces of content for your blog in just 7 days. Starting next week (Monday 23rd March at 5pm PDT/8pm EDT / Tuesday 24th March at 11AM AEDT) Darren will be teaching live daily on FB in our ProBlogger Community Facebook Group (join here). Each day for 7 days we'll roll out supporting resources here in the course and add the video in case you can't make it live. Join us here: https://problogger.com/freecontentsprint/ Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Hi there, friends. It’s Darren here from ProBlogger. Welcome to episode 281 of the ProBlogger Podcast. I've also got a live audience watching us today. They've been chiming in and saying good day. We've got people watching from Singapore, California, Adelaide, and all around Australia. It seems to be quite a few Aussies on due to the time of day that we're going at the moment. I will explain to you I have my son playing trumpet in the background today and this is not to give you ambient music but because he's got an online trumpet lesson today as part of his schooling. Today, I want to give you a fun little opportunity. We have been hearing from a lot of ProBlogger readers, podcast listeners about their current situation and how they're feeling about the Coronavirus, what's been going on in their world, and how that's impacting their blogging. We talked a little bit about that in the last episode, episode 280. I gave some suggestions on moving through it and blogging through this crisis. We also wanted to do something for you, and this is something that we want to offer to you for free, which will hopefully keep some momentum going in on your blog, and I hope this will help you.  As I just said on the live video, we have created this on-the-fly, so it's not polished by any means, but we think there's some value in it. I'm going to share my screen for the live video viewers and I'll pop this same graphic up in the show notes for those of you who will be listening to this on the ProBlogger Podcast. This all comes out of us observing one of the big problems that a lot of our listeners have at the moment. That problem is that many people are really struggling right now with motivation for their blog, particularly with content at the moment. They have this big problem, that they're feeling a lack of motivation, they're feeling distracted by all the information that's coming out at the moment about Coronavirus, and many are feeling fear and uncertainty about their businesses.  Someone just in the live stream said that they've lost their job out of this and that has brought fear and uncertainty for many of our readers. We're certainly hearing that increasingly, or at least people feeling like their work, their employment might be coming to an end. They're looking to their blog for some income but not really knowing how to do that and feeling paralyzed by it.  One of the results of this is a lack of content on many of our reader’s blogs or at least some blockages when it comes to creating content. If that's you, then you're not alone. If you're watching the live video, let us know if that's something that you do feel. If you've got a reason for that, if it's fear, uncertainty, or it's just distraction, let us know about that. I have felt that myself even over the last week. A week ago, I remember sitting for almost a full day, just consuming the news about coronavirus,

Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Hey there friends, it’s Darren Rowse from ProBlogger here. Welcome to episode 280 of the ProBlogger podcast.  It’s been a while since we chatted and I do apologize for that, I needed a little time to get my headspace right and work on a couple of other projects, but I’m glad to be back. I’m particularly glad to be back at this time that we find ourselves in. We currently find ourselves in a bit of a crazy time with COVID-19, CoronaVirus, and all that it is meaning for us in the world we’re living in. We’re seeing so many people impacted, the economy impacted, and we’re seeing lots of new things, or at least they’re new to some people. We’re seeing a lot of people now having to work at home, something that many of us, as bloggers, have been doing for a while. Today, what I want to talk a little bit about is how we navigate this time as bloggers. How do we, as bloggers, not only keep our businesses going, but how do we actually do something to serve our world where there’s so much need at the moment. I jumped on to Facebook Live earlier today and shared my thoughts on that.  What I want to share with you today is a recording of that Facebook Live. I did a bit of teaching in the middle of that. I talked a little bit about what the world doesn’t need right now, what the world does need right now, and why we, as bloggers, are actually ideally positioned to make a difference. I want to give you some practical thoughts on how to go about that. Some things to keep in mind, some things to avoid, also just tackling that tricky question of how do we actually make it a win-win for our audience and for us without seeming selfish in the midst of that as well, and actually about how not to be selfish in the midst of that as well. There are some of the things I cover in the recording I’m about to play for you. I just want to say though right up front, I hope you’re doing well. I’m doing well, I’ve had a bit of a scare and I’ll talk about that in the recording today, over the last week or so, but I hope you’re doing well. I really do want to emphasize the point that I make numerous times in this recording that I hope you look after yourself in this time.  We need you to look after yourself. If you are going to make a difference, if you’re going to use your blogging, your online profile to make the world a better place, right now we need you to look after yourself as well. I hope you’re doing well and I hope you do take seriously the question I pose of you in this recording: what can we do at ProBlogger to serve you better through this time? Is there something that you are facing right now in your blogging that you’d like some content to be produced to help you to navigate that challenge. If you would like to drop me a line, my team a line, you can send an email to [email protected] and that will go to our support team. We’ll put it in front of the person who is best able to help if we can, and hopefully that will inform some content going forward. If you do want to stay in touch with this, head over to our Facebook Page, facebook.com/problogger, and you will get any future Facebook Lives and updates from there. We’ve got our email newsletter which is still going out every week over in ProBlogger that you can sign up for. If you want the show notes today, head over to problogger.com/podcast/280. I’ll come back at the end of this recording and wrap things up. Thanks for listening! Hi there everyone, it’s Darren from ProBlogger here. Welcome to the ProBlogger Podcast, also welcome to those of you who are watching this live. I am going live onto Facebook today while I’m recording. Because I think it is an important topic and it’s one that I do want to get our communities input in as well. Our love viewers may have some thoughts to share that I will include in the podcast as well as if I think...

How Blogging Led to a Million Dollar Business for Jeff Goins Jeff Goins shares how his blogging business has evolved over the years. What he’s doing now is very different than when he started. Blog 1: Jeff started blogging as an outlet to catalogue his journey across North America while on tour with a band.  “That was my first blog and my first experience with sharing my life and my ideas with the world. Just the thrill of pressing, Publish.” Wake-up Call: While living the dream of playing music for thousands of screaming fans, Jeff’s favorite part was writing blog posts. Blog 2: Jeff moved to Nashville and trained missionaries to blog for a nonprofit. Eventually, Jeff became the Marketing Director and learned about online marketing.  Wake-up Call: Jeff wanted to get back to his own blogging. “I had been helping other people share their stories. I had something to say and wanted to share it with the world.” Blogs 3 to Present: Jeff wanted to make a living as a writer, but didn’t know how.   Wake-up Call: Jeff’s failed blogs had one thing in common: He quit them. Time to get serious and stick to it:  Write every day  Get more subscribers Build email lists Learn from other bloggers Offer to write and accept guest posts Now, Jeff is a full-time blogger, author, speaker, and online entrepreneur.   Top Tips to Achieve Blogging Success Give before you ask; always give more than you take.  Listen to other bloggers’ advice. Connect with influential people. Next Steps in Blogging Evolution Masterminds: Creates relationships, connections, and community Events/Conferences: Tribe Conference Programs: Write a Bestseller  Based on his experiences as a writer and blogger, Jeff will be the keynote speaker at ProBlogger’s upcoming Evolve 2019 in Melbourne. A few tickets are still available! For more information: Problogger.com/events.  Links and Resources for How Jeff Goins Evolved His Blogging Into a Million Dollar Business: Jeff Goins The Jeff Goins Blog Real Artists Don't Starve by Jeff Goins  You Are a Writer (So Start Acting Like One) by Jeff Goins Tribe Writers  Tribe Conference Write a Bestseller Jeff Goins’ Email ProBlogger Evolve Event  Evolve: Training Day Evolve: Mastermind Copyblogger Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk Brian Clarke Seth Godin Platform by Michael Hyatt Xanga MailChimp Zoom Podcast Motor Courses Start a Blog ProBlogger Pro – 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Join our Facebook group. Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Darren: Hey there friends and welcome to Episode 279 of the ProBlogger Podcast. My name is Darren Rowse and I’m the blogger behind problogger.com; a blog designed to help you to start and to grow a profitable blog.  Today on the podcast, we have a special guest, Jeff Goins. I’ve been wanting to bring Jeff Goins to the podcast for a while now. Many of you know of Jeff, he has a fantastic blog that I do encourage you to check out. We’ll link to it in the show notes today. He writes great advice for people who write. If you want to become a better writer, particularly if you want to write a book, he has some great advice. I wanted to get Jeff on the show today to talk a little bit about how his business or his blogging business has evolved over the years, because he started a number of years ago now. What he’s doing today is very different to the way he started. He really started in a personal record keeping kind of way with his blogging and he’s grown his brand, and his business around that. As he says in this interview, he’s actually had nine blogs over the years and his last one has really built the business. He’s got a lot of great advice today as we talk about this idea of evolving your blog. 

Evolve Your Blog Does it feel like you’re going around in circles with your blog? It's easy to revolve in your blogging. Let’s look back at my keynote presentation titled, Evolve Don't Revolve, from ProBlogger’s Evolve event in 2017.  It highlights my journey as a blogger and areas where you can evolve your own blog and online business. Plus, the 2017 keynote features a Q & A with Pat Flynn, who shares how he achieved success by evolving his blog, Smart Passive Income. https://www.slideshare.net/problogger/evolve-dont-revolve ProBlogger’s Evolve 2019 event in Melbourne is happening soon!   August 10: Training Day (Beginner/Intermediate) Four key areas of building a successful blog August 10-11: Mastermind (Intermediate/Advanced) Spend time with other bloggers, online creators, and entrepreneurs to workshop your blog and business Jeff Goins will present this year’s keynote titled, Finding Your Voice as a Blogger. He’s the author of Real Artists Don't Starve. Fellow expert bloggers, Nicole Avery, James Schramko, Kelly Exeter, and Shayne Tilley, will talk about their knowledge and experience. For more information about Evolve 2019, go to Problogger.com/events. Don’t forget to sign-up by June 30, 2019, to get the Early Bird price.  Links and Resources for Evolve Don't Revolve Your Blogging: ProBlogger Evolve Event  Evolve: Training Day Evolve: Mastermind Jeff Goins Real Artists Don't Starve by Jeff Goins  Nicole Avery of Planning with Kids James Schramko of SuperFastBusiness Kelly Exeter (writer and editor)  Shayne Tilley of 99Designs Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income  Podcast Motor Courses Start a Blog ProBlogger Pro – 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Join our Facebook group. Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Darren: Hey there, friends. It's Darren Rowse from ProBlogger. Welcome to Episode 278 of the ProBlogger Podcast. The podcast is designed to help you start a blog, to build that blog, and to monetize it.  Today, I've got a special treat for you. It is a keynote that I gave a couple of years ago at our ProBlogger event in Melbourne. It's titled Evolve Don't Revolve. It's all about how as bloggers and online entrepreneurs, it's really easy to revolve in our blogging, to just go around in circles. I don't know if you can relate to that of feeling going around in circles. I certainly can. There's been so many times over my 15 years of blogging where I've realized I'm just treading water, I stopped growing, I stopped evolving. The call of this keynote is to look at seven different areas where you can evolve your blog and online business. Also, a taster of what we do at our Evolve event, at our ProBlogger event, which we've been running it for quite a few years. We've got our new event coming up in August of this year on the 10th and 11th of August, again, in Melbourne. I want to tell you a little bit about that event before we get into the keynote. There's two options for those of you who want to come to our event in Melbourne. On the 10th of August, we've got a training day. This is a one day event for beginners, intermediate level bloggers. It's also probably relevant for other content creators as well.  If you head to problogger.com/events you can actually see a rundown of what we're doing at that particular event. Largely though, it's me. You'll get a full day of me teaching on the four key areas of building a successful blog. I'm going to talk for about an hour about content and crafting great content for your blog. I'll talk about evolving your engagement with your readers, how to build community on your blog, how to find new readers for your blog, and then, how to monetize your blog.  This is perfect if you are a beginner or intermediate level. If you're just starting out,

31 Days to Build a Better Blog Today’s the day to sign up for our 31 Days to Build a Better Blog course. Why? Well, it’s 50% off for a limited time. And if you register by the end of February you’ll get to be a part of our 31-day guided sprint in March. While the course has evolved, it remains the #1 reason most blogs become successful. But you need to consistently take action to implement what you learn.   The four pillars of blogging are actions and habits you should develop to grow and profit from your blog. Create great content Promote your content Enhance your relationships with your readers Monetize your blog Each day of the course you’ll be taught practical things to do for your blog, including: Setting objectives and goals Creating an editorial calendar Developing social media and email strategies Creating pillar content Optimizing for SEO Identifying and understanding your audience Strengthening reader engagement You don’t have to take the course to become an action-oriented blogger. But if you need help and want to give your blog a burst of love to get it back on track, feel free to join us. Links and Resources for The Secret to Building a Better Blog: Podcast Motor Courses Start a Blog ProBlogger Pro – 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Join our Facebook group. Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Hey there and welcome to episode 277 of the ProBlogger podcast. My name is Darren Rowse and I’m the founder of ProBlogger, which is a site for bloggers and prebloggers designed to help them to start and grow profitable blogs. You can learn more about ProBlogger and all we do over at problogger.com. In today’s episode number 277, we’re going to talk a little bit of our secret of growing your blog. In fact, I think it’s the number one way to grow a blog and this ties into a promotion that we’ve got on at the moment on our 31 Days To Build A Better Blog course. I know many of you have gone through our Start A Blog course over the last couple of months and to continue the good work that you’ve done, we’ve decided to make 31 Days To Build A Better Blog 50% off for the next week or so until the end of February. Also in the month of March, we’re going to sprint through it. We are doing it as a group where we can support you and get bloggers interacting together. I’ll tell you a little bit more about that later in the episode. But if you do want to check out 31 Days To Build A Better Blog and grab it at 50% off, head over at problogger.com/31days. You can also find it through our courses tab over at problogger.com and in today’s show notes. Let’s get into today’s show where I do want to talk about the number one thing that is going to help you to grow your blog. In preparation for our 31 day sprint, I want to talk about why we had so much success with the 31 day program. I want to talk about the reason that they’ve been built into that course that I’ve seen help many bloggers over the years and I’ve seen help me as well. Over the years, I think it was back in 2007, I started 31 Days To Build A Better Blog and it’s been in many forms since then. In fact, I’ve counted seven different ways we’ve presented this program. Originally, it started off as a series of blog posts in I think it was in 2006–2007, and then I did that same series that evolved that every time, three times on the blog. It was completely for free. It was just a series of blog posts. At the end of the third series, I turned it into an ebook and then I updated the ebook into a second version. I think second version came out in 2012. Later on, I did it again on the podcast for free and then more recently, we’ve turned it into a course in the last year or so. There’ve been these seven different versions of 31 Days To Build A Better Blog and every time...

Learn How to Start a Successful Podcast Do you already have a blog, and want to expand into another medium? Then why not start a podcast? A lot of our Facegroup members have asked questions about starting a podcast, especially about gear, content, engagement, hosting, launching and monetization. And to help me answer all those questions I called on an expert. Craig Hewitt is the founder of Podcast Motor and Castos. When Craig started his own podcast, he quickly discovered that audio editing and producing a podcast was a pain. So he started Podcast Motor to help others. The technicalities of podcasting almost stopped me from starting the ProBlogger podcast. That’s why I turned to Craig and his team to handle them. Craig shares the nuts and bolts of podcasting: Reach existing audience in a different way, or reach an entirely new audience. Establish a dedicated hosting platform to store and distribute your media files. Differentiate yourself to develop a brand and identity (i.e. your accent). Start a podcast with everything you need for less than $100. Be comfortable with speaking, and assemble enough content to talk about. Identify and prepare guests to be on your podcast. Create an intro by recording it yourself or outsourcing it to a voiceover artist. Find a room without flat walls and hard spaces to eliminates echoes. (Try a closet). Edit audio to match your style (buttoned-up, conversational, etc.) Put your podcast on Android and Apple platforms, including Apple Podcast (formerly iTunes), Google Podcast, Stitcher, Spotify, and YouTube. Get and grow your audience by getting your podcast listed in search engines. Ask listeners to subscribe, submit a rating/review, and share with others. Record five episodes before launching. Then launch with two episodes, plus or minus an Episode 0 that offers a description of what listeners can expect from your podcast. Engage your listeners by using a call to action through a link in the podcast audio, or continue a podcast discussion and connect with audience via a Facebook group. Metrics don't really matter. Instead, review popularity, downloads and listening duration. We covered a lot in this episode, but to get all the details you need to successfully start a podcast sign up for Craig’s free course, Launch In A Week: Podcasting Microphone and Gear Audio Recording and Editing Your Ideal Listener and Podcast Personas The Perfect Podcast Recipe Media Host and Website Setup Getting Your Show Ready to Launch Launch Planning and Growing Your Audience Links and Resources for How to Start a Successful Podcast: Podcast Motor Launch In A Week Castos Seriously Simple Podcasting Audio-Technica ATR2100 Shure SM7B Focusrite Scarlett Preamp Zoom Skype Call Recorder (Mac only)   Fiverr Audacity International Start a Blog Day Class of 2019 Pat Flynn’s Podcast SiteGround CoSchedule Tim Ferriss's Podcast GarageBand Simplecast Libsyn Gary Vaynerchuk's Podcast RogueStartups Podcast with co-host Dave Rodenbaugh Blue - Yeti Calendly Apple Podcast Google Podcast Google Play Stitcher Spotify Amy Porterfield's Podcast Examples of How to Start a Successful Podcast: CoSchedule’s Blog CoSchedule’s Podcast Courses Start a Blog ProBlogger Pro – 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Join our Facebook group. Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Darren: Hey hey there, ProBlogger listeners. It’s Darren Rowse here from ProBlogger. Welcome to episode 276 of the show. For those of you who are new to the show, ProBlogger is a site for bloggers and prebloggers designed to help them to start blogs, to grow those blogs, and to monetize those blogs. You can check out more of what we do over at ProBlogger...

How One Blogger Took Action, Left Her Job, and Began a Lifestyle Blog Today marks the end of our series featuring stories from new bloggers. We really hope you've enjoyed them. Jackie Baker recently started a lifestyle blog that celebrates the beauty in everyday life. She considered blogging as a business because she needed a career change that would both challenge her and leave time for a vacation once in a while. But what would she write about? Jackie narrowed her blog's focus to a few topics that bring joy, peace, and happiness to both her readers and herself. Hence the title of her blog: Pretty Things, Yummy Food. What Jackie has learned from blogging: Take action and keep pushing forward when you feel stuck or scared Create a plan to prioritize tasks you need to get done Sign up for courses that show you how to start/launch a blog Connect with other bloggers who understand your excitement and frustration Embrace social media to find readers and build a community Use Canva to design graphics Don’t stress about what others think about you or your blog Want to start a blog? Do it and don’t doubt yourself. Follow your gut, get into a blogging mindset, and find your message to discover you have plenty to offer the world. Sign up for ProBlogger’s free Start a Blog course and participate in its International Start a Blog Day on February 7. Links and Resources for How One Blogger Quit Her Job and Started a Lifestyle Blog: Pretty Things, Yummy Food Blog Canva International Start a Blog Day Podcast Motor Courses Start a Blog ProBlogger Pro – 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Join our Facebook group Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Darren: Hey there and welcome to episode 275 of the ProBlogger podcast. My name is Darren Rowse and I’m the blogger behind problogger.com, which is a site for you as a blogger or someone about to start a blog, that will help you grow that blog, create great content, and monetize it as well. You can learn more about what we do at ProBlogger and check out our two courses at problogger.com. Speaking of our courses, today we’re finishing up our series of podcasts from stories who did our free Start A Blog course. We’re going to hear today from Jackie Baker from Pretty Things, Yummy Food, which sounds like the kind of blog I need to check out, particularly the yummy food part of it. This series really is all about hearing from new bloggers, bloggers who haven’t been going for too long yet, to find out what they’ve learnt in their first year of blogging. I have loved the feedback we’ve had on this series. It seems that a lot of you have enjoyed hearing from new voices, people that they’ve never heard of before, rather than just hearing from experts or gurus or people who have been blogging for 10 years. The new bloggers have been sharing some of their journey as well. We’re doing this really to highlight that people are continuing to start blogs these days and that there is a simple way to do it. That’s through our Start A Blog course, which you can find over at problogger.com/startablog. It’s completely free and it’s set out in seven simple steps that will walk you through the process. Today, we’ve got Jackie Baker from Pretty Things, Yummy Food. It’s a lifestyle blog and it’s only been going for six months. Jackie started her blog as a result of going through our course and you’re going to hear her talk a little bit about that in today’s story. She recommends a great tool for those of you who are starting out and want to create some cool social graphics and gives you a few good tips as well. I’ll come back at the end of Jackie’s story to wrap things up and to pull out a few of the things that I love about her story. Jackie: Hi everyone. I’m Jackie, the creator of Pretty Things, Yummy Food.

How a Blogger Found the Right Plan and Business Idea Today our series of stories from new bloggers continues with Stefano Caioni, a web developer and photographer.   Stefano's blog offers guidance on various aspects of photography including focus modes, settings and equipment reviews. Using his tech experience, Stefano wrote all the code for his blog himself. But he soon discovered how fun it was to build and write content for it, even though it had no traffic. Then Stefano decided to migrate his existing content to WordPress to benefit from its SEO and security functionalities. But he was inconsistent with posting content, didn’t have a specific strategy or business idea in mind, and ran out of topics. He almost gave up on it. Then he came across ProBlogger.com. He started writing more consistently, this time with a plan and business idea in place. His blog lets him share his passion for photography by writing useful posts that inspire others and offer them value. He’s met many photographers who’ve inspired him as well. He never dreamed of making money from his blog or building a business around it. But traffic continues to grow, and he monetizes his blog through Amazon affiliate links. Blogging isn’t dead. The number of internet users increases every day. Fresh and updated content is needed to fulfill the growing demand for information. So start a blog. Sign up for our free Start a Blog course and join us for the International Start a Blog Day on February 7. Links and Resources for How Stefano Changed Blogging Platforms and Started Blogging with a Plan: Stefano Caioni’s Photography Stefano Caioni’s Blog Interview: Lauren Bath Olympus Visionary International Start a Blog Day Podcast Motor Courses Start a Blog ProBlogger Pro – 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Join our Facebook group Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Darren: Hey there and welcome to episode 274 of the ProBlogger podcast. My name is Darren Rowse and I’m the founder of problogger.com, a site for bloggers and prebloggers, designed to help you to start a great blog, and to monetize that blog. Today, we are continuing our series of podcast with stories from new bloggers, people in their first year of blogging. All these are short stories from participants from our Start A Blog course and we’re sharing them in the hope that they will inspire you or someone you know to start a blog, as part of our International Start A Blog Day on the seventh of February, which is fast approaching. There’s still time to participate if you would like to start a blog, either for that date or afterwards. We have a course that will walk you through exactly how to start a blog using a WordPress platform. That course is completely free to participate in and you can find it at problogger.com/startablog. Today’s story comes from Stefano Caioni from stefanocaioni.com and I’ve got a link to that in the show notes today. He is a photographer. He is a web developer, actually, who is a photographer as well and his blog is about photography, which grabbed my attention. But I also wanted to share this story today because it is a little bit different than some of the others. Stefano actually came to blogging with a bit of a tech background, which is different to many people. We’ve had others in this series who came with no technology kind of background whatsoever. Stefano has created a beautiful-looking blog with that background but he has some interesting reflections upon that journey which I will come back to at the end of his story, too, just pulled apart just a little bit. Here’s Stefano. Enjoy his story. Stefano: Hi. This is Stefano Caioni, a landscape and outdoor photographer, living in Sydney, Australia. My website is called Stefano Caioni Photography and you can find it at www.

How One Blogger Found Encouragement in Difficult Times Our new bloggers series continues with Melissa, who started Living in the Wait. Her blog serves as a resource for those waiting for something in their lives, whether it’s a job, spouse, home or something else. Melissa discovered you can still live life during that time of waiting for something your heart desperately desires. In Melissa’s case, she and her husband were waiting for a family due to infertility. It’s a painful topic to talk about, but Melissa felt like it was her calling to share her story. Blogging about her journey and wait has brought joy to her life. She wants to continue encouraging people going through difficult times.   First-year blogging highlights: Started The Wait List featuring guest posts to connect with others who were also waiting Selected as recipient of ProBlogger scholarship to further the blog's reach Generated cycle of encouragement: live life to the fullest, and give back to others Melissa’s blogging tips: Progress over perfection Celebrate your wins Don’t forget to sign up for our free Start a Blog course and join us for the International Start a Blog Day on February 7. Links and Resources for How One Blog Turned a Painful Situation into a Life-Changing Blog: Living in the Wait Podcast Motor Further Listening 263: How Mim Blogged Vulnerably to Grow a Six-Figure Blog 255: My Mid-Life Crisis and The Power of Being Vulnerable on a Blog Courses Start a Blog ProBlogger Pro – 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Join our Facebook group Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Darren: Welcome to episode 273 of the ProBlogger podcast. My name’s Darren Rowse and I’m the blogger behind problogger.com, a site and a podcast to help you to start an ,amazing blog that’s going to change the lives of your readers in some way, and hopefully will change your life, too both in what it gives you personally but also hopefully some income as well. You can learn more about what we do at ProBlogger and find our courses at problogger.com. Speaking of courses, today we do continue our Start A Blog story series where we’re featuring stories from bloggers in their first year of blogging. There are all these bloggers who've been throughout Start A Blog course and many of them participated in our International Start A Blog Day last February. We’ve got the second iteration of that event coming up on the 7th of February this year. We’re running these stories to try and inspire as many people as possible to start a blog and be a part of that process. You can join in the fun of International Start A Blog Day and get a free course to help you set up a blog in that time over at problogger.com/startablog. Today’s story is from Melissa. She has a blog called Living In The Wait. I love the topic of this blog and that’s one of the reasons that I wanted to share her story today. I’m going to link to her blog which is livinginthewait.com on our show notes today. There’s also a full transcript of the show today and some further listening if you do want to be into one of the big themes that she talks about. You can find the show notes today at problogger.com/podcast/273. I’m going to let Melissa talk now and I’ll come back at the end to just pull out a few of the themes that I love in what she shares. Melissa: My name is Melissa. I started the blog called Living In the Wait and the URL is livinginthewait.com. What my blog is about is it’s a resource for those who are basically trying to live in the wait. Whether you’re waiting for a family, job, spouse, we all wait for something in our lives. For my husband and I, that wait happened to be infertility. Why I started my blog was based upon our own personal experience. For over three years,

How One Blogger is Making the Most from Networking and Interviewing Our series of stories from new bloggers continues with Penny Wilson, who started Lingo Mama to blog about language learning and travel. Penny’s reasons for starting a blog: Return to her passion for language learning Establish accountability and discipline with language learning Share love for language learning with others Inspire others to learn a second language Starting a blog involved a huge learning curve for Penny, especially when it came to the technical aspects of managing it. Fortunately, Penny hasn’t struggled for content ideas. The challenge is getting those ideas across in a way that’s interesting, entertaining and informative, and that adds value. One of the highlights of blogging came when Penny connected with bloggers she respects in her niche. She also created an interview series that lets her connect with other language learners. Making money from her blog has been slow, but Penny has been happy with affiliate ads she installed early on to generate traffic and referrals. Penny’s Top Tips: Don’t stress too much about being perfect Promote content that's most useful to readers Listen to feedback from readers Did Penny’s story inspire you to start a blog? Then, sign up for the free Start a Blog course as a way to celebrate our International Start a Blog Day on Feb. 7. Links and Resources for How Networking and Interviewing Helped One Blogger Built Her Blog: Lingo Mama Podcast Motor Further Listening 172: How to Build a Blogging Business Through Interviewing Others [An Interview with Michael Stelzner] 198: 6 First Income Streams Recommended for Bloggers Courses Start a Blog ProBlogger Pro – 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Join our Facebook group Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Darren: Hey there and welcome to Episode 272 of the ProBlogger Podcast. My name's Darren Rowse, and I'm the blogger behind ProBlogger, a site, podcast, event, job board, series of ebooks, and courses all designed to help you start an amazing blog, to grow that blog, and to make some money from the process. You can find more about ProBlogger over at problogger.com. Today, we're continuing this short series of podcasts with stories from bloggers in their first year of blogging. Although stories have been gathered from participants of our Start a Blog course, which we are promoting at the moment, even though it's a free course, we're promoting it because, in the next few weeks, we have our International Start a Blog Day, which is being held on the 7th of February. Today, we're celebrating new blogs and we're launching a whole lot of blogs from students from our course, and we hope to send you a little bit of traffic as well to help that blog get off and running. We'll be highlighting some of those new blogs that have started our social media as well as on our blog as well. Each of the bloggers that are sharing in this series are sharing their story, just a really short story but also some tips that they've learned along the way. If you've been thinking about starting a blog, or you know someone who's thinking about it, or you know someone who should start a blog, please head to problogger.com/start-a-blog. You will find this free course that we've put together. It's a seven-step course that walks you through everything you need to know to get involved in our International Start a Blog Day but also to get that blog up and running. Now, today's story comes from Penny Wilson, an Aussie from lingomama.com. I'll link to that in the show notes as well today. You can find those show notes at problogger.com/podcast/272. I'm just going to hand it over to Penny because she's got a great story to tell, and I will come back at the end of her story just to wrap things ...