Blog World Domination…& a Book Review, Too!

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Have you ever just kind of shrugged your shoulders and decided to give something a whirl?  I’m about to blow your mind with a little secret y’all…that’s how I found blogging!  Picture this: Summer 2014, June to be precise, and a bored, unfulfilled me is scrolling through Instagram.  School is out so I’m not getting any work substitute teaching, no one in our community is hiring part-time, and I’ve been on my 4th or 5th unsuccessful school interview.  I’m slowly losing my mind!  

I can’t even recall exactly how I found her page but I came across Abby from Just a Girl and Her Blog the DAY she announced she was keeping a secret and launching an eBook about, you guessed it, blogging!  

I’d always kind of wanted to try blogging.  I’d dabbled in a free blogger blog once.  It had a total of four posts in the six months I had it.  So it obviously wasn’t inspiring me.  At that point, though, I didn’t have anything to lose and so I purchased Building a Framework: Everything I Learned My First Year of Blogging.  I thought I’d read it over a few days but I read the entire book cyber cover to cyber cover in one day!  I had pages of notes about all things blogging and I was so completely convinced that I HAD to start a blog.

My only regret is that after reading this book I did not run out and immediately self host my blog.  If I had one thing to do over again I would have started self-hosting immediately and not started on a free wordpress.com blog.  If you’re braver than I am then you’re in luck because Abby takes you step by step through the technical mumbo jumbo of starting a blog.  From purchasing a domain to buying hosting to downloading and setting up your site through wordpress.org!  When I decided to transfer my blog to a self-hosted site in October I picked up Abby’s book and read through it again and it was so helpful.

She speaks to the importance of great content, writing, finding your voice, and photography.  And without her chapters on social media I’d probably still be sitting on Facebook for hours at a time instead of getting things done!  Can I get an amen?  She lays out great strategies for conquering social media with your blog and why it’s important to network, network, network!  I’ve met some of my greatest friends {that I’ve never actually met} since I began blogging in June!

The chapters I find myself re-reading lately are the ones that talk about monetizing and making money off your blog.  I had no idea that someone who blogs could make money doing it!  And now that I’ve found my passion in blogging I’m excited to realize a dream I didn’t even know I had six months ago!  With Abby’s help I set up adsense on my blog and am following her tips for landing sponsored posts and working with some of my favorite brands!

Whether you’re thinking about starting a blog, are a brand new blogger wondering what the heck you got yourself into, or a seasoned blogger looking to spice things up and remember why you started blogging in the first place I definitely recommend you purchase Building a Framework: Everything I Learned My First Year of Blogging!  Let Abby’s passion for blogging and helping other people discover blogging inspire you to do something you may not even have realized interested you!

Now for the REALLY exciting news!  There are some BIG changes coming to the blog in the next couple weeks!  You’ll see a whole new look and a whole new name!  And to commemorate the occasion Abby is letting me give away a copy of her fabulous book to one of my amazing readers!  That’s y’all!  I’m so grateful for finding Abby’s book and discovering my passion for blogging that I want to help someone else find that same passion, too!

Be sure to check back for more news about the exciting changes coming your way and for more information on this amazing giveaway!  Do you think you can guess the new blog name?  Let me know your guesses in the comments below!