Well, here goes nothing! I’m setting out with the goal of building a blog that helps people learn about the most effective ways to get healthier and have fewer injuries! I’d also love for this blog to eventually provide a supplemental income to my personal training salary, which is limited at the moment due to a crazy life with young kids and a husband in the military! We’re actually in the middle of a military move right now! So I had to resign my last full time job as a Fitness Director a few months ago and I’ll be moving again in a few more months, so it’s the perfect time to finally launch my dream of writing and blogging about fitness!
I started a journal of this blogging experience so I could have a way to look back at FPM and see what worked, what didn’t, and because I’m a journal nerd – I write down EVERYTHING.
Bjork and Lindsay Ostrom, at PinchofYum.com have also greatly inspired me to post a summary of the business aspects of blogging! Their Income posts have been incredibly helpful to me as I’ve muddled along these last few weeks. It made me realize just how challenging creating a successful blog will be! Even though they don’t knew who I am, I have crowned them my official fairy godparents of the blogging kingdom and I check out their website every day (okay – several times a day)!
So good luck. Take heart (and copious notes). Blogging is definitely a journey not a destination!
I’m lumping Nov and Dec together this time, since I just launched mid- Nov.
Blog Journal – First 2 months
November 2014
- Signed up for the Daily Dish Pro them on the Genesis Framework from Studiopress
- Downloaded the Genesis PDF How to Guide and Followed instructions to set it up on a domain name that I had bought years ago and hosted with BlueHost.
- Started blogging!
- Read Pinch of Yum Income Articles. Awesomeness. Thank you Bjork and Lindsay Ostrom.
- Practiced learning how to make links again. I had learned how to do this a long time ago on an old now defunct blog. It’s pretty simple. When you’re doing a post or a page, simply highlight any portion of the text or picture you wish to link and then click on the little chain icon on your toolbar. A smaller dialogue box opens up. Copy and paste the link into the http:// box then ALWAYS pick “open link in new tab” box. This will allow users to travel to the link you want them to see, but keeping your site open so they stay on it longer.
- Found my old log in info for my amazon affiliate account and built links via amazon again. The first link I added back to Amazon was by going to Appearance > Customize > Primary Sidebar > Widgets > Text. Then go into your Amazon affiliate tab and find the picture you want to advertise. Highlight that code from Amazon, copy, then paste it into your text widget. Wait for it. Waaaaaaait for it. Take a quick scan make sure you like, then be sure to click the “save and publish” button.
- Posted 4 blog articles, 2 long, 2 short. Built 5 pages – about > virtual training promotion page, resources page > how to become a trainer and MFC page.
- Book I read this month: Trust Me, I’m Lying, by Ryan Holiday. inspired me to think outside the lines when it comes to marketing, though I know I will always maintain a high level of integrity.
- Made this nifty little link to Amazon for that book by going to my Amazon account, selecting link to this page, picking “image only,” highlighting the code, then clicking on the “text” tab to the top right corner of this typing window, pasting the code at the bottom. Then click back into the “visual” tab, see that the code has transformed itself into this image. Then click on the image, go the link tool and check the “open link in new tab” box! voila!
December 2014
- Changed over a pinterest page to FPM, instead of a personal. Read Pinterest for business PDF
https://business.pinterest.com/sites/business/files/best_practices_02_en.pdf
- Wiped out old pinterest boards and made new ones that reflect the new business model. Made a board for journaling, one for fitness, one for mental toughness, etc. Please visit and follow my pinterest board, it’s organized now, for the first time in forever!
- Revised blog posts. Wanted to improve them. My style is jumbly and rambly at times. Wanting to keep getting better at writing clearly and concisely.
- Read the book Wild. Amazing. Makes me want to pack a ruck and disappear for a month.
- Signed up for an Ed2Go course – How To Write Effective Web Content, with instructor Linda, click on the screenshot or text link below the pic to learn more. I highly recommend this course if you are new to writing or even if you are a seasoned writer looking to learn specific blogging tradecraft.
If you haven’t heard of Ed2Go, you should definitely check it out – they offer online (very affordable) courses on everything from Adobe photoshop to writing to small business skills. Click here: Ed2Go
- Learned how to take a screenshot for THIS post (feelin awesome). Which is different for every laptop, I just learned on youtube, thank you very much, random youtube video maker! Once I snagged that screenshot above, I copied and pasted it into a blank Publisher page. Then cropped out all the nonessentials, saved it as a PNG then edited some more in microsoft office. Then saved it “as” and uploaded it to my website to insert into this post. Then I added a link from it to the Ed2Go website (always clicking open in other tab)!
- Found a Font is in Cinzel, a free google font from http://ndiscovered.com/cinzel/
- Used it to designed a quick logo tag in Microsoft Publisher that I could embed onto future pics and videos I plan to post and share.
- In Microsoft publisher – took a pic of Muhammad Ali and added a quote to it and the FPM logo tag. Grouped them all together, saved it as a jpeg. Then opened it in Microsoft office, cropped it, compressed it, saved it as a finished jpeg. Then uploaded that file to a blogpost. Then pinned it on pinterest.
- Watched youtube videos on how other people make amazon affiliate links and banners. If you want to see them just go to Youtube, and type in How To Make Amazon Affiliate Links. Tons of good clips pop up!
- Read an article about how people are making mad money on youtube. Resolved to create a FPM youtube channel and start making videos asap.
- Inspiring Books I read this month:
- Don’t Give Up, Don’t Give In, Louis Zamperini
- Wild, by Cheryl Strayed
- 8 Weeks to Sealfit, by Mark Divine
- Reread – Call of the Wild, by Jack London
Income Report
Unfortunately, no income to report in my first few weeks blogging. Hopefully this will improve in my January summary! Thanks for stopping by! If you have any blogging tips, please share them in comments!
