Beginner Blogging Insights From Making My First $1000

This is a guest contribution from Hassan Ud-deen.

I love blogging.

But as a beginner, it’s made me feel like complete crap at times.

When I started blogging, failure’s heavy blows hit me hard. Filling my stomach with angry butterflies that constantly questioned: “Will I ever be able to make money blogging and sharing my words, or will I remain a permanent member amongst the hordes of “tragic wannabes”? Slowly sinking into the quicksand of their wordless, settled lives and dying inside…clinging to their broken dreams like a drowning man clinging on to his last reserves of oxygen?”

Everyone else around me seemed to be doing great.

But me? I couldn’t even get a negative response to a guest post pitch, never mind making my first dollar…

But things changed for the better.

I’m no longer shackled by anxiety. I’m no longer sending pitches with 101 doubts swirling in my brain. I’m no longer haunted by thoughts of being able to put food in my belly and a roof over my head with my words.

And I know I can succeed.

Am I living on a tropical palm tree decorated island, only moving my pina colada sipping butt off my hammock to sip even more pina coladas on some luxury cruise boat that’s idyllically sailing into the sunset?

Hell no. Well not yet anyway. But I have hit some blogging milestones.

Since last November I have:

Snatched up my first $1000 from blogging
Took my blog from 0-1000 visitors a month
Published over 20 guest posts
Landed my first four freelance writing clients

I’m no expert, but I’m still learning.

And along the way, I’ve picked up some valuable lessons that’ll help fellow bloggers.

If you’re a grizzled blogging veteran…congratulations. But this post isn’t for you. It’s for the beginner bloggers out there, who are having a tough time getting started and are ready to slay their blogging demons.

Let’s go.

Expert Help Can Skyrocket Your Growth

The blogging word can be feel like an informational warzone at times, with you smack-bang in the middle of it all….

You barely have enough time to duck under your keyboard before you’re barraged by conflicting bullets of advice.

Is SEO the way to go? Is killer content king? Or does link building reign supreme?

The truth is, there isn’t one perfect strategy. You have to pick one and stick to it.

And mastering your chosen strategy by yourself will take a lot of time. That’s why investing in your education is the best thing you can do for your blogging career.

Sure, you can save a ton of heartache with time-slicing hacks and tips from the pros.

But nothing beats having a battle-tested blogging veteran look over your shoulder. Whether you use a coaching program or a course, proactively seeking expert advice will yield a huge ROI.

Investing in a proper blogging education will:

Allow you to “stand on the shoulders of the giants” and experience success without having to soak up your share of failures.
Force you to commit, because shelling out your hard money will make you more invested.
Give you instant access to influencers and leaders

Remember how I said guest posting was real hard for me?

Well, that was an understatement. Guest posting was hell for me.

Before enrolling in Jon Morrow’s Guest Blogging Program, I was like a bad-breathed pick up artist at a busy nightclub. I was swamped with rejections, and couldn’t land a guest post no matter how many editors I approached.

After taking the course, I’ve landed guest posts on many top blogs and have never looked back.

Investing in my blogging education also helped me win clients. Before working with my awesome mentor and friend Bamidele Onibalusi I was stuck. I could write, I could land guest posts, but I couldn’t snag those pesky clients.

After working with Oni, I had a kick-ass guest blogging strategy and landed my first few clients.

Working with an experienced pro will guarantee that you improve. Find out where your weaknesses lie and transform them into strengths with the help of a killer course or coach.

Get to Know Your Readers and Subscribers

Creating compelling content is hard enough, but not knowing your audience makes it almost impossible.

That’s why it’s important to get to know who your readers are.

What are their dreams and goals? Who do they admire? What are their hobbies and interests?

You have to know who is reading what you write.

I used webinar services like clickmeeting to connect with my readers.

I brainstormed topics (I was familiar with) that would help my readers . And because there wasn’t a large amount of people, I was able to do things like give live copy critiques for free. This allowed me to simultaneously engage my audience and learn more about them.

But if webinars aren’t your thing, you can also use surveys and blast out emails to get to know your audience better.

Focus On Your Email List From The Start

In the beginning I didn’t think about growing my email list.

Which is a huge mistake when you consider that:

66% of consumers have made a purchase online because of an email marketing message
By 2016, the number of email accounts will reach 4.3 billion
Email marketing can yield up to a 4,300% return on investment (according to the 2013 report released by the Direct Marketing Association)

As a complete noob (I’ve graduated to just noob now), knowing that a few eyeballs had been scanning my site gave me a euphoric rush. But I soon realised all the traffic in the world is useless unless I’m able to capture it.

So I threw up a subscription box on my site. It snatched me a few emails, but my conversion rates sucked harder than a faulty Dyson…

I was scraping 1-2 subscribers a week, if I was lucky.

So I created a short irresistible incentive for my readers and offered it in exchange for their email addresses. This lead to an immediate increase in subscribers.

Don’t wait till “later” to build your email list like me. Start now. Create an incentive for your audience and work on promoting it. Some great list building apps are:

And don’t be afraid to use pop-ups. Darren soared his daily subscriber count from 40-350 by simply using a “pop over” subscription form.

Guest Posting Still Works

The blogging world let out a collective grasp when Matt Cutts declare that guest blogging is dead. However feedback from the world’s most recognized bloggers shows otherwise.

Inspired by guest posting bad-asses like Bamidele Onibalusi and Danny Iny, I launched my first guest posting campaign in November 2014 – two months before Matt declared it as dead.

Considering the fact that I had just spent around $400 (a nice chunk of change for an unemployed student) on Jon Morrow’s guest blogging program…this hit me, very hard.

I wasn’t versed in SEO and I didn’t have money to splash on ads and facebook traffic. I started to panic. Guest posting was the only real option I had. How was I supposed to share my thoughts and make money blogging without it?

But I still went on with the campaign.

And it paid off.

Here’s a look at my site before the campaign:

Here’s my traffic after:

Did I get massive spikes in traffic and attract thousands of daily visitors to my site? Not really. However I did go from 0-1000 visitors a month, and landed my first two clients.

I learned that guest posting isn’t dead. It’s just changed a little.

Instead of guest posting for short bursts of traffic and exposure, focus on the long-term benefits of guest posting, like building your list, your credibility, and your relationships. After a while, your links will add up and lead to constant referral traffic.

Guest posting is also handy when marketing your business…

It put me in front of potential writing clients and helped impress them because of the high profile sites I had been on.

And as a beginner, guest posting can also help whip your flabby writing muscles into shape.

Having editors chop down my work to the best it can be was a great experience. It taught me a ton about my writing and showed me where I could improve.

Three of the best guides on guest posting I’ve come across are:

Remember, guest posting is a long term strategy. Focus on developing relationships, building your brand, bagging subscribers and consistent traffic will be yours.

It Takes Persistence and Patience

I turned 19 this year, but when I was 16, I read The Millionaire Fastlane. It changed my life.

I decided to no longer accept the status quo. F**k normal. I was going to be who I wanted to be no matter what.

So I quit college and told my family that I wanted to started a business…

They didn’t think I was serious. I was mocked, laughed at, constantly reminded of how I quit college to do…“nothing”.

But I was determined to make money blogging and writing. And after three years of questioning myself and my abilities and being mocked by friends and family…

I can now look in the mirror and say “I make money blogging”, “I’m a writer.”

And I have to admit, It feels damn good.

And If I can hit these blogging milestones, so can you.

Don’t comment below. Instead, tell me what action you took after reading this post. Did you send a pitch? Sign up for a course? What did you do? I’d love to know!

Hassan Ud-deen is a content marketer on a mission to kick conventional marketing’s fat boring ass…one buttcheek at a time. Troll him under his bridge at twitter (he likes it).