How this blog started

Post #2

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​Has there ever been a time in your life when you felt helpless? In 2012 my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, and I felt helpless. The person who brought me into this world, kept me alive, and helped shape me into the person I've become was sick, and there wasn't anything I could do about it. Since my son was only seven at the time and he went to bed early. My nights became lonely, and I didn't have many people to talk to, so I started a blog to have a place to capture my thoughts and express myself. 

Fast forward to now, and what started as nothing more than an online diary has evolved into a time capsule of the last nine years of my life. These days I have a couple of websites, and I use WordPress for them, but back in 2012, I went with Weebly to build my website, purchase my domain and hosting and start my blog. It provides an easy-to-use platform of drag and drop elements that allowed me to get the blog online quickly. 
If you or someone you know wants to start a blog, here are my top 3 tips. 

1. Make sure the name you want to use is available not just the domain but available on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, or any other social media platform you think you'll use. The last thing you want is to decide on a name, and it already is in use on one of your primary marketing channels. 
2. Unless you niche way down, categorize your posts so that it's easy for your audience to find and read exactly what they are looking for when they visit your blog. 
3. Always set a default image. With the amount of online traffic these days, it's challenging to grab a reader's attention. That old saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words," still holds true!

The goal of the blog wasn't to attract readers. It was more selfish than that. The goal was to have someone to talk to, and according to that metric, I found success. People also found me. My very basic social media strategy consisted of me setting up automation so that each time a new blog post went up, it automatically posted to Facebook. Since its inception, my blog traffic has consisted of 292 unique users, thousands of page views, and even sparked conversations with childhood friends I had no idea were even reading it. ​

I lost my mom in 2016 unexpectedly, but it wasn't to cancer. My blog helped me through some challenging life experiences, and now anytime I feel nostalgic, I can take a scroll (not stroll) down memory lane. I'll leave you with this, write a book about your life. If not a book, write a blog. If not a blog, a journal. The point is that writing is therapeutic and a great gift to leave your kids or grandkids.