My 8 step process for creating and publishing blog posts

Raise your hand if blogging has ever left you feeling overwhelmed or stressed out!

Oh good, I’m happy to see that I’m not the only one :)

We all know that blogging is a super important part of any website and that is has major benefits for just about every business out there. It drives traffic to our sites, establishes us as experts in our industry/niche, helps us to share our point of view with our audience, and grows our brand and visibility online. It’s worth our time and effort, but why does it have to be so friggin' hard?

That’s a question I used to ask myself but I’m happy to report that I don’t feel that way anymore. In fact, I now find blogging FUN and actually look forward to creating new posts to share with my readers!

All of this changed when I started getting strategic with the content I created and established processes and a checklist make sure that I had every step covered. And let me tell you, it totally paid off.

I’m sharing my process for creating and publishing blog posts with you to show you that blogging doesn’t have to be hard or scary. Blogging doesn’t have to take hours of your time, either! Once you have a process in place, it comes together quickly and easily.

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The Reading List for April / May 2018

Remember at the start of the year how I announced that one of my goals was to read more? I started strong back in January and I'm proud to say that I've kept it up the past few months! 

Reading is something that I love doing and, for the most part, I have no problem powering through the latest thriller or mystery. Take a look at my March 2018 recap to see what I mean haha! I am a fiction junkie and once I find an author or series that I enjoy, there’s no stopping me.

Last year, however, I realized I wasn't putting aside as much time as I’d like to read non-fiction books that will help my business, mindset and continuing education. And that’s a damn shame because I enjoy those books too!

If you're looking for books to read over the next few weeks that will positively impact your business, I hope these recommendations tickle your fancy! 

Let's take a look.

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The best places to get social media graphic templates

First of all, you have to build the dang thing and that is a serious undertaking. There's so much that goes into the the design, layout, formatting and technical integrations before people can actually visit your site! And once it’s live, the fun doesn’t stop. Running a website is pretty much a full-time job, especially if you are trying to grow and monetize it down the road. Whether your website supports another business or it IS your business, there are so many moving parts to keep track of if you want it to succeed!

Some of us find the technical side of running a website super easy, but have a harder time with the design elements. We can do it, of course, but sometimes the creative design process is a struggle! 

One thing that I often hear from my clients is that once their website goes live, they want to use social media to send traffic back to their sites. This is music to my ears because it follows best practices, but it’s also where people get stumped. This is especially true if you aren't a graphic designer who is used to creating design elements every day! I hear my clients lament that they aren’t designers themselves or that they don't have a dedicated designer on staff to whip up all of the social media graphics that are needed to support their sites and blog posts.

Little do they know, they don’t have to be! And they don't have to hire out that design work either.

Let me introduce you to the wonderful world of social media graphic templates available online. There are tons of gorgeous options available and  many of them are free to use… you just have to know where to look!

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5 ways to earn $100K/year as a freelance web designer/developer

Sharing this as a friendly reminder / motivation / inspiration / kick in the pants for myself and others!

$100K / year is totally doable. It will take a bit of hustle and heart but that income goal is totally reachable. Money doesn’t have to be a scary thing and the more comfortable we are talking about it, the easier it gets to reach our goals.

Do the work, share what you know and charge good money for it!

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