Starting My Own Blog – How My WordPress Blog Can Help You

Last updated on August 1st, 2018 at 06:50 pm

I am starting my own blog and while the blog is new, I am not new to concept of blogging. I’ve set up several niche blogs and still have some online that continue to make me residual income.

This is my first time ever setting up a tutorial style blog with the sole purpose of helping people along the way.

If you haven’t had a chance to read my about page, head on over there right now to find out what this blog is about. If new to WordPress and would like to use my tutorials and articles to help you then click here.

The about page is still a work in progresss, but I think it’ll give you a good idea of my mission and goals for this site. I am tweaking it constantly so I can better explain to you why I’ve started my own blog. So before I can tell you about how my WordPress blog can help you, I have tell you a little bit about my past experiences.

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Let Me Tell You a Short Story

I still vividly remember the day that I sat down to setup my first WordPress site. It was an early morning in 2007, I don’t remember the exact date. I do however remember the experience and how it made me feel.

I had a friend who knew a lady that sold children’s books. We all know someone who knows someone anyway… She had told her that I could help her with her WordPress website.

She knew that I was intrigued by the online Internet marketing world. I had been reading blogs, websites and forums about using WordPress to start an online business. I just didn’t have the courage to get started.

I guess you could say I was waiting till I read everything I could get my hands on before I actually pulled the trigger.

To this day I don’t know why she thought I could help a paying customer, when I hadn’t even setup a WordPress website. She bragged to the lady and made me look like I was a website setup expert. So when the lady asked me to help her, I caved and said sure and that was when my nightmare began

I can’t tell you why I agreed. Looking back, I guess I would say that I thought it would be easier if I had to learn how to do it than wanting to learn how to do it.

Maybe it was the thought of learning how to make money using WordPress. I honestly can’t tell you why I accepted her offer, I just did.

Well long story short, she offered to pay me $700.00 for the website.  Hey a girl’s gotta eat, so I accepted…how hard could it really be?

My First Paying Client

I had no clue what or how I was going to set up the site, but I knew that I had to, especially since I had already agreed and told her I could.

So I grabbed my PC laptop (now I’m on a Mac) with my cup of coffee and started my venture of setting up my first WordPress site. I remember going to several different websites online that would give me a little bit of information.

However, when I got to the end of their blog post, I was like what do I do now? I was left hanging with nowhere to turn on how to finish the setup.

I browsed forums, blogs and videos where ever I could find them. I was able to find little pieces of nuggets. But nothing that took me by the hand or showed me pictures on how to do this step or that.

I felt like a chipmunk trying to find nuggets to store for the upcoming winter months. I kept running everywhere gathering nuggets where ever I could find them.

I had spent half a day browsing for WordPress tutorials that I could use to help me setup my first WordPress website. You might be thinking, why I just didn’t go back to the lady and tell her I couldn’t help her?

To tell you the truth, I am not sure why I didn’t. Maybe you could say that I was determined to figure out what the hell this WordPress thing was. People everywhere were saying that it was one of the best platforms to use to build an online business.

So I was going to figure it out no matter what…

Eight Hours Later or More…

The 8 hours that it actually took me to set up the site does not include all the browsing and researching I did looking for helpful tutorials on how to setup WordPress. If I included that, it would probably be closer to 12. That’s 12 hours to set up the site, that’s not including the design and installing the plugins.

Catalyst was the premium theme I used to setup her site with. I really don’t remember much about the theme, expect that it had claimed to be easy to use. So I purchased the theme expecting it to be a breeze to learn. Well I guess the concept of easy varies from person to person. Needless to say, it wasn’t easy for me. It took me a whole two weeks to get things looking good and making her happy.

So while the $700 sounded good to setup the site, I ended up making less than minimum wage. Heck now that I think about it, I didn’t even clear minimum wage standards.

If you think about it, I also purchased the Catalyst theme, with my own money!

My First WordPress Website Completed

So after long hours of sitting on the couch with my PC and drinking cup after cup of coffee I finally set up my first WordPress website. 🙂

My first experience was not a pleasant one. In fact, I didn’t enjoy the process. The whole time a little voice in my head kept saying “you’re not going to be able to help her and you will just have to tell her sorry you told her you could.”

We all have that little voice inside of us that tells us we can’t do something, most of the time we listen to it. Mine was singing louder than the church bells. What has yours told you that you couldn’t do?

Somehow I was able to ignore that little voice and push through. I finally got the website up with a premium theme and I even learned learned a little bit about installing WordPress plugins.

So I guess you could say I was quite proud of myself…but a little embarrassed of how the overall website looked like.

It definitely wasn’t a Michelangelo piece of work. (not even close) But it was the first site that I set up for my first client.  Look mom I did it!

Here’s the snapshot of what my first WordPress website looked like.

As of the time of this writing the website is no longer online. I found a snapshot of it on the WayBack Machine.

What This Experience Taught Me

After this long horrifying experience I realized that I needed more help with WordPress. I didn’t understand the basics of setting it up. Heck I didn’t even know what SEO was or how to properly implement it on my site.

So this got me on the path self-education. I started playing with WordPress on my local server and learning as much as I could about it so I could better understand it.

I also ventured into the niche blogging arena and decided to stay away from helping clients. I wasn’t comfortable for asking someone to pay me for something that I had no clue how to do.

Enter Internet Marketing With Niche Sites

I still wanted to make money with WordPress, there had to be an easier way than getting clients and offering services. That’s when I found the Warrior Forum. If you’ve never been there, it’s a place that they sell products that promise to teach you how to make money online.

Well being that I was new online, I was unhappy with my day job. It was like my perfect little place. I started buying product after product because they were reasonably priced.

Some products taught me more than others. What I can say is that I learned something from each and every product I purchased. I am huge believer in self-education. So I don’t believe it was a waste of money.

Long story short, I did make some money. But I realized that it wasn’t very fulfilling.

So I went back to learning WordPress and even went to a local college. I thought I could learn more if I got a formal education and it would help me get clients.

That was a waste of time and money. The college that I went to didn’t really teach me anymore than I had taught myself. It also didn’t make me more valuable in the WordPress world.

Enter WordPress Freelancing

For the past 2 years almost 3, I’ve been a full-time WordPress freelancer working from home. While I enjoy it and it no longer takes me 8 hours to setup a WordPress website. I actually know what I’m doing now.

This is a snapshot of a site that I just setup for a client not too long ago, I blurred out the logo for the client protection and privacy. I currently manage and maintain over 22 WordPress websites for clients.

To date, I have set up around 15 websites for clients. I still don’t know everything and no I am not a designer or developer. I can dabble in both and can accomplish what I need to do.

My CSS skills are way better than PHP.

I won’t be teaching PHP on this blog, so don’t be looking for tutorials creating themes and plugins.

This tool has made my freelancing experience easier. It would have been nice if it would have been around when I first got started online.

Moving Away From Freelancing

While I enjoy freelancing, it still feels like a job. I have deadlines to meet and find myself working harder than when I did have an actual job. The main reason I decided to become an entrepreneur was because of the freedom it provided me. I didn’t want to create a work at home job.

That’s why I’ve decided to create this blog and share my knowledge with you. It’s going to help you learn everything I’ve learned about WordPress knowledge in my 8 years of working with it.

While I am going to be using it as a platform to make my move from full-time freelancer to full-time blogger. It’s a win-win for both of us.

So How Can My WordPress Blog Help You?

We went in a full circle but we’re back to how my blog can help you. If you’re new and you are just getting started with WordPress, you don’t have to do it alone. My goal is to make it easy for to get started by holding your hand and showing you the way. I wish someone would have done this for me when I first got started.

My mission is to help fellow entrepreneurs and bloggers start, grow and monetize their own blog so they can use it to make an income and change their lives…even if you’re a non-techie blogger.

Content You’ll Find On My Blog

I know that it takes a lot more than just learning WordPress to start a successful blog. You also need to know the techie side of:

• Video
• Social Media
• Tools that make our lives easier
• and etc…

 
You will receive information that is a combination of educational information, practical strategies and tutorials, ideas and motivational tips and advice that will help you grow your blog.

My main goal is to help fellow entrepreneurs, bloggers, small business owners and solopreneurs start, manage and grow their WordPress blog so they can use it to make an income and change their lives.

So be sure to bookmark my site and visit often as I am going to be putting out some awesome information.

I am setting up and continuing to set up basic WordPress tutorials that will help you understand this powerful platform in 2015 powers 25% of the web. If you’ve been wanting to get started online, there is no better time than now.

People of all ages have found a way to offer their services and products online to create the lifestyle they want.

Stop making excuses and waiting till you’re ready, you’re NEVER going to be completely ready.  Just jump in with both feet, if you fail, so what get up and dust yourself off and keep going. We have all failed at something in our lives.

[clickToTweet tweet=”If you’re NOT failing at something, then you’re not making yourself uncomfortable.” quote=”If you’re NOT failing at something, then you’re not making yourself uncomfortable. @susanWPTutorials” theme=”style4″]

If you’re still reading, then read my post on starting a blog.

This WordPress blog is meant to guide you and hold your hand, with basic WordPress tutorials that I feel will be beneficial for a beginner getting started with WordPress. I will also be sharing my experience of transitioning from a full-time WordPress freelancer to a full-time WordPress blogger and digital product creator. If you need a specific WordPress tutorial on something, don’t hesitate to contact me.

While I can’t promise I will know how to do what you need, I am sure I can find something written about it online and point you in the right direction.

What This WordPress Blog Post Meant to Achieve

I hope you enjoyed reading about my first WordPress screw-ups and journey up to this point. I wrote it because I wanted to show you that if someone who struggled online to learn this platform, pushed through and was finally able to push past the obstacles and barriers.

So can you. It doesn’t require you to master WordPress to begin. All you need is the will to succeed and the determination to keep learning and trying from your failures and successes.

Hopefully, it showed you that I’ve failed more than once in my journey. Chances are you will too…

I know you don’t want to hear that, we all want to be told that it’s easy to succeed online. Ask anyone who is having success and they will tell you that it was a long and hard road to get there. Some of them will even share their stories of how they got from point A to point B.

If someone tries to tell you that you can experience success overnight. They’re lying and you should run as fast as you can before you do any business with them.

My Regrets from This Experience

While I don’t have many regrets in my life. I do regret the fact that I never stuck with one path. After my first horrible WordPress experience, I jumped from one shiny object to the next (Internet marketing jargon).

We’ve all been tempted by the shiny object syndrome…don’t lie. They make it sound so good. It’s almost impossible not to jump on-board and join the in the gold rush.

Only to realize that it doesn’t work for you, even though you work hard at it, they don’t show you everything or you realize you really don’t enjoy it.

I’ve spent thousands on all kinds of online products and programs that promise riches. I don’t believe or expect overnight riches. But I bought into certain products because I wanted someone to show me the ropes.

I’m NOT blaming the products or the money that I’ve spent throughout my online journey. Each and every product that I purchased did teach me something. So I can’t say that I blew my money and didn’t learn anything.

I would work one product for awhile, then I would go out looking for more info-products. I was looking for quick and easy.

Isn’t that what we all want? Be honest with yourself…it wasn’t until I was that I realized what I really wanted to do with my life and freelancing found me.
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How Can I Take My Passion of Helping Others and Make a Living?

I recently visited Kim Doyle on her blog and she gave me some direction to use for my new WordPress blog. So I just wanted to send a shout out to The WordPress Chick.

That’s how this blog was born. I want to continue helping people with their WordPress websites through videos and step-by-step tutorials. That way people won’t have to struggle like I did when I first started my WordPress journey. I will be doing this will continuing to freelance, after all a girl’s gotta eat pay her bills.

This blog is for you if you want to learn how to start a self-hosted blog while learning the tech side of blogging, so you can manage your own blog.

My tutorials are NOT for everyone. If you’re an advanced WordPress user, you probably won’t find my tutorials beneficial. My tutorials are catered more towards the beginner who is just getting started online.

Well here I am again starting from scratch like I did on day one. The only difference is that I now have both eyes open. I do have some knowledge under my belt and I know what my goals are.

Sometimes I wonder how much farther I could be with my online journey if only I had stuck with one path.

That’s why they say Hindsight is 20/20

This Time Around

I am going to stick with it and help you.  No more jumping from shiny object to the next. I enjoy writing step-by-step tutorials, and my freelance clients need to utilize them for their websites.

Hopefully, this blog will help me move away from my freelance world and move more towards creating my own digital products and making money with affiliate marketing. Who knows what else this WordPress blog may help me accomplish….only time will tell.

This is still a fairly new WordPress blog and I don’t get a lot of traffic to it yet.

So basically, I guess you could say I am talking to myself. No one is taking the time to read my blog, but I’m going to keep writing and sharing and waiting for YOU to find me. When you do, stop by and introduce yourself and let me know a little bit about yourself.

So stick with me and let’s work towards creating the online lifestyle that we envision for ourselves…..

My mission is to help you learn the techie side of blogging in hopes of empowering you to start, manage and grow your own blog & create the lifestyle you desire!

I want to grow this blog by creating awesome content that will help you learn WordPress so you can use this blog as your go-to resource for growing your own blog.

Have you been considering starting a WordPress blog if so, what’s holding you back? Drop a comment below and let me why you want to start a WordPress blog and what your goals are.

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