I started a simple blogging project about 18 months ago as a way to recover from near-burnout as a graphic designer at a day job and as a freelancer. I wanted a fun project that would let me play and be creative. But of course, I’m a designer who specializes in brand management, so this little play-project turned into an experiment in building a brand to establishing myself as an authority in the niche I chose to play in (stationery supplies, art journaling, paper, and pens).
Imagine my surprise when this little play project took off and I suddenly had an audience clamoring for more and more content from me. I had to figure out a way to publish these in-depth, long-form articles on the website while nurturing this growing community who was hungry for more content from me. I also had to figure out how to squeeze in content creation, website design, and learning about SEO and marketing while still holding down a day job that keeps me away from home for 12 hours a day.
That’s where my organizing and time management skills came in. I devised a way to chip away at content creation using a detailed checklist and editorial calendar. As a designer and writer, I have no desire to learn how to code – but that doesn’t mean I can’t have a beautiful, functional, and effective WordPress blog.
I’m not a professional blogger, but my blog is making me some extra money and I’m having fun learning new ways to use content to make more money.
I’m not a project manager, but I’ve had to learn how to manage this community of like-minded “nerds” and keep content creation on track and publish regular articles and about seven million other things all at once.
I’m not a marketing guru, but I had to learn how to leverage SEO and grassroots marketing tactics to spread the word and grow a following.
I’m not a coder or WordPress developer, but I sure can use the features of a theme to make it do what I need it to do without having to touch a single line of code.
I’m just a girl with a blog who had figured things out along the way and I wonder if there are others who might learn a thing or two from my methods.