Mommy Ginger
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14 Years of Blogging and These are the Things I Learned…

It was one afternoon a Japanese restaurant when I decided to blog. At that time, the easiest and the most accessible tool was called LiveJournal. My mom, dad and sister loved eating out so I wanted to start food blogging. Blogging wasn’t really something that you could earn from at that time. It was hobby that people got into when they wanted to journal and document that food that they ate, the clothes that they wore or their recent trip.

On that same year around December, I met a guy who later on became my boyfriend. This man started a blog with this family called Manila Reviews. I loved the idea, so I volunteered to be one of the writers, too. Fast forward to two years after, we were planning our wedding and he and I took over Manila Reviews while other family members started their own blogs, too.

Me with my husband, Ej! 🙂

Manila Reviews was the first blog that we kept for many years (2007 to 2015). It was a lifestyle blog where I would write about food and beauty, because these were the things that I was interested in writing about. I also started Manila Fitness, a blog about fitness and health (2009 to 2015).

We got our first brand deal from Nokia way back in 2008, but never really thought of monetizing our content until 2010, when I was writing for other blogs as a freelancer writer. It thought to myself, “why am I making money for other people?” This is when I decided to turn this passion into something profitable.

Run “Content Creation” like any Business…

This is the time when I started creating a media kit, a professional influencer bio and impressive proposals. I was working as a banker, so I applied all my professional skills into my blogging career. And that apparently worked! We were getting brand deals here and there. We were earning around $6,000 to $10,000 per year from content creation.

I kept both these blogs going until 2013, when I started MommyGinger.com. This was the time when I had my first child, and since my intention for the blog was to document my life, I was writing about my experiences being a mom. This was the time also that I started an events business called Manila Workshops. In my blog, I would also write about my experiences on setting up a business and juggling my time as a mom and as an entrepreneur.

Be Clear with what the Job of your Blog is…

From merely documenting my life, my purpose for the blog evolved to it being a platform where I can help other aspiring entrepreneurs create and sustain a business. I am a firm believer that you need to know exactly what it is that you want to say, what your purpose is and what you believe in. In these times when the influencer marketing industry is on track to be worth $15 Billion by 2022, you need to stand out. You can do this by being authentic to your own personal brand, enjoying what you’re doing while providing value to others and by using that “voice” that you have to make positive changes around you.

Don’t stress about monetizing your content…

Focus on developing quality content that offers value. Whether it’s to provide education, entertainment or information, focus on what value you want to give your audience. If your readers and followers get value from your content, you will have loyal followers.

Experiment using different platforms…

Through the years, different social media platforms have been created and each one targets a particular niche. It’s good to experiment and see which platform can effectively help you carry on your purpose. My belief when it comes to this is to be at least present in all since presence increases credibility and trust. You can be active in those platforms that you are comfortable in using, platforms where your audience is and platforms that allow you to deliver your message effectively.

This is why I blog… For this little cutie!

I’m trying a new platform now called Intellifluence. It allows me to earn by reviewing products that I love and would like to try out. Opportunities like these are out there, so keep your eyes peeled!

These are some of the things that I have learned as a content creator and vlogger/blogger.

My journey is far from over. I’m still learning a lot from creating content so I’ll prolly do this for another decade. For those who have questions or need tips on blogging or business, don’t hesitate to reach out to me and book a call. We can talk about growing your brand, starting your blogging business and fulfilling your purpose!

Tips for Aspiring Mom Bloggers Part 2 – Creating Content

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After going through your WHY (why you want to create a blog or vlog) and after contemplating if you can actually be consistent enough to sustain this, then it’s time to think about creating content.

THE FIRST TEN

If you’re a first time blogger or vlogger, try to start creating your first 10 articles or your first 10 videos first. The first 10 that you’ll create will be important, because during this time…

You’ll be able to identify topics that you really want to write about.

As time goes by, there will be many distractions. Distraction comes in many forms like brands inviting you to write about their products and services. Another distraction is seeing that not a lot of people are reading your content. You’ll try to shift gears and try out a lot of tactics like holding a contest, etc. Sure, it may work once or twice, then your stats (number of page views or visitors) will go back to how it was before you ran contests. Also, you may be distracted by what other bloggers or vloggers are writing or vlogging about. You’ll think “I should write more about what these bloggers are writing about.” Creating content will surely stress you out!

I’m not saying that experimenting on different things is bad. In fact, I encourage it. But during this time that you’re thinking about the first ten things, this is time that you’ll be least distracted

You’ll start knowing yourself better and you’ll start thinking of your Personal Brand.

In the first part of this series, I mentioned that consistency is key. In the process of creating the first 10, you’ll know if this is something that you can sustain. You’ll also have a clearer idea on where you want to take your blog — what topics do you want to write about and if you’ll have enough content to last you a lifetime. The ten topics that you choose are most likely the things that you want to talk about.

Also, you’ll, be able to start thinking of the type of audience that you want to talk to or you want to attract.

I’ve written a few articles in the past about Personal Branding and Branding for Blogs. Check out these links:

Blogging and Branding
My Portfolio Site is now Re-branded! (with Personal Branding Tips)
Create a Blog and BRAND It!

In creating content, some of you may ask, where do I write my articles? Just write it in a Google Docs or in Microsoft word. For the videos, you may do simple edits even or just use a raw file for your first few content. These things need not be perfect. You just have to get it done and then review it.

HOMEWORK:

For aspiring mom/dad bloggers or for any aspiring blogger out there, you can do this first Homework.

Please create your first 10 posts or videos

If you’re done with this, I can help you by going through the content with you, and we can even talk about branding and content after. For those who also want to learn more, you can fill out this form as we’re thinking of running a blogging workshop soon with my friends Cat Arambulo, Jackie Go and Shari Poquiz.

Now, in creating content for your blog, my basic tips for you are:

  • Choose topics that are somewhat “evergreen”. Evergreen content are topics that can be read, re-read, used, linked back to for all eternity. No matter what year it is in the future, it will be RELEVANT.
  • Another thing that you want to do is at least check and edit your content. I am guilty of sometimes not checking and reading the posts that I create. I’m the type of person who thinks and writes with PASSION and gusto. Haha! Then I just hit the publish button. That may be something that you might do when you’re confident enough that you won’t be making major Boo-boo’s. But if you know that your weakness are sentence construction, spelling, etc., you might want to use https://www.grammarly.com/. Not endorsing here, but a lot of my content writer friends are using this tool.
  • Have a relevant and catchy title (at least) for your first few posts. Let’s face it, people love to click on posts that have catchy titles. Write a clear title and please have content that’s really related to the title. I’ve seen content with titles that are way unrelated to each other.
  • Length (for me) doesn’t matter. So there is no expected number of words or expected length for your video. Put yourself in your readers shoes, would they get the gist of what you’re saying in 2 paragraphs? Will they want a longer post or video so that you can give them the lo-down on the stuff that you want to teach? So it really depends on what your audience will eventually like to read or watch from you.

These are just a few tips on creating the content that you need for your blog / vlog. If you have other questions or if you’d like to share more tips, please feel free to comment below or share your tips and questions on social media and use #GINspiration and tag any of my social media accounts (FB: http://facebook.com/mommyginger / IG: http://instagram.com/gingerarboleda / Twitter: http://twitter.com/gingerarboleda )

Hope you can connect with me and I’d gladly reply and respond to your inquiries! Again please feel free to sign up above if you want to join our blogging workshops coming soon!

Tips for Aspiring Mom Bloggers Part 1 – What to Begin With and a Little about Monetization

We have a lot of mom bloggers in the Philippines. And I mean a L-O-T! Just scroll through Instagram or search on Facebook and you’ll find them. My own team in ManilaWorkshops.com conducts business and freelancing workshops, and oftentimes, people ask us to do Blogging 101 workshops.

Those mom bloggers who have been in the industry for a long time now find this space to be very congested already. Notice that I used the word congested, since I didn’t want to describe the landscape as competitive. There is nothing to compete for anyway. The reality is that more and more people have started blogging and that’s okay. What’s sad though is that most of them join this industry not because of the love of the craft, but because most think that this is the easiest way to earn extra income.

Image captured by Veni Anabo: https://journeyofthevees.wordpress.com/

That latter reason of wanting more income isn’t bad, too, but then it leads people down a path of depression and loss of self-worth. We equate the number of readers, the number of followers, the number of comments and the number of likes with our worth.

There are many challenges that mom bloggers have to overcome. This is the reason why Mommy Pehpot of https://www.pehpot.com/ and I did this live session. Check out the video above.

When I asked my friends who are deemed successful bloggers like Frances Sales of http://www.topazhorizon.com/, Cat Arambulo – Anotnio of http://catarambulo.com/, Shari of http://www.themistymom.com/ and Jackie Go of http://gojackiego.com/ though if they really planned to earn from blogging, all of them said that it was purely accidental. Looking back at my journey, too, as a blogger, I never really intended to earn from MommyGinger.com. I just love writing. I also am very passionate about learning trying out new things. Family and friends know me as an early adopter when it comes to trying out new platforms, new activities, etc.

So in terms of monetizing your mommy blog, it will take time. When you create and start your blog, don’t think about money first. Money will come eventually.

The first thing that you need to take care of is creating consistent content for at least 5 months, then see if this is something that you can do and something that you love doing. Why 5 months? When you want to come up with at least 21 posts every week, that will take you 5 months.

Aside from writing the content in your blog, don’t forget to use social media to amplify your message. Create a Facebook Page, Twitter account and an Instagram account. Then every time come up with content, share and announce your new content in these channels. It may even be good to think about creating videos, too. People love watching videos on Youtube, Instagram TV and even other platforms like Kumu (please follow me on Kumu @ginger… hehe!).

After 5 months of delivering consistent content and see if you can continue doing this for the rest of your life. I’ve been blogging for 11 years already, and i’m still happily doing this. So if you’re like me after 5 months, comment on the section below and say, I’m READY! haha!

I’ll be coming up with other topics about mom blogging soon so stay tuned for those!

Also, my friends (Cat, Shari, Jackie and I) have been talking about creating a workshop on blogging. We will announce this to people who are truly interested! If you are VERY MUCH interested to join, please fill out this form:

So just to recap on how to get started, the first thing that you need to do is to know the reason why you want to have a blog. Will you be able to remain consistent in the years to come? Try to write (even without a blog) your first content this week and see if this is something that makes you happy! 🙂

Stay tuned for my next post for mom bloggers 😉