The Ultimate Blog Podcast - 128. 100K Celebration: Your Questions Answered!

Episode Date: May 28, 2024

You asked, and we answered! In celebrating over 100,000 downloads for the podcast, we wanted to hear from YOU! We asked you all to send in your questions via Speakpipe and today we are answer 5 of those questions right here on the podcast! Tune in as we answer your blogging questions!Thanks for listening! Let us know your thoughts on Instagram: @sparkmediaconceptsJoin the Ultimate Blog Bootcamp HERE!Check out the show notes (link below) for more information including links and resources mentioned in today's episode!SHOW NOTES: www.sparkmediaconcepts.com/episode128

Welcome to the Ultimate Blog Podcast with Amy Reinke and Jennifer Draper. We are on a mission to empower women who want to start or grow their own blog. This podcast is for women who want to learn blogging basics and who crave inspiration and encouragement. Whether you are just getting started or have been a blogger for years, we are excited to welcome you into this space where we are passionate about creating community over competition. We are bloggers who want to encourage you to believe in your potential, step outside the norm and step into a life where you create your own schedule, your own success and your

own story. Join us for weekly episodes as we navigate blogging and work from home life, all while raising a family and having some serious fun along the way. Today we are celebrating over a hundred thousand downloads with you guys. And actually, since that monumental milestone, we are over a hundred and twenty thousand. So first and foremost, thank you so much for your downloads, for listening each and every week and learning more about blogging with Jennifer and I. We love showing up and this episode is kind of a give back to you. What we have done is asked you guys to send in your questions and we got a couple that we're going to go over today and share with you.

And they're all different, which I think is, it just speaks volumes that there are so many different questions about blogging, kind of about the technical side, but also the mindset side and things like that. So without further ado, we are going to dive right in. Hi, my question is about SEO. I read something about alt text and filling in a box to describe what's going on in photos. And I use a lot of photos in my blog. And I'm wondering if that's worth it, worth taking the time to do that and also to go back on all my posts and fill in the alt text box on the images.

So that will help with my SEO. Is that a good use of my time? Thanks. This is a great question. And I think there is a lot of confusion around alt text and its use in blogging because for many years, people were told to try to keyword stuff, essentially the alt text in their photos.

So I wanna back up just a little bit and explain to anyone who doesn't know what we're talking about. So when you upload a photo to WordPress, there are boxes where you can fill in information about that photo. So in addition to the name of the photo, there's gonna be a box that's called alt text.

And that box allows you to type words in there and the true purpose of that box is so that you can describe what is in the photo and so yes it is very important and I'll explain why that is so it is not just a way to tell everybody what the name of your blog post is again, or what your keywords are. What it is is for anyone who is visually impaired, or anyone who is using a screen reader

for any purpose really, you can essentially, when you're going through the post and you get to the photo, if someone can't see it or needs more context around that photo, it's going to explain to them in words what the photo is. So whether they are listening to that, et cetera, they will be able to get more context and to understand what is in the photo.

So that is important for a couple purposes. It's important because of those people on your site who need it. We want to fill that need for them. And that's our biggest purpose as bloggers in general, is to fill the needs of our readers. So yes, it's important for that reason. And then also in Google's eyes, if you're not filling that out, you are not optimizing your blog post fully.

And so whether or not they penalize you for that is, you know, we don't know for sure what's going to happen, but they could. So it could also then turn around and impact your blog in terms of not being able to compete with other blogs who have fully optimized their blog posts. So I hope that makes sense and, and explains why that's important. And so if you have posts on your website, you have photos on your website already, or you have not done that, then it is worthwhile to go back and update those. And I'll let Amy talk about a couple options that, you know, that can help you if you, if you want

to do that, so it doesn't feel so overwhelming. Yeah. So a company by the name of The Blog Fixer, who was actually on our podcast on May 21st. So if you go back and listen to that episode, that's going to be really helpful. They can actually help you do this using their program. And what it will do is essentially run a site scan and then it can pull up your images and you can quickly add the alt text. So I know it seems very overwhelming to go in and have to go into each post and then go into each image.

So there are ways to do this quicker. The BlogFixer has a fix for that. And we will put a link to that in the show notes for you to get connected with them. We actually have a free site scan that you can utilize, and they can kind of let you know what issues they see on your site. And not having alt text like Jennifer mentioned is going to be an issue that they are going to bring up and then provide a fix for it. I also want to just plug a future episode that we have coming out. It's going to be episode 132 coming out on June 25th. And that's with Nina Clapperton.

And she is going to be talking all about how to get your blog set up to be in compliance with ADA, which is really important. Nina is really passionate about this. She taught us a lot even on that particular episode as somebody who does use a screen reader, like why this is so important and why we should be showing up for people who might not just be visually impaired like Jennifer said,

but they might have ADHD, they might be blind, they might be having other disabilities that they need a screen recorder. So this is more than just for the visually impaired because that's a lot of times all we hear is that it's for just that. So it truly is worth your time to go back to make sure that you are showing up

for your readers on your site. Hi, Amy and Jennifer, this is Courtney from Sweet New Roots and I have two questions for the two of you. Can you tell us about a time when you ever felt like giving up on blogging and what were the deciding factors in choosing to stick with it? Who wants to start here, Jennifer? Would you like to start? I'll start. Yeah. Gosh, I was just trying to think of which time I wanted to talk about because I think this feeling of wanting to give up sometimes when you are venturing out on your own,

you're creating something that nobody's created before. There are just going to be times when you're like, why am I doing this? It's hard. It's not going the way that I think it should. Maybe I just need to shut it all down, pack it all up. and maybe I need to go back to work for somebody else, or maybe I just need to be home with my kids. Those feelings, first and foremost, those feelings are totally normal. And I think when you go into entrepreneurship and blogging, you should expect to feel them. So I know one of the times I probably struggled the most was after the death of my brother, it just, you know, I was very overwhelmed in my life.

And I had so many things to deal with that the blog just had to take a backseat. And I think that there was a lot of times during that time when I was like, I don't even know, like, why am I spending my time on this? Is it really valuable to the world? You know, you start asking yourself all those life questions when, when something tragic happens in your life. And so I did have to really take a step back and just be kind to myself and know that it was okay to take a break from blogging.

And I think it was months, if not closer to a year, that I really did not create much new content. And I kind of just sat behind the scenes and just allowed myself to think about what I wanted to do. And I think what ultimately I decided was that blogging does have such a purpose, no matter what you're blogging about. And the purpose is, A, to help somebody else. You're helping somebody else with something going on in their life. But it also,

it helps us. It helps us to keep growing, to keep learning, to have the opportunity to do something that we love. And that's a gift. It is truly a gift when you can spend your days doing something that you love to do. And when I kind of laid it all out at the, you know, at the end of the day, thinking like, okay, here's my options. There was no question for me that this is what I wanted to do because I do enjoy it. I gave myself permission. It's okay to do things that I enjoy. Cause I think that can be hard too sometimes. We're so conditioned to believe that, you know, work should look a certain way, we shouldn't like our job, things like that.

So, I think just giving myself the permission that it's okay to do something that I love. And that, you know, that the other piece of it was like, you can make it look like what you need it to look like in your life at any given point in time. You don't have to be comparing yourself to somebody else's journey, where they're at with their blog, how much money they're making with their blog. It's all such an individual thing.

So that's really what kept me going, was just knowing that it was important to me and that I was making an impact on other people and that I can make it look like what I needed it to look like at any given point in my life. I love this question, Courtney. And the reason I love it is because I think that as bloggers, we are often sitting behind our computers by ourselves and we don't know that other people are having those same thoughts or feelings. And I think when we can kind of lift the veil and see what's going on behind the scenes,

it really does speak a lot of truth and it helps us all feel less alone. So I just wanna first and foremost say thank you for asking the question because I think it's important, especially those of you who are listening who think that Jennifer and I have it all together. We don't. And we have had times independently that we have considered throwing in the towel.

We've had times of spark that we've asked ourselves the same question, to be honest. And I love what Jennifer said is that we've never made like a rash decision to stop doing something. It all comes with a lot of thought. And I tell myself often, like not to make a big decision on a bad day. And you can want to make a big decision on a bad day because on a bad day, then, you know, that's when it would be easier to quit, right?

It makes a lot of sense because it's overwhelming and you're dysregulated and all the things. But if I would still make that same decision, you know, on a good day, then that means that it's time to, you know, take a stop or take a break or whatever. I recently shared about that in episode 126 when I was talking about blogger burnout, and I talked about having to take a sabbatical for my own blog and my own podcast. And that was a really hard decision for me. It was something that I did not make that decision on a bad day.

I made it over a collection of weeks, to be honest. And it was not a decision that was made lightly. And sometimes the break is necessary. I think what I wanna make sure that people understand is you can take a break in blogging. You don't have to quit. And that your blog can continue to work for you. And that's the beauty of having a blog versus just doing work on social media. Is your blog, if you have, you know, set up the foundations, the way that we teach, whether

you're listening to our podcast or whether you have been a student of ours. If you have to take that break, your blog is still working for you. It might not grow if you aren't producing new content or sending out emails or things like that, but your content is still out there serving people. And so don't discount the fact that if you need to take a week off or you need to take a month off or you need to take a year off, like when I had my daughter, my third child, I didn't post also for about a year, but I still made revenue on my blog for that entire year, because I already had content created. So it allowed me to show up. Now, was I making as much money as I had before? No. Like, your income is going to shift some, so you have to take that into consideration.

But I asked the question in that episode that we recently shared was, you know, define what success means to you. And I think that that is a really important question. That is something that it was one of our early podcast guests said to me, said to us. And that was a lot of times we like wrap everything up in just the money of it and like how much income we're making. And what I want to ask you when you are thinking about quitting, because this is a question that I often ask myself when I'm in, especially right now when I'm in the sabbatical stage, is if I were to go work for somebody else, does that align with what blogging is to me in the definition of success. And for me personally, I'll share mine. It is really important to me to be able to be with my kids in the morning, take them to school,

and also be here when they come home from school. When we decided to have a family, that was kind of a non-negotiable for me. The reason being is because my parents were business owners and they were often gone either the mornings or the afternoonsons and that impacted me. And I didn't want that for my kids. Now, if that's what you do, there's no judgment here at all.

I want to be sure I'm saying that, but that was an important value to me to be the one who was going to pick them up from school. If I go and work for somebody else, I likely am not going to be able to do that. I will likely have to have afterschool care. I will likely be paying more out in daycare. And so is that trade-off worth it? Not only that, but there is flexibility in blogging. There is flexibility in making your own schedule

and having it align with your goals and values. I don't have to ask off for a vacation. Me and Jennifer talk about when we're taking time off, but it's not like I have to ask Jennifer, hey, can I take off this week? You know, we are the rulers of our own schedule and there is a lot of beauty in that, if I'm honest and a lot of freedom in that. And with the flip side is that you do have to be determined and you do have to be motivated to get your work done and make sure that you are putting in that way you can get out of

it what you want to get out of it. So I think it's very normal for many of us to think that maybe blogging just isn't for me. And I don't want you to run away from that feeling. I want you to press into it. I want you to lean in and I want you to ask yourself, why am I feeling this way? What is out of alignment? Why do I think this isn't something that I should be doing? And really try to decipher what your personal answer is and how that can be solved.

Is there something that you need to shift? Is there something that you need to change? And I feel like I'm kind of regurgitating what I said in episode 126. So if this particular question speaks to you, I really do want you to go back and listen to episode 126 because I think it could be really insightful and helpful because you might be feeling a little bit burned out. And some of the questions that I ask in that episode might just help you kind of work through that feeling. Have you been listening to the podcast because you want to start a blog? Maybe you've listened to several episodes now and you're feeling inspired, but something is

still holding you back. Most often tech is what prevents people from starting their blog and that is why we created The Ultimate Blog Bootcamp. Our signature online course was created to support new bloggers as they start their journey. The Ultimate Blog Bootcamp is the support you need as you get started and we literally support you every step of the way. You get instant access to the course and can start your blog today. It's time to stop thinking about it and just do it. The course is broken up in such a way that you start at the beginning from branding and design and tech setup and will move into the basics of SEO and email marketing. You get our support on Slack for six weeks so you never have a question unanswered

and you will be empowered as you create your blog from the ground up. We know how overwhelming starting a blog can be and with our support and others who are in the course, we hope you know that your blogging community is waiting for you to say yes to your dream. Click the link in our show notes for more information on the ultimate blog boot camp and how you can get started now. Hello, I've started my blog and it's been going consistently for about three months now. So far invested in a keyword research tool and that's the only thing I've spent my money on. What would you recommend the next best thing is for me to invest money into in order to grow my blog? What would make the most impact?

I guess. Thank you for your time. I think this is an excellent question. And I think it's one that we can definitely give some air time to because it's very ambiguous. I love when we see ads that are like, you can start a blog for X amount of money and it's like $5. That is a lie. You cannot start a blog for $5.

So knowing what you need to invest in, I think is really, really important. And I'm so glad that you've asked this question. We think it's awesome that you have done a keyword research tool. That's a really great place to start. There are a lot of other foundations though, that we wanna make sure that you have in place.

We actually have a blog post on this that we are going to link in the show notes. And the name of this blog post is, how much money does it cost to start a blog? And in this post, we really do break it completely down for you. So what platform you need to have, where to buy your domain name, the hosting company that we recommend because if you are using WordPress.org,

you will need your own hosting and we do recommend that you do a self-hosted blog. We're going to talk about that here shortly with another question that is asked. And then whether or not you need themes and plugins that are going to help with the functionality of your site, and then what branding and design you need. And one of the most important things, honestly, is email marketing as well. And so how are you going to be able to communicate with your readers and keep them essentially in the loop from what you're doing? And then there's some other accessories and legal things that you're going to want to

consider in regards to the financial investment that you're going to make into your blog. I would ask yourself, like, am I wanting to start a business or am I wanting to do this as a hobby? And I think that that's a really important place to start so you know where your investment needs to lie. Jennifer and I are very, very cognizant in making sure that we are not telling people just to spend money to spend it. And that if we have a recommendation for you for an investment into your blog, it is because we firmly believe in it and we do think it's going to make a difference.

So that we do think it's impactful and it's important. So with that said, I'm going to link that episode in the show notes so you can just kind of look through there. Keyboard research is a really important tool in regards to blogging. Don't miss that. If you are just like throwing spaghetti noodles on the wall, we say that phrase a lot, but that's not always going to serve you well because you don't know what people are actually searching for and how you can create the content that you need. So I think it's a really wise idea that you have that started. I just want to make sure that you also have some of those other foundations that are important too.

Jennifer, do you have anything to add to that question? Yeah, I'm just going to kind of make an assumption based on that question that she's got her kind of keyword research and SEO piece down and that's one of her main focuses. So then I think that the place I would invest next would be in your email marketing, whether that be you go from a free account to a paid account so that you can start working on some automations. Or you're maybe getting a little bit of help in getting some of your initial welcome series or nurture series set up. I think that is the next place I would go. Because once you have your foundations down in terms of creating the content,

it's really creating that connection with your audience. So investing a little bit into your email marketing and getting a lead magnet freebie set up, getting your welcome series and getting some automation set up to help you with that and stay in touch with your audience. Whether that again, is just upgrading your account so that you're paying a little bit of a monthly fee for that

or maybe paying somebody for a little bit of help to get some of those pieces in place. That's probably one of the next places I would invest. Yeah, totally agree. And if you go back in the podcast, we have so many episodes on email marketing, you can just go to sparkmediaconcepts.com, type in email, and it's going to pull up different podcasts that we've done. We also have another one coming in July with Matt Mullen that is going to be really good that we are really excited about sharing with you as well. Hello. So I like to make recipes, use the recipes that I have found on Pinterest, et cetera. But I want to make a blog about trying those recipes.

but I want to make a blog about trying those recipes. Can I link the original site where I found the recipe back to the original writer? But can I monetize that type of site? Okay, this is a great question. And I think we've come across this from time to time. And I want to think through this because I think there's a few important things to consider because recipes can be a little bit sticky in terms of copyright and things like that.

But I like how you've structured this in that you're trying the recipe and you're linking back to the site where you got the recipe. I think that is an important piece to know is that when it comes to recipes, while the list of ingredients is not copyrighted, the instructions are copyrighted. So I want to make it clear that you cannot and should not, I think even ethically, take a recipe from somebody else's site, put it on your site, and call it your recipe, even if you link back to them. And I know that's not what the question was here, but I want wanna make sure that we clarify

what we're talking about in this instance is that we are talking about sharing the experience of making the recipe and then linking back to the original site for that recipe. And yes, I think that you can do that. Now, the place where I would dive into this a little bit more is working on who wants to read that, what the purpose is and what the value is that you're offering.

So I think if you dive into those things a little bit more, that's going to tell you whether or not it's a feasible strategy for monetization. I don't think there's any legal issues, so to speak, if you're doing it that way. But you're going to want to think about what am I offering to the person versus them just going directly to the site and getting the recipe themselves? What are they wanting to learn from me? And I think there are some things you could do there, whether it's you're teaching them some of the basics of cooking, maybe you're targeting a little bit of a different demographic than the original recipe.

Maybe it's a complicated recipe for something. And so you're going to break it down into a really easy to understand for a beginner way. So that's where I would put my time in thinking about something like that is because you wanna make sure that you're gonna be able to offer the value that's going to drive people to your site.

And like I said, I think there's some ways to do that, but it's going to take a lot of careful thought. I agree and fully trust you, Jennifer. And Jennifer's had a food blog for 11 years. So when it comes to food blogging, I really do feel like she knows her stuff. Okay. And we're moving on to our last question. Hi, Amy and Jennifer. My name is Mafra. I'm from the UK. I had, well, two questions. I don't know if I can get both of them in, but the first one is about using Squarespace as a blogging platform. I have done my research. I do know about WordPress being the better

option, the self-hosted site. But I just wondered, is there any scenario where Squarespace might be an option at all? And number two, I guess my heart's kind of leaning on towards a lifestyle blog in some ways. But I keep getting stuck at the very start. I think it's just like knowing how to start and what to write about. Is there any tips you have for a general lifestyle blog for someone who's a mom and just general sort of, you know, rather than just focusing on kids and stuff, is there any other aspect you could sort of think of that might be a starting point for me?

Thank you. This is such a great question, and we do have a chance to answer both of them. So we're going to start with the first one talking about Squarespace. We do believe that there are certain circumstances that a Squarespace blog is beneficial. And that is typically going to be if you are building a local business and want to bring in local traffic, whether that's a brick and mortar, whether you have a service that is typically going to be if you are building a local business and want to bring in local traffic, whether that's a brick and mortar, whether you have a service that is for local. Let's say you have a cookie business that you're wanting to drive traffic to your cookie business

within your local area, that would be a really great opportunity for you to have a Squarespace blog. If you're wanting to build organic traffic from essentially all over the world, then we are going to recommend that you have a self-hosted blog. That means having a WordPress.org blog and then having a hosting company. We recommend Big Scoots as your hosting company. And so you have those different components versus just having it kind of all one and done for you. We always refer people back to the episode that we did with Grace and Bell.

You've likely heard us refer back to this because this is a very common question. And we truly do understand why people ask it. Squarespace can be easier to set up. So I want to just say that it can be easier to set up. It can be done a little quicker. And the caveat to that is, is that it might be easier to set up. It can be done a little quicker. And the caveat to that is that it might not serve you well in the long run. So what I want you to do if you're feeling like really resistant to having a self-hosted

blog and you want to build organic traffic, I really do want you to listen to Episode 69 with Grayson Bell. He's very direct and he's going to be very honest about it. He's one of the top trusted experts in the blogging industry. So we highly, highly value his opinion and his guidance in this area especially. But it can be an option. But is it your option? I don't know. That is dependent and that's a question that you have to answer for yourself once you empower yourself with the knowledge. And that's one of the reasons that we decided to start this podcast was to empower you not to tell you what you have to do, but to actually empower you to know like, am I making the best decision possible? And I know that starting like if you decide that starting

a self-hosted blog is what you want to do and you're like, well, that's really overwhelming. Always know that the ultimate blog boot camp is always open. You can join it anytime. And that is our online course where we can coach you on how to start a self-hosted WordPress site. And we teach you the ins and outs of all of that. And so how to start it, how to secure your domain name, how to get your hosting set up, how to install your theme. We give you guidance on the design, we give you guidance on how to write blog posts,

email marketing. It really is the core foundation for starting your blog off on the right foot. And so if that's what's holding you back is just the tech side of it, and you just wanna go Squarespace because it's easier easier. I just love to invite you into the bootcamp so you can learn and you can start off on the right foot right from the start. The second question I'm going to let Jennifer take over and that was the

question about having a lifestyle blog. And how can you still do that in 2024? And have people find it? Yeah, this is probably one of the most common questions we get. So I'm glad it Can you still do that in 2024 and have people find it? Yeah, this is probably one of the most common questions we get, so I'm glad it was asked here so we can talk about it a little bit more. And I know we've talked about it at other times, but I'd like to start by just clarifying lifestyle. And I think there's so many things that fall

under that lifestyle umbrella. So we can talk about food, recipes, fitness, health, name a few more for me, Amy. Travel. Yes. Crafting. Yes. Yes. Motherhood.

All those things. So lifestyle encompasses so many things. And I think that when people say they want a lifestyle blog, they need to think about a couple things. A, they need to think about, am I planning to share my life and my lifestyle on my blog? Or am I trying to go into a specific area to teach somebody about something? And I think you have to find the place where those two things mesh. You have to find a place where your expertise

and your experiences also mesh with how you can help other people. Now, that's not to say there aren't some really successful lifestyle type blogs out there where people are just sharing about their lives and things like that. But those are a really rare occurrence for a blog like that to be able to gain any traction and start getting readership in any decent amount of time. I think that the days of that are just behind us.

And if you want to start a blog that's going to be able to drive traffic and that you're going to be able to monetize, you're going to have to get a little bit more specific with your lifestyle blogging niche. Now we do have available a training that we did and it was called, discover your niche, determine your categories and get ready to start your blog. And I would encourage anyone, it's just about an hour long, I would encourage anyone who is in this space thinking about I want a lifestyle blog to take advantage of this and purchase this training and and really truly listen and work through the

steps. It has some really actionable steps that you can take and it's going to walk you through the things that you need to do. So when you're thinking about how you're gonna start your blog in this niche, you're gonna think about who you're talking to. You have to get really specific about the person that you are trying to connect with

so that you can understand and be able to solve their problems. And more than just a niche, you need to have kind of a tilt to your content. You need to be able to have your own spin on what you're offering that's just a little bit different than what everybody else is doing because the blogging world is getting competitive. And I don't say that to discourage you. I think there is still space for all of us. It just means we're going to have to do a better job of understanding what our goal

is when we start our blog, who the person is that we want to reach and how we are going to help them. So you're going to need to just sit down and start grabbing a pen and paper and making that list, thinking about all those things you could offer, and then really just being a little bit ruthless with yourself and narrowing it down to a person that you can help on a specific topic that is encompassed in that lifestyle umbrella.

Yep, absolutely. Lifestyle blogs is one of the, like Jennifer said, most common questions that we get. And we've recently read a book with our students and the membership that we highly recommend. It's called Content, Inc. by Joe Paluzzi. And I recommend that to anybody who is interested in blogging, or maybe you're already

a content creator and you're just not sure how you're connecting with your audience or what that content tilt might be. He kind of coined that phrase. And so we'll put a link to that in the show notes as well. We shared a lot of links. We shared a lot of resources for you today in this episode. And I hope that you feel encouraged by these questions. Thank you so much to those of you who submitted them. This was super fun. I would love to do this again. And if you enjoyed this particular episode, if you'll let us know,

we love to know what episodes are the most impactful for you and how we can continue to show up. We have some really exciting episodes coming up this summer that we are excited to share with you. We're going to be talking about Pinterest ads, ADA compliance. We are going to be talking about bookkeeping. So what kind of finances you need to be looking at, what you need to do to grow your email list, memberships, all kinds of things. So we have a really fun and exciting summer planned here at the Ultimate Blog Podcast.

And as always, please reach out anytime. You can email us, you can reach out on social. We love getting messages knowing that the podcast is impacting you. And so we also are not like gatekeeping in the information. We truly do want to help you be successful. And so please reach out, let us know how we can do that. And thanks for listening. Thanks for allowing us to do this work and to continue climbing the charts here on the podcasting scene. It's a ton of fun. We love connecting with you and the guests

and are excited to continue doing so. And 200,000, we're on our way. So thanks to you. Yep, thanks everybody. Thanks for tuning in today. Thanks so much for tuning in today. If you'd like to continue the conversation about blogging with us,

please find us on Instagram at Spark Media Concepts. You can also sign up for our weekly newsletter where we share blogging tips and inspiration. You can sign up by finding the link in the show notes. For those of you who are ready for the next step and want to start your own blog, join the wait list for the ultimate blog bootcamp. The link to join the wait list is also in the show notes.

Go out and make today a great day.