The Ultimate Blog Podcast - The Ultimate Blog Roadmap: How to Start and Grow Your Blog with a Community

Episode Date: November 19, 2024

Jennifer and Amy are sharing something special today: The Ultimate Blog Roadmap is now live! If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed or isolated in the world of blogging, you’re not alone. It’s easy to read about all the information you need to start and grow your blog, but have no one to hold you accountable to implement. That’s where The Ultimate Blog Roadmap comes in! It’s a monthly membership with a step-by-step course, live calls with Jennifer and Amy, and a community of other bloggers to bounce ideas off of and get help. If you’re ready to build your blog alongside a community, this is the piece you’ve been missing!🔗Check out the show notes for Episode 153!

Welcome to the Ultimate Blog Podcast. This podcast is the podcast we wish we had when we started blogging. I'm Amy Reinicki. And I'm Jennifer Draper. Our episodes dive deep into how to monetize your blog, sharing unique insights and practical tips. We bring you in-depth interviews with successful bloggers and experts who offer valuable, actionable advice.

Our mission is to educate, support, inspire, and empower you in your blogging business. Welcome to the Ultimate Blog Podcast. Well, today is a really exciting day here at the Ultimate Blog Podcast and Spark Media. And this is something we are sharing today that has been such a passion project for us in the last several months. But more than that, it's been on our hearts

for longer than that. And today we're just going to kick this off by sharing a little bit about how we got here today and how we got to this new era, is what I'm gonna call it, of the ultimate blog roadmap. And we did not get here in an easy way, which I can say that most people who start a business, especially an online business, they do not arrive anywhere. And let me make sure that we know we have not arrived anywhere.

We are just still learning and growing, and we're doing it out in the open with all of you. And it's honestly really exciting. And so Jennifer and I are gonna share a little bit about our journey today, but more importantly, we are going to share how you get to be even a greater part of this story. And so in 2018 is when we really first started helping people set up their blogs and

their websites and we were doing it for them. It didn't take long for us to realize that that was not an effective business model for us and it wasn't good for the blogger either. So in 2020, we made a shift as with a lot of Americans and went to a course model and we launched our course, The Ultimate Blog Bootcamp. And we've helped so many people with The Ultimate Blog Bootcamp. There will always be a very special place in my heart for The Ultimate Blog Bootcamp because we really did pour our blood, sweat, tears, and there was a lot of lessons with The Ultimate Blog Bootcamp.

And so being able to support people with a course was really empowering, I think, because we were really able to come alongside people in their journey and get a pretty good understanding of what people really need when they're setting up a blog. Fast forward to 2022 and it had always been my dream to start a podcast and Jennifer was like, yeah, let's do it. And so we started a podcast in January of 2022, the same month we also created what was called the ultimate blog membership. And this is when the turning point started. So this is when I feel like the, I don't know, it's almost like the gears started shifting. Do you remember feeling like that, Jennifer?

Yeah, it was just the opportunities that we had within that membership to start really connecting with people at a different level than we did even just with the boot camp. It's just, it became a place where we could talk about ideas and support each other in this very specific world of blogging. So yeah, it was just such a powerful thing

and such a good feeling. And it, yeah, it just felt not only were we kind of helping people in that membership, they were helping us. It was just amazing to see. Yeah, yeah. And what was interesting, I think too, is with the power of the podcast and those of you who listen each and every week, first and foremost, just thank you for doing that. This has been, it is like my favorite thing. I've said that before, but just to show up here in your ears each and every week, but then to connect with you guys and to hear your stories too.

And when you're pushing play and you're feeling inspired and motivated and how we can kind of come alongside you. But it was, it was through kind of the, the membership community and the podcast that we really started to gain a little bit more momentum and we really started to understand where people were needing their help. And one of the things that we found people needed was they needed to know whether or not they actually wanted to start a blog. And that was a big question in 2022 that we were trying to help people answer. And so we actually designed this course. And I know that some of you, many of you

took the course called the Blog Depot. And it was really designed for the person who wasn't sure if they wanted to start a blog or not. It was a lower investment. You didn't need to invest a lot of time or money and people either went over to the boot camp or they were like, no blogging is not for me. And that was truly the intent as it was kind of a way to kind of filter and help help people understand like where they fit, you know, in the mold. And so we had kind of, yeah, I'm going to say we had the rug kind of pulled out from us a little bit in 2023 because we found out that we were unable to trademark the ultimate blog bootcamp. We had decided it was time to do that and we couldn't trademark it. And we were kind of like, oh, okay. And what we decided to

kind of shift was our mindset surrounding that of it not being like, oh, let's just close up shop. Guess we're not going to have the boot camp anymore. Instead, what we did was we considered it an opportunity. And we went back to the drawing board because as you've heard us say, things change in blogging. Nothing ever stays the same and be willing to pivot. And so we kind of took a dose of our own medicine and said, all right, where do we need to pivot? And we spoke to people in our community. We spent a lot of time talking, the two of us about how we were interacting,

about how we were blogging, about what we were hearing. And we kept an open mind. And it went on for a while kind of asking ourselves this question, where do we go next? What do we do? And there was a lot of wrestling. And so I want to be really honest about that because I think that's important to note that you are going to have a point in your business likely that you're going to say those exact same things to yourself. Is what I'm doing actually impactful? Is it working? Am I actually helping anybody? And I think those are important questions to ask yourself. What is the intention behind this business? What am I really trying to do? What is the bigger picture essentially? And what Jennifer and I came to truly was I remember, and I can't remember

exactly when it happened, but I probably had an emotional breakdown is likely what happened and I told Jennifer, I needed to take a break from like at all. Like I was obviously still supporting students, but like I needed a minute to like really think about what we wanted and what we needed and how we were going to support people and that's a tip I would share too. Sometimes in order to really understand what the next step is, you need to take a step back. That step back was crucial for me, for me. And it was in that time that I had to ask personally myself the question, like, where do we go next and how do we help? And are we the people for the job? And I just

want to, I just want to bring light to that, that it's okay if you have wrestled with that in your business in any way. And I knew that what we were doing was impactful work. And Jennifer does too. I don't know if you want to speak to that a little bit, Jennifer, or that time period. Yeah. We were excited about what we were offering to people, but I think we both just kind of felt a pull like, are we really doing the best job that we can do here in serving people. We love our blogging community and we know for sure that people want the help and support, but is this the right way to do it? I think we just had a lot of questions in our mind and you doubt yourself a lot. You doubt your decisions. You doubt your choices

and you sometimes even will doubt your ability to make the right decision to move forward. So I think we just had so many questions in our mind, and there just kept being little signs. We'd be like, oh gosh, this isn't working or this isn't what we want it to be. And then we'd get an email from somebody saying, this really helped me. And so at that point, we're like, okay, we're on the right track. Like where are we going to go next with this? I think we just, we need some signs here in terms of what would be the best direction to go. And I think that, you know, we just took that time. Like Amy said, we had to have some time to think through. We knew we were changing our name and we intentionally decided to be excited about this opportunity, but we didn't

know exactly what that meant. Are we just changing the name or are we changing everything? I just specifically remember sitting at the Craft and Commerce conference and just hearing different people speaking and just looking at each other and being like, there's a new theme here going on. And I think we're on the right track, but I think we have to kind of go all in. And that's coming down to community. In this day and age, people really want to have a sense of belonging, they want to have a sense of community, they want to have people that they can connect with and we were just like, I don't know what this means yet,

but community is gonna be the forefront of this and we've been serving people in different ways, like depending on where they're at in their journey, but we're kind of like keeping people apart from each other. How can we help people come together and support each other no matter, like where they're at in their blogging journey, because the thing is we all have that in common

and we've all been at different phases in this process. Are we thinking about blogging? Are we trying to set up a blog? Are we trying to grow a blog? Everybody has something to offer to each other. So we knew that we wanted to be able to foster more connections within a community when it came to blogging. Hey there. Thank you for being a listener of the Ultimate Blog Podcast. We want to take a moment just to thank you for tuning in and being a part of the Ultimate Blog Podcast, we want to take a moment just to thank you for tuning in and being a part of this amazing community.

Are you ready though to elevate your blogging game even further? If so, we have some fantastic news. We would love for you to join our free newsletter where we'll share exclusive tips and tricks to help you create content that captivates, that grows your audience and navigates the ever-changing blogging landscape with ease. Each edition is packed with actionable insights, expert advice, and the latest trends that you won't want to miss. It's truly like having a personal blogging coach, actually two of us, right in your inbox.

So if you love what you're hearing here on the podcast, you're absolutely going to love the value that we're sending out in our newsletter. Best part is it's totally free. All you need to do is go to the ultimate blog podcast.com backslash newsletter to get signed up today. Thank you so much for being a listener of the ultimate blog podcast. We can't wait to continue this incredible journey together and see you on the inside of our newsletter community. I remember being in the hotel room having that conversation when Jennifer was like,

I think that we have to combine all of our programs into one and make it all the membership. And I probably looked at her like I did, like I did when she first shared the idea of Spark Media Concepts like, Jennifer, you have three heads and I'm not really sure that that's a great idea. But I sat with it and I'm like, I think she's right. I actually really do. I think she's right. I think that there's so many things at play.

I think that there are a lot of people out there who are wanting another stream of income. I think there are people who need another stream of income. I think there are people who want to use their creativity or they've had an experience or a perspective. And there is so much loud noise out there when it comes to starting a blog or becoming a content creator that you don't really know where to find the information. And not only that, you can either waste time or you can waste money. And one of the two, spend time, spend money, waste time, waste money, however you want

to word it. But like we wanted to be effective and we don't want people to waste their time. And we don't want people to waste their money feeling like they don't know where to go next. And we wanted it to be approachable and affordable. And so the ultimate blog boot camp is no more. It has been revamped. It has been leveled up. It is something that we are incredibly proud of. And today we are introducing the ultimate blog roadmap to you guys, our podcast listeners. And this is truly, truly at the heart of it, the best of anything that we've ever offered you at a price point that is insane and honestly lower than it should be. I'm just going to say that right now because we want you to start your blog. We want you to bet on yourself.

We want you to invest in yourself and we would love to be part of that journey. Truly, we would love to be part of that journey. And we invite you into this community. And if you're thinking about starting a blog and you feel like I just need the support, this is it. This is it. So we want to take a little bit of time here and kind of explain to you a little bit about what the ultimate blog roadmap is and who it's for. So, what it is, is it's a monthly membership model. And in that monthly membership, you have access to the course materials that are going to help you start your blog from start to finish.

We go into great detail about business basics, about how to set it up, about trademarking, accounting, and then we dive into truly building your website, like what that looks like, including your theme and hosting, what plugins you need, that we recommend being on a self-hosted site. So it's going to really help you do that. It's going to help you set up this self-hosted blog so you can find success. You, as a podcast listener, have heard us focus a lot on email marketing, and there is a huge section on email marketing because it is truly, truly important. And this is where we believe that you need to spend the bulk of your time in promoting your content. And really, once again, like we've said,

creating and fostering that community with your readers. It is so important and we want to make sure that you feel supported in that. And most importantly, the content creation piece, like how to create pages, how to do categories, how to write a blog post, the basics of SEO and keyword research. And so the course is just one part of this membership, which is really awesome. But the other part that we heard you, we listened to you, and so we're delivering is three live calls each month. And this is something that we have already offered to our membership students. So we have students who have been with us since 2022, and we have already offered to our membership students. So we have students who have been with us since 2022 and we have two calls a month and we are essentially leveling up and they are now getting three calls a month. So if you join the ultimate blog roadmap with us,

you're going to have access to those three calls a month with Jennifer and I, we are both on the calls and there's two Q and A's, the ones for beginners. And that's going to be for the people generally who are going to be going through the course materials you're in, in the bulk of setting up your website. You are diving into the basics of, of blogging and you have those beginner type questions. But then we also really do want to foster this community for people who already have their bloggers or have questions with more advanced topics.

And so there is going to be also an intermediate Q&A as well that we can go into greater detail with email marketing about monetization, maybe some ideas with SEO and how we can support you in that, workshopping some things there with you. And then we will also have a coaching call with either Jennifer and myself or a guest expert that's going to coach you on a topic that's going to bring forth new ideas for your blogging business because it's always changing like we've said. And it's really important to always be in that learning aspect. What can I do to learn? What can I do to grow? And it offers

you another way to network and communicate with the members, which I think is truly important. And one of the most important aspects of the Ultimate Blog Roadmap is that community. And Jennifer, I want you to talk just a little bit more about the community aspect of the membership. Yeah, this was such a new thing and a new concept to us when we started on this platform and there was a way to have different channels essentially to communicate about things. I wasn't sure what this was going to look like, but gosh, I think that's one of my favorite parts at this point is that there's a place where you can ask a question. You can ask, if you have like a technical question that you need help with, you can

ask Amy and you can ask me and we can answer that for you and get you on your way. And you can also connect with the other people in the group, which is really fun. And we've gotten to see those relationships start to develop and grow where people can ask each other for feedback. So you might be on a call with somebody and we get to chatting about something and then you get back into the community and you're like, oh, I thought of something else. And you can post that in there and ask everybody for some feedback or like, hey, what do you think of this blog post or how would you adjust the

menu that I created as a user? So you just have that opportunity to get feedback and support and to collaborate with other people that are within this too, because you might be in one niche and somebody is going to be in another and you have a way to work together on a project or sharing something, sharing blog posts, whatever the case might be. There's just so many opportunities in there I think to especially talk about ideas and to get support and help when you have specific questions. So the idea is just that everybody might be on a different part of their journey, but we can all support each other no matter where we are. everybody might be on a different part of their journey, but we can all support each other,

no matter where we are. You might be able to hold the hand of somebody behind you. Somebody that is doing things beyond where you've gotten to at this point might be able to challenge you or offer you guidance. So that was one of the biggest things we worried about was, will people at different levels of blogging, so to speak, like whether they're setting up their blog or they, you know, might already have 100 blog posts, are they going to be able to connect? And when we've asked this question, I think we were nervous. But when we started getting feedback from people that are in our community, everybody was just so excited about the opportunity to connect with more people. And that just answers that question. We are all craving

connection with others. And so the community aspect of this is probably, well, it's also good. It's hard to say, but this is like, I don't know. I think it's one of the best parts of it. I do too. I do too. Because honestly, you can learn, learn, learn. I mean, how many of you pick up a bajillion books? How many of you listen to a bajillion podcasts? And then there's no implementation. Like you have nobody holding you accountable. You have nobody who's like checking in on you. Whether they're in your niche or not, it doesn't really matter. Like that's the power of community. Like if you have big goals for

your blog, get into a community. Find an accountability partner. Find somebody who's going to ask you, hey, did you do that? Or how is that working for you? Because I think it's really easy to give up on blogging without a community. Because this can be hard. We have never once told you that this journey is going to be easy, but we have told you that we can be here with you along the way. And now more than ever, I think that's true in the roadmap. I think it's been really fun. So in 2025, we will have had the membership for three years. I mean, it's crazy to me. And so in three years time, like watching even this like kind of change and grow into something different and how the people in there are wanting to communicate and connect with others as well. And like Jennifer said, be really excited about it. I think that's

such an important piece is as bloggers roadmap, this opportunity is for all of us to do that together, no matter what level you're on. And we're just really excited about it. We're excited for you to join us. We would love for you to get started and hop into the world of blogging. And we're excited for you to join us. And we're excited for you to join us. We would love for you to get started and hop in and go through the roadmap.

And even if you already have a blog, we would recommend like going through the roadmap and kind of seeing and making sure that you have those really specific foundations set up that are really important. And then leaning in and learning from the community just from the gate. So not only do you get all the content and the calls, but you also get the last three years of content. So it's all still there. You're, you're still going to get access to all of the training calls that we've had.

And we've had some really amazing guests and speakers and things like that in there that you can definitely learn from. So the link is going to be in the show notes for you to learn more about the ultimate blog roadmap. And most importantly, what we want you to know is this is a monthly membership. You're not like tied in with a contract or anything like that. Uh, you're going to get access to everything immediately. And so you can get plugged in today.

If community has been the part that you have been missing, I just invite you to join us today and get started in the ultimate blog roadmap. We are ready. We are, well, we are just so excited to welcome more members in there. We've had in-depth conversations with our students who are also really excited to connect with you.

And the cost is just $97 a month. You can cancel at any time. Like I said, no contract. And it's a beautiful way, I think, for you to add another level to your blogging journey with this idea of community and a place that you know you can go to for resources. And I think that that is one thing that so many new bloggers don't have when you are sitting at your computer and you don't know what to do next. You don't have anybody that you can kind of bounce ideas off of. We really wanted to create that community and it's here and it's live and it's ready for you to say yes. And so we really hope that you will consider joining us in the ultimate

blog roadmap. And if you have any questions, please send us an email, DM us on social media. We'll make sure to put links for that in our show notes as well. If you're wondering, is this a good fit for me? You know, I think so. If you're a blogger, I think that there's a space for you here. And I think like Jennifer mentioned, it doesn't matter what level you're at. We can all benefit from learning from one another and taking pieces of one another's journey and knowing, hey, there's always a way around whatever it is that you might be experiencing in your blog. And knowing that the power of community is a really amazing thing. And we are excited to grow with you and get started with you today.

So the link to join us is in the show notes. And we hope that we see you very soon in the Ultimate Blog Roadmap. Thanks for listening to the Ultimate Blog Podcast. If you'd like to learn more about building your blog, visit theultimateblogpodcast.com backslash newsletter to get signed up for our email newsletter. If you enjoyed this episode, we'd love for you to share it with a friend, subscribe and leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Thanks for tuning in today and we'll see you

next time.