A 30-Day Step-By-Step Plan for Building the Blog of Your Dreams
Introducing an all-inclusive, proven roadmap for going from an “idea”… to building a blog that lets you control your income, choose your schedule, and help provide for your family — while enjoying more time with them.
Best part: it’s the perfect way to build a blog EVEN IF …
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You have kids (endless cycle of school, sports, and activities!)
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You have a job (and you, ahem, don’t love it...)
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You only have 1-2 hours a night to focus on building a blog
You’ll read all about my plan just a bit further down this page … but let me introduce myself first!
For over 14 years now, we’ve made a VERY comfortable living from blogging. (In fact, we built it to the point where we earned $30,000 per MONTH from blogging alone for over 2 years — yes you read that right!)
But we’re not just bloggers: we’re blogging teachers too. Pete and I have used our experiences to teach over 200,000+ aspiring bloggers how to build the life of their dreams with a successful blog.
Today, I want to tell you about how I started from scratch and built up a blog that lets me live my life how I want, and pays me to do it.
And then I want to show you how you can do the same — by giving you our tried-and-tested, step-by-step system for going from just a dream in your head…to building a successful, sustainable, and FUN blogging business of your own.
Some of this is stuff I have never shared publicly before…and I am SO excited about this!
But first…I want to give you an example of what it is that makes blogging so great … and what’s possible when you really apply yourself.
Ready? Okay, picture this ...
As you get dressed, you scroll through some of the new blog comments you’ve had. You’re feeling good, so you decide to head out for an early workout. You’re feeling great and it’s only 7 am! You shower, make a cup of coffee and get started with your day.
It’s one you’ve been planning in your head for a while, so you’re excited to work on it. As you sit there typing away on your laptop, you slip into ‘the zone’ — you’re feeling productive and busy, yet not stressed out. Just the way you like it!
A few hours slip by, and before you know it it’s lunchtime. It’s nice out, so you eat outside (why not?), taking the time to read a few pages of that new book you’re into.
Feeling refreshed, you head back in for another session on the blog. After checking a few new comments that have come in, your phone buzzes with a new email — you’ve just been offered a new sponsored post opportunity!
This is a brand you have been wanting to work with for ages — and now you’ll have the chance!
Your blog is your business and you’re focused on making it work for you.
You check your watch; it’s 2:57 pm. You head out to do whatever you want for a couple of hours since you have no boss to answer to (aside from yourself).
Once you’re home that evening, you have a nice dinner, and enjoy some leisurely, uninterrupted family time. And then, before you get in bed, you spend a few minutes making plans for tomorrow’s work.
As you wind down and get ready for bed, you smile — it’s been another good day. And best of all, you got to spend more time with your family… and you were in total control of your own schedule!
How did that sound? Pretty good, right?
Well… what if I told you that you could do that?
It’s true. When you have your own blogging business, days like this really happen!
But that’s not all. Because sure, a blog lets you enjoy these great “every day” experiences…
But...they’re nothing compared to some of the awesome perks you can enjoy from being a blogger!
Private events at Disneyland and Disney World - New Attractions and Events:
A project with OxiClean, when an entire film crew came out to our house to shoot a video:
A trip to the Justice headquarters to see their new clothing line and view a fashion show (all expenses paid for the whole family):
Meeting and working with Kelly Ripa and Motrin on an NYC shoot (all expenses paid for the whole family):
And on top of all the experiences, we’ve received some amazing products to feature…everything from laptops, drones, camera equipment, vacuums, appliances, a swing set, a year-long new vehicle loaner, and more!
And all of this has been 100% because of our blog!
But perhaps the best perk of all is the what it can do for your life after you get your blogging business established:
You call the shots about when you work.
You can decide whether to work hard for more income…or take it easy that month.
Most importantly, you can be there for your family all of the time…and you’ll never have to miss a game, a school event, or stress about missing work when your family needs you. Creating a successful blogging business means you are you own boss, and get to decide everything about you business.
Now, you’re probably looking at some of the things I’ve done with my blog, and thinking that there’s no way YOU could get to this level.
But that’s simply not true.
In fact, there is NOTHING special about what I did that someone else (like you) couldn’t do also.
But I want to prove it to you. So let me quickly show you how I got from where you are now…to where I am today.
But let me tell you something surprising:
When I started blogging in 2006, it was actually HARDER to succeed as a blogger than it is today!
See, nowadays you can start a blog in literally a few hours, for just a few dollars … and with social media, you can have your first traffic just as fast.
There’s also plenty of content online that can shortcut your way to success (like I’m about to show you a bit further down this article).
And the amount of readers and traffic you have access to has EXPLODED with the rise of social media platforms.
But when I started, it was not like that at all!
Blogging was really a fringe thing … and there weren’t that many people who were doing well at it.
It’s A Lovely Life started out around 2006 as a little website (back then it was called "No Excuse Budget") where I shared tips on budgeting and saving money, in my spare time.
(Don't laugh...this was a cutting edge design for 2007! 😂)
I didn’t really know how to make it into a business. All I really knew was that I had some goals for myself:
Our real estate business was not MY passion… and wanted to do something that I was passionate about instead.
I wanted to have full control over my income and work where and when I chose.
I wanted to stop having so much “mom guilt” about how little time I was spending with my kids…and be able to enjoy life with them.
And I knew my husband Pete was working hard at our business…and I really wanted to take some of the stress off him, and help provide for our family.
I had this vague dream that blogging could do all of that…but when I faced reality, it didn’t seem possible.
See, I knew I had some ideas I wanted to share, and I thought blogging would be a good way to do it.
But in the real world, I kept running into the same problems:
- I’d work really hard on a blog post … and then get zero comments.
- I’d run into a technical problem, and spend hours trying to fix it…and even then I wouldn’t be able to solve it, and I’d feel frustrated that I wasted my time.
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I always felt like I had no time to work on my blog.
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When I tried to do things like reach out for guest posts or opportunities, I was afraid nobody would listen to me.
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And most of all, I had no idea how to monetize the blog — and turn all my hard work into an income that fairly rewarded me for my effort!
But I stuck with it…and slowly, I started to see some successes here and there. Every now and then, I’d get accepted for a new post network…or I’d land a guest post…or I’d discover a new way to bring in more followers from Pinterest.
And over time, I began to realize that there was a hidden secret to blogging which I’d been overlooking.
In fact, this secret held the key to possibly finally breaking through to that success I dreamed of…
But my experience showed me it wasn’t like that at all.
When I’d just focused on creating good content, sure, I had good stuff to say — but there was nobody reading it, and I wasn’t making any money!
Instead, I discovered that successful blogs have these things in common:
- Great Content (producing things that people actually want to read)
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Traffic (Site Visitors)
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Well-Defined Monetization Plan (A clear way to make money)
It became crystal clear to me that if I focused on these 3 things, I could be really successful.
What happened next, changed our lives forever
I began to put everything I had into figuring these 3 things out.
Things like...
- What do my readers want?
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How can I inspire, educate, or entertain my readers so they want to keep coming back?
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What can I do better or differently than others in my niche?
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How much content do I need to produce?
- Where will my site visitors come from?
- Where are they currently spending their time?
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How do I get them from where they are currently “hanging out online” to my blog?
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Once they get to my blog, how can I get them to come back over and over again?
- What technical strategies can I put in place so that I will show up in the search engines?
- What is the best way for ME to make money with my blog?
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Is this working for others or do I have to figure out something new or innovative?
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How much money can I make with my blog?
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At what income level can I forget about our real estate business and focus on my blog full-time?
A funny thing happened when I got clarity on the 3 things I needed to focus on…
My blogging business took off!
This clarity and focus was all I needed to go from being pulled in million different directions to figuring it all out.
I started researching and reading EVERYTHING I could find on content creation, traffic strategies and techniques, and monetization.
I networked with lots of other bloggers that were starting to figure this all out too.
I invested in training in all 3 of these areas.
I took everything I learned from thousands (I’m not exaggerating) of hours of research, added what I knew, and came up with a system that worked perfectly for my blog.
The end result was a blogging business that made our family an AMAZING income, gave us the freedom to live/travel/work as we chose, and provided many opportunities that were so unique that money couldn’t even buy.
I spent years and years learning it all by trial and error…and making a LOT of mistakes along the way!!!
I mean, it’s not like I really had a choice. There just weren’t any blogging specific resources out there that put all of the pieces together.
So, all those things I talked about above? Yep…I was basically forced to figure them all out myself!
Now here’s what you might be thinking...“Well it worked for you Heather, so maybe that’s what I should do too?”
No!!! Don’t do that.
In fact, there are three huge problems with this approach which almost derailed me completely…and they happen to be the reason that most bloggers never “make it” in blogging.
Take a look at these quickly, and then decide for yourself if you think that “figuring it out yourself” is worth it …
(Or, 3 Reasons Most Bloggers Fail)
This one’s obvious: figuring it all out on your own is expensive…and slow.
In my case, it took me over a decade to get to where I am now!
Besides, I could afford to do “trial and error” because Pete and I had enough money from our real estate business to support us (even though we had to work very hard for it).
But I’m guessing you don’t really want to spend over a decade building up your blog, spending a lot of money, and making a lot of mistakes like I did.
You might think that once you know how to write a post, get more traffic, and puts some ads on your blog, you’ll be set.
But in reality, I learned that there are so many things I never knew that I didn’t know:
- Why SEO is critically important for a profitable blog — and how to get it right
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What the five most popular income systems are on a blog (and when you should use each)
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How to actually set up your blog as a business — and when you should consider incorporating or starting an LLC
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And (literally) hundreds more.