Book Review- How I Made $40K My First Year of Blogging

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I learned SO much from this book that I don't even know where to start!



Well how about we start with the cover design... BEAUTIFUL! I admit it, I'm guilty of judging many a book by it's cover. It's all part of advertising people! If you want me to pick up your book on a whim make the cover pretty... just saying ;)

Now, let's talk about Chelsea Lords... She's the author and, I think, a blogging genius! She has a blog that is JUST as beautiful as her book (go check it out if you haven't already!)



Now to the book. It is seriously packed full of useful information! Reading it blew my mind! She starts off with the basics- how to name your blog, set up your blog on wordpress, plugins, hosting companies etc. I started reading this book before I started my blog and I wish I had listened to this chapter!!! (If I could go back and kick my 3 months ago self in the pants and say, "listen to Chelsea!" I totally would!) Chelsea goes into more details about this in the first chapter, but here's the gist (I wish, wish, WISH I had done this). Start of your blog on a self-hosted wordpress site. It will save you tons of headaches and hassles in the future and give you way more control over your blog. I didn't listen to Chelsea and decided to start my blog on a wordpress.com (wordpress hosted) site. Then I quickly felt the pain of how limited I was with what I could do with my site (you can't even embed html code!) SO then I got my butt in gear, re-read this chapter in the book, and set myself up for success on a self-hosted wordpress.org site using A Small Orange. It was SUCH a hassle to move, but SO worth it... But I'll say it again, if you're just starting out save yourself the trouble and (1) read this book then (2) actually follow her advice and start out the right way (unlike me).

[So far I have found this switch totally worth it. I pay about $5 a month for a small hosting plan from A Small Orange. They've been very helpful and really easy to use!] UPDATE: Since writing this post, I have switched over to blogger... I know I'm crazy! A self-hosted wordpress site with ASO was easy enough to work with, but I prefer the blogger format (and with my not-so-regular blogging schedule this works better for me).

Chelsea is super honest in this book and breaks down her first year of blogging month by month. In each month's chapter she shares the income she earned from her blog, how many pageviews she had,  and what new things she learned that month. Can we talk about this for a minute... because this is where I swear she's a blogging genius. She made $44 and had 31,000 page views in her very first month! I thought I was doing well until I saw that ;) Even that first month right there made me take what she had to say SO seriously, because obviously she knows what she's talking about (hello... she made 40k her first year of blogging! who does that!?) I was way excited when I got to each new chapter to see how much more she was making and how many more pageviews she had!

I'm pretty sure everything you need to know or ever wanted to know about blogging is covered in this book- in fun to read text with easy to follow tutorials. I felt like I friend (who was a blogging genius) was sitting down telling me all her secrets. She talks about planning, google analytics, commenting, mentors, giveaways, SEO, taxes, pinterest, being a contributor, facebook, sponsored posts, photography, ads, content, images, networking, round-ups, email subscribers, and reader surveys. So basically this is the best blogging book EVER!

I've said this a thousand times, and I'll say it again- if you are a blogger or want to be a blogger, you will love this book.

So go read it! (get it HERE) one of the best $20 purchases I've EVER made!

I'm about to read it again! :)



Linking up with The Book Nook & What We're Reading Wednesday.