Ep. 37 - How to Successfully Start a Blog in 2021 with Elna Cain

In 2010 I started a blog. It was called the Preppy Chic Blog and I wrote about my life, preppy fashion, weddings, party decor and random other tidbits (some of the remnants are still found in the blog on this site).

I didn’t have the best blogging strategy and honestly, I thought I was already late on the blogging game. Little did I know, 2010 wasn’t late at all and in fact it was only the beginning. Had I had the right strategies, maybe I could’ve been the next Pink Peonies by Rachel Parcell (j/k).

I started the blog as a content platform for my wedding planning business. But blogging was hard for me. I was a perfectionist and I couldn’t publish anything until I had checked over it literally 100 times.

Then in 2012 I launched my second blog: Cupcakes to Crossfit, which was a paleo, fitness and wellness blog dedicated to my journey going from cupcake eating Stephanie to Crossfit Stephanie (side note - I don’t like working out so this was a huge deal for me). This blog actually took off as the paleo diet was the newest fad and so I started monetizing it through affiliate marketing.

But again, my perfectionism took over and I stopped publishing because my photos weren’t pretty.

Yes, a dumb excuse, but I wasn’t a photographer and I didn’t think my food photos didn’t look blog worthy. Back then I had a lot of mindset blocks and I suffered from extreme perfectionism and shiny object syndrome.

But what blogging did for me was it got me passionate about learning new things. It gave me a creative outlet to explore and express myself in a way I never before and it opened new doors to meeting new people… just like my guest today.

When I decided to revamp my blog and personal brand a few years ago, I started following Elna Cain. Elna is a freelance writer, consultant and blogger. She owns several sites including Twins Mommy where she helps moms make money blogging and is the mom to some fabulous twins.

Elna’s pins would pop up on my feed everywhere… how to start a blog, how to monetize a blog, how to increase blog traffic, how to drive traffic using Pinterest, etc.. and so back in 2017, I reached out to her to contribute to one of my round-up posts and she said yes.

Flash forward 3 years later and Elna and I reconnected as speakers at a virtual summit back in October and we chatted all about making a living as a full-time blogger and if that is a thing of the past or actually still possible.

Blogging is still thriving and Elna is here to share success strategies on how to launch and monetize one in 2021 especially as a mom. If you’re looking to start a blog for either a side hustle or full-time income stream, way to build credibility in your brand and business or as a creative outlet then listen closely.