Starting a mommy blog may sound simple on the surface, but there are many factors to consider in order to stand out in this crowded field and create real value for readers. From choosing a niche to setting up your site and creating compelling content, this comprehensive guide shares insider tips to launch the next successful mom blog.
Why Start a Mommy Blog?
While often stereotyped as lightweight reads focused solely on kids and parenting advice, modern mommy blogs actually span a wide spectrum of topics. They run the gamut from gorgeous visual diaries to raw personal narratives on sensitive issues.
So what’s fueling this boom? For many moms, blogging offers a way to work flexibly from home while homeschooling children. The recent rise of freelance and work-from-home careers during the pandemic led an additional 2 million Americans to take up freelancing in 2020 alone according to Statista.
Stay-at-home moms are also on the rise, with a 60% increase from pre-pandemic levels according to Parents magazine. For these moms, blogging represents a way to make money with minimal commuting. With so much expertise to share, it’s no wonder mommy bloggers are claiming a sizable bite of the multi-million dollar blogging industry.
Choosing a Profitable Yet Unique Niche
With around 4 million mom bloggers already active, simply starting “a mommy blog” is not specific enough. You need to identify a narrow niche and positioning to stand out.
While obvious parent-focused niches like crafts, activities, and recipes seem tempting, competition will be intense. Instead, consider less crowded niches where your expertise can uniquely shine through.
Here are some ideas to spark your thinking:
- Budgeting tips and personal finance guidance for families
- Homeschooling advice and resources
- Meal plans, cooking and nutrition for picky eaters
- DIY projects and homemade solutions for kids’ stuff
- Self-employment and work-from-home job ideas
When identifying your niche, ask these key questions:
Are readers actively seeking information in this niche? Research forums and Facebook groups to identify common pain points and unanswered questions from parents. Ensure there is demand.
Can I consistently create engaging content? Choose a niche aligned with your natural passions and life experiences to sustain posts over time without burnout.
Is this niche monetizable? While your blog may start as a labor of love, having options to profit down the road provides helpful motivation and validation.
Let your niche flow from your innate passions and expertise rather than chasing profits alone. If you nail this foundation, monetization can come later.
Setting Up Your Mommy Blog
Once you’ve identified your mom blog’s purpose and target niche, it’s time to set up your site. You essentially have 2 options – using a custom domain name for your blog, or hosting it for free on an existing blogging platform.
Option 1: Registering a Custom Domain
Services like GoDaddy, Register.com and NameCheap allow you to buy a custom domain name for your blog for less than $20 per year. This gives you a professional domain like YourName.com to brand your site.
The downside is that you’ll also need to arrange for separate web hosting, install blogging software like WordPress yourself, and manage security and backups. This puts more technical burden on your plate.
Option 2: Free Blogging Platforms
Platforms like WordPress.com and Wix offer free tiers to instantly create blogs on their subdomains. So your site’s address may be YourName.WordPress.com or YourName.Wix.com.
The upside is these platforms handle hosting, software, and security for you. The downside is limited control over ads and customizations compared to self-hosted sites. Branding is also tied to their domains.
For new bloggers without big budgets, free blogging platforms offer the easiest way to get started quickly. You can always switch to self-hosted WordPress later once established.
Optimizing Your WordPress Blog
Once hosted, it’s time to optimize your WordPress site. Carefully chosen themes and plugins are key to amplifying your mommy blog’s capabilities while managing workload.
Choosing a Theme
WordPress themes control the appearance and layout of your site. With thousands of free and paid themes available, you’re bound to find one matching your niche. Search terms like “parenting blog themes” or “mom blog themes” to find relevant options.
Consider these factors when evaluating themes:
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Mobile Responsiveness: Ensure the theme adapts well to phones and tablets, where most readers will visit from.
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Speed: Faster load times keep readers engaged. Optimize images and limit resource-heavy features.
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Ease of Use: Pick a theme with a simple interface for modifying content. Avoid overly complex themes with steep learning curves.
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Customization: Look for themes allowing extensive visual tweaks like fonts, colors, and layouts to match your branding.
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Security: Verify the theme receives regular security updates from the developer to guard against vulnerabilities.
Once installed, take time to customize your theme’s settings to personalize the look and feel.
Enhancing With Plugins
Plugins add extra features like slideshows, contact forms, SEO tools, and more. They’re vital to streamlining your workflow.
Here are 5 free beginner plugins to get you started:
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Yoast SEO – Optimizes blog posts so search engines can easily index them for better findability.
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Google Analytics – Tracks valuable traffic stats to learn about your audience and analyze content performance.
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WP Super Cache – Speeds up site load times by storing cached page versions. Crucial for reader experience.
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MailChimp – Lets readers subscribe via email to receive your latest updates. Builds audience loyalty.
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UpdraftPlus – Backs up your entire site for easy restores after disasters or host migrations.
As you grow, extended plugins like ecommerce stores, membership areas, and form builders await. But these basics will propel any mom blog forward.
Creating Compelling Blog Content
With your mommy blog’s foundation firm, it’s time to attract readers with stellar content worth sharing!
Bear these tips in mind when authoring blog posts as a mom blogger:
Find Your Voice
Adopt a warm, approachable “mom” voice as if speaking to a friend over coffee, not a corporate presentation. Forget stiff structures and just share your stories.
Talk About Real Life
The messier the better! Kids’ meltdowns, mom fails, lessons learned… your candid vignettes from the parenting trenches will resonate most.
Lose the Walls of Text
Break up paragraphs with images, videos, slideshows, and quotes to ease readability. Mobile readers appreciate scannable content.
Entertain and Inform
Lighthearted humor and heartwarming moments balance out the informative aspects. Help, don’t lecture.
Encourage Comments
Pose open-ended questions to spark conversations. Comments help posts rank higher too!
By sticking to these principles as you publish more posts, your mommy blog will cultivate a community eager for your next updates!
Promoting Your New Blog
Now for the truth all new bloggers must accept – without promotion, nobody will ever read your posts, no matter how amazing.
Here are proven tactics to get more eyeballs on your content without spending a dime on advertising:
Guest Post on Niche Sites
Reach out to non-competing mom blogs or parenting sites to contribute posts with backlinks to your site. It puts you in front of ready audiences already keen on your niche.
Join Facebook Parenting Groups
Facebook groups like “Work at Home Moms” or “Mom Bloggers” contain thousands of like-minded parents. Share your posts while helping answer others’ questions to establish yourself as an expert.
Leverage Pinterest
Pinterest draws millions of moms daily for recipes, crafts, fashion, and more. Creating eye-catching pins tied to your posts will work wonders.
Be Active on Instagram
Use niche hashtags like #momsoftoddlers, #homeschoolingmama or #parentinghacks to introduce your Instagram profile hosting blog previews. The highly engaged audience provides perfect readers.
While social media and groups provide a quick boost, there’s no substitute for publishing amazing content over time. Consistency leads to organic search visibility and word-of-mouth traffic as your audience expands.
Earning Money From Your Blog
As your mommy blog grows, you may wonder how these popular influencers actually make money from their sites. Here are some of the most common monetization methods:
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Google AdSense – Runs contextual Google text ads on your site. Earn money when visitors click them.
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Affiliate Marketing – Earn commissions promoting other companies’ products you genuinely recommend.
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Sponsored Posts – Get paid by brands to review products or write about their services on your blog.
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Sell Own Products – Launch digital products like eBooks and courses or physical products for additional income streams.
Many established bloggers earn full-time incomes of $4,000 to even $10,000+ per month from their sites once dialed in. So stick with it!
Ready to Join 4 Million Mom Bloggers?
As this guide covered, with the right niche, setup, content and promotion, you’re well on your way to launching the next must-read mommy blog!
It may feel intimidating at first trying to compete against so many mom influencers. But by relentlessly providing value to readers through a unique lens, your supportive community will steadily grow.
So what specific challenge do today’s parents urgently need help tackling? Make it your blog’s mission to guide them there!
