What to Expect in Your First Year of Blogging

Thesis Theme HQ celebrated its first birthday on 7 November 2009. Here is a collection of my highs and lows, some lessons learned and a sneak peak of our plans for year 2.

Before I jump in and start talking about Thesis Theme HQ’s first year, some of you may be interested in hearing about our first year online – learning what the heck the internet was all about anyway.

If you want to jump straight to What to expect in the first year of blogging - click here.

Our First Year on the Internet – As Individuals

My husband and I spent the first year researching and reading about what having a website or a blog was all about. Our  family and work responsibilities were priority 1, and still are, so we were in no hurry. We had three main reasons for going online:

1. We were interested in having something to do after work, when the kids were asleep – other than reading, watching TV and other things that don’t take the whole evening to do.
2. We both loved new technology and understood the growing importance and power of the internet.
3. My father was exhibiting signs of Parkinsons Disease and we suspected that the internet and having his own computer would give him extra quality of life and something to do when he was house-bound.

First Steps

• In June 2006, we started exploring the internet for fun. We first got online in 1999 but had only really used the internet for university research, movie times and the news.
• We joined Squidoo and StumbleUpon to find out what social networking, social bookmarking and free websites were all about.
• We started teaching ourselves about creating a website, bought lots of books and visited many tutorial sites to learn to use Dreamweaver and Photoshop with the hope of eventually creating a nice html website all by ourselves.

Next Steps

• After several months we decided that it was going to take too long to create our own website and without completing an actual programming course or university degree it was never going to be something we would truly be proud of.
• We didn’t want to spend much money on something we knew little about, so we started creating free blogs with Blogger and WordPress.org and lenses on Squidoo. Ning was also great fun but was too easy to spend hours on just having fun.
• Through our discoveries stumbling (on StumbleUpon) we read about why a self-hosted site is the best and decided to register a domain name and join up with WordPress.org.

Our First Website

• Tranquility HQ.com was born in July 2007.
• We used different free WordPress themes and purchased a few premium templates but we never really felt truly satisfied with the design or functionality. None of them really allowed us the freedom to create something we sketched out.
• In November 2008, after visiting blogs that we really liked the look and feel of, we noticed that so many of them used the Thesis Theme, so we bought a Personal Licence for $87 and relaunched Tranquility HQ.

Our Second Website

• We loved the Thesis Theme so much that we upgraded for $77 to the Developers Licence and changed the face of my husband’s site Timberwolf HQ.com.
• While Tranquility HQ has undergone a few facelifts, Timberwolf HQ has only really changed the contents of its sidebars and its banner to replace the tagline.

When Wives Become Webmasters

• We learnt a lot about blogging in the first 2 years and were very new to coding and web design when we selected Thesis Theme for our WordPress sites.
• Despite our initial plans for me to be the Business and Marketing Director of the company and my husband to be the Web and Writing Director (taking lead on that area but not absolute  power:-) – things turned out quite differently.
• I loved learning about the business and marketing side of the internet because it gave my business and marketing qualifications an injection of online realism.
• What I didn’t expect to happen, when I was investigating whether WordPress would be easier and better than our own html site, was that I would venture into coding and start learning how to design and customize the code myself.
• Before I knew it I was suggesting to my husband that only one of us really had to get their nose into the code and because he was the better writer, he should just do his thing.

The Birth of Thesis Theme HQ.com

Our Third & Fourth Websites

Within 3 months online we created 4 sites using Thesis Theme for WordPress.

Opportunities HQ.com was created to blog about making the most of life – but it was apparent from the start that we were going to struggle to maintain so many sites and that 3 main sites was probably enough (for a little while at least) while we were still learning about web design and site management. Opportunities HQ is only a domain name (for now).

Thesis Theme HQ.com was born in November 2008 to start recording what I learnt about Thesis Theme and as a place to put my frequently used links and best finds.

One of my first posts, 10 Reasons Why You Should Try Wowzio Widgets On Your Blog/Site, was about this fantastic widget that had just been launched to give readers a visual feed of your latest articles.

• Before I knew it, I was featured in the prime spot on Wowzio Widgets’ Testimonials page. My testimonial has moved down the column a bit now but it still gives us valuable traffic. So, I got to thinking that I could get good traffic by reviewing people’s Thesis Theme sites and other great finds (like Wowzio) and spread the Google juice around that way.
• I wrote about this experience in a follow up post Use Unsolicited Reviews To Get Free Traffic To Your Site

The three main goals of Thesis Theme HQ.com were, and still are:

1. Review bold, bright and beautiful Thesis Theme sites (for free)
2. Share tips and tricks for existing Thesis Theme users
3. Write about blogging strategies

So, after 12 months of blogging at Thesis Theme HQ.com, here is what you’ve been waiting for…

What To Expect in Your First Year of Blogging

The Good

• I ‘met’ some really beautiful people online who love blogging.
  • Switching to Thesis Theme: When Personal Blogging Becomes Business
  • From Podcasting to Wikis: Everything in Plain English in 3 Minutes or Less
• Being able to blame hayfever for your red eyes…due to lack of sleep (refer to “The Bad”)
• Constant learning and never any time to sit still (if you have heaps of energy this is great!)
• You realise that the internet has all the answers and misinformation is rife. WTF!
• Humour, fun and laughter aid learning: Marketing Jargon For Singles
• My first guest post was an absolute hit – thank you George: Tutorial: Customizing Thesis – Standard to Unique in 6 Easy Steps
• I learnt how to do a image map on WordPress: Create Your Own Image Maps in Thesis and WordPress Using CSS
• Becoming the most proficient coder in the house (scary considering I am such a novice)
• Generating an extra income while still working full-time (for now). I am still planning to only work 4 hours per week like Tim Ferriss: Balance Your Work, Life & Family Commitments in 4 Hours
• The Thesis Theme Community, Thesis Theme Forum and the dedication of the DIY Themes team for making Thesis into what it is – one of the best Premium WordPress themes in the world. Thanks.

The Bad

• A lack of sleep because you can’t tear yourself away from the computer until you finish that post, close those tabs, check those emails, send that tweet, find the perfect creative commons image for your post, change the width of your sidebars, insert that ad code, update that post from this time last year, approve those comments…etc, etc.
• Poor circulation in your legs because you can’t tear yourself away from the computer and you should be in bed.
• Hearing the magpies sing (an Australian bird that sings when dawn is approaching) and realising that you are still at the computer.
• Listening to your husband snore and realising he has gone to bed alone again and the teddy bear that shares the bed is getting more cuddles than you are.
• Waking up and checking to see if the site is up and running nicely – before getting your breakfast.
• Going to bed but getting out again a few hours later because you’ve got an idea.
• Having your traffic and google ranking drop off because you left your site in maintenance mode or you forgot to reactivate your plugins and your sidebars were empty for a few days.
• Not saving your custom.css file and realizing your customizations suck and then having nothing to go back to – then having to stay up even later to fix it….and hearing your husband snore…and those bloody magpies…
• Being notified by MidPhase (AN Hosting) that you have made $85USD in May 2009 and after 6 months and several emails later still  not getting paid…I don’t promote and won’t promote MidPhase Hosting.
• Having cpanel open for several sites and copying code between sites (you thought) and realising you’ve made terminal mistakes on all three sites…and haven’t got a back up…and having to stay up late…and hearing your husband snore…and those bloody birds!!

The Ugly

• Having your affiliate account terminated after being falsely accused of actively employing cookie stuffing techniques
• Being accused of having a lack of integrity, stealing commissions from hundreds of hard-working affiliates across the net, secretly loading malicious code to hijack people’s browsers and being an illegal affiliate.
  • Of course, I was proven innocent and got an apology. But it sure was time consuming! Be prepared when you least expect it to do some long hours.

Lessons Learned – Things I didn’t realise straight away…

1. Managing your research is really important

• When you are researching for articles and images for your site, make sure you copy and paste the url of the site, record the date accessed and make note of what copyright conditions apply. Separate your research into folders that need rewriting, one for stuff that can be used freely and another for drafts of work that can be published with a little bit of fine tuning.

How I learned my lesson:

• I had a list in my ‘research’ folder from quite some time ago and thought I would finally get around to putting it to a post. I didn’t have the reference link pasted on the page with my notes and assumed it was okay to publish with some words to add context and value. I got a comment from somebody saying I had taken somebody else’s list and added no value. I fixed up my mistake and now it is quite a popular article:
• 25 Top Blogs About Blogging & Why Old Blog Posts Are NOT A Waste of Time

• Record keeping is even more important: Record Keeping Essentials For All Bloggers

2. Inspiration can come from anywhere

• Find out what Lindsay Lohan and Susan Boyle have in common.
• Dream A Dream Of Blogging With Susan Boyle
• Lindsay Lohan Inspires Blogging Excellence

3 & 4. Don’t use beta versions unless you are a competent programmer & Just because you have a developer’s licence doesn’t mean you should take advantage of the privileges that come with it.

• I’m not usually an early adopter but I made the exception this once – oh crap I thought, now I’ve done it. After some help from my friends in the Thesis Theme Community I came good.

Do Not Upgrade to Thesis Theme 1.6b (beta) Until You Read This First

5. The young will inherit the Earth – and they deserve it

• A Review Of Why You Should Follow Your Passion Online
• Who The Hell Is Matt Harding
• Talented Thesis Theme Designer For Hire: Live Portfolio Here Now

6. You can teach yourself how to code

• There are some amazing tools available to help you to tweak the code and create a unique blog site. Your three best friends are (1) right click (2) copy and (3) paste.

• Confessions of a Self Taught WordPress Hacker

7. Paid web hosting is better than free hosting

• Why Paid Web Hosting Is Better Than Free Web Hosting

8. A picture does speak a 1,000 words

• The Best, Easiest And Quickest SEO Linking Strategies

9. Blogging is Fantastic

• How Home-Based Online Business Can Help The Australian Government Get Out of Debt
• Blogs …
  • keeps your brain healthy
  • lets you switch off for a while
  • sets you apart from others
  • gives you an excuse to meet strangers
  • helps you make money
  • give you the tools to build an online reputation …
    • 100+ Reasons Why Blogging Is Fantastic

10. Blogging can help your dreams come true

I’m 39 years old and until August this year I had never travelled outside of Australia as an adult. For various reasons, none of them I was happy with, I didn’t get around to scratching my travel itch.

After 8 months with the Thesis Theme Affiliate Program, I was rewarded with a $1,000 New York Affiliate Summit ticket ( a 3 day conference about affiliate marketing) for August 2009  for free!

My husband and I were about to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary and when I told him what we had achieved he said frankly, “Let’s go.” I must admit, we were only waiting for our youngest child to reach an age where I would feel comfortable leaving him at home (and being a few days travel away from). Because we had created a company and the affiliate summit airfare would be a tax deducation against our internet business income it was a good deal. So within 7 weeks we were on a plane and staying a week in New York. Absolutely amazing. We love New York.

It set up our mindset and aspirations and within 6 weeks of being back we took two of our children (the two youngest) to Thailand for a week. I’d love to go to Las Vegas in January 2010 but at this stage its still a bit of a dream.
But… dreams come true.

Thank you blogging.

Learn About Blogging and Enjoy a Holiday

Plans for Thesis Theme HQ – Year 2