How I Grew My Blog Even After Taking A Year Off [Update]
This is a follow up story for Theresa Healey . If you're interested in reading how they got started, published about 4 years ago, check it out here.
Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.
Hello there, my name is Theresa and I am the owner and writer for the blog Theresa Healey.
I started my business in 2017 at a desk with my laptop and in a short time it took off. For most of my life, I have dealt with food allergies and dealing with it first hand, I understand how hard it can be to find safe foods to eat.
That is why I created my blog; for those on a similar path as me to be able to enjoy delicious treats worry free. On my blog I share a mix of gluten-free, vegan, egg-free, dairy-free, nut-free, paleo, raw, healthy recipes. Each recipe is made by me and tested with different substitutions so those who are vegan, dairy-free, egg-free, sugar-free and/or paleo, are able to enjoy savory and sweet treats.
I have also begun writing about my adventures as an Educator, my Travel trips, and some of my favorite food reviews and DIY’s. I love to write, and I created my site as a way to share all of my passions with the world!
To promote my blog and engage more people, I utilize instagram (@gluten.free.t) to share my day-to-day gluten-free adventures, and some insider tips into my life, to engage with others on a similar path as me.
Tell us about what you’ve been up to. Has the business been growing?
Since I last shared my blog with Starter Story, it has grown quite a bit and has also had a makeover. To make my site more accessible, I changed the layout of my posts, created a new logo for my site, made my loading time even faster, and have started social media marketing to drive business.
My traffic has increased by 50% in the past 6 months from 1,500 monthly views to 3,000-4,000 and my subscriber count has increased by 20% with an average of 5 new followers per week.
I have integrated SEO into my site to drive my viewership and I have utilized Instagram to promote my content. I also allow advertisements on my site to help pay for my blogging monthly expenses. I earn roughly $100 per month from these Ads.
Due to my increase in views, I was able to expand my affiliate platform to bring my followers new discount codes to save money on their favorite allergy friendly food brands! To obtain discount codes for my followers, I reach out to companies to ask if they would let me join their affiliate programs so I can have a discount code to share with my viewers.
I absolutely love working with companies, and it’s so awesome that my blog has grown to allow me to engage with some of my favorite allergy friendly brands.
To ensure users can easily find the content they are looking for. I have created an interactive menu at the top of my blog where you can either “search” for a specific genre of post or you can toggle through the categories to find what you would like to read.
My blog posts are also formatted for iphone, android and tablet use to ensure a smoother user experience.
What have been your biggest challenges in the last year?
My biggest challenge this past year has been driving views to my site. I took over a year off of blogging and social media posting, and when I dove back into it, I found most of my followers weren’t engaging with my content and my views had decreased by almost 80%.
I took time off to focus on school and work and find my passion for creating content again. Following the 2022 season, I was burnt out from writing and running my Etsy business and I lost my love for these passions. So, I respected this time off, and promised myself I wouldn’t reopen my blog until I felt ready.
In 2024 I felt the urge to write again and decided to start creating content again. I decided on posting once per week to allow myself time for work and school balance between writing for my site.
When coming back to my blog, my low viewership was disappointing, but with the help of running Ads and increasing my social media postings, I have slowly driven readers back to my site, which has been encouraging.
In combination with increasing my traffic, I have also changed my posting schedule to reflect my life outside of blogging. Since I work full-time, I don’t have as much time to devote to my blog that 3 postings a week requires.
Therefore, I post 1 time a week on Friday’s at 8 am. This allows me ample time to create content that is engaging, colorful, and reflects my passions.
What have been your biggest lessons learned in the last year?
My biggest lessons learned this year have been time and patience. These two words go hand in hand. It takes time to grow your blog and you need to have patience in this time.
It’s okay for your views to not be promising in the first few weeks, months, or even year of starting your business. It takes time. Investing in marketing/ADs, post regularly, and tailor your content to what is popular in the world.
On my blog, I love sharing Harry Potter related posts, because these movies are popular in the world. Another topic people are invested in is food. As a foodie at heart, and a gluten-free, dairy-free and egg-free eater, I tailor my posts to those on a similar allergy free food journey.
I regularly invest in running Ads to promote my content. I typically spend $30 a month/bi-monthly to promote my content and have found great results in this. I also post regularly to keep my blog fresh on the internet.
When you are passionate about something, don’t give up. It may take time, but it is always worth it in the end. Especially when you love what you do.
Focus on creating content that is popular in the world to drive viewers to your site. Promote your content on social media, and even invest a little money to advertise your site to drive views.
What’s in the plans for the upcoming year, and the next 5 years?
My plan is to keep blogging and keep growing my business. I plan to continue to find new companies to join their affiliate programs on, keep creating my favorite content, and continue running ads to increase viewership.
With new technology advances, I know how hard it is to keep my content relevant on google search pages, so I utilize ADs to help ensure my content stays fresh on the search pages, and I utilize social media to engage with people on those platforms. These two tips have helped me immensely, as well as keeping my content relevant to people's lives.
Cooking is something everybody does and will do for the rest of their lives, and many also deal with food allergies. Therefore, I target my content to those searching for allergy friendly recipes by including integrated SEO into my site and targeted hashtags to ensure those who are searching for these recipes see my posts.
One day I may change my blogging platform, or even change the way I share my content, but for now, I am happy with how my blog is performing and where I am now.
What’s the best thing you read in the last year?
The best thing I've read in the past year has been articles on how to grow your blog. Through reading these, I have learned so many tips on ways I can grow my site without hiring someone to help with this.
Not only is this a huge money saver, but it’s also a lot of fun. I have learned many new technologies to use, ways to make my site more user friendly, and fun interactive integrations to include on my site.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their business?
The biggest piece of advice I can give is to be patient. It takes time to grow your blog. Focus on creating content that is popular in the world to drive viewers to your site. Promote your content on social media, and even invest a little money to advertise your site to drive views.
It’s okay if you don't see results right away because it takes time to build a business from the ground up. Focus on being consistent with posting, writing content that is engaging and targeted to popular topics, and promoting on social media. Instagram and tik tok are free social media platforms that are extremely popular in the world and are awesome sites to use to promote your content.
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
I am not looking to hire for certain positions right now.
Where can we go to learn more?
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
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