motherhood - growth - living
Today we’re rounding up 30 fall themed lifestyle blog ideas to bring more traffic this autumn!
Fall is a big deal here on Long Island. The weather is beautiful, the leaves change in waves, pumpkin patches and corn mazes cover the North Fork. After some unbearably humid and hot summers, fall feels like a gift.
Read more2021 – you were so good to me! I learned so many blogging lessons this year and I’m here to report that the following 5 things are my biggest takeaways.
The more work I do here, the more my blog grows. There’s nothing more satisfying than working hard and having it pay off – literally and figuratively!
I’ve been blogging here since 2017. The difference between 2017 and 2021 was that I wrote 96 posts in 2021. I wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote and it paid off!
I finally started seeing my first payouts and worked with some amazing, wholesome brands.
And so it must be practiced consistently!
Last year, I sat down every day and wrote. Whether it was a blog post, a long-term project I’m working on, or just plain personal journaling, I wrote.
I created a habit.
I saw dramatic changes in my speed of writing.
I don’t just mean my typing ability, something that has improved considerably.
The way that my brain connects thoughts and transfers them to the page has quickened.
I took most of December off, so even now, in January, I feel a little “rusty” writing this post. Even if I don’t publish every single day, carving out some time to write has been extremely beneficial for my blog as well as my mental state.
Writing has always been an outlet for me, so putting my thoughts down on (virtual) paper always eases my mind.
If you have any type of blogging schedule or deadlines to hit, scheduled posts are your friend. Having a few posts in my queue that could be posted anytime was a game changer as a busy mom.
I had a goal of hitting “post” every day of the week in October – a goal I happily met!
As much as I wanted to maintain my habit of writing every single day, pumping out a neatly finished blog post with all the fixings wasn’t feasible.
I had to plan ahead. Something I am not known for.
I took some blocks of time here and there to work on evergreen pieces that I could publish on the days when I really needed to be present for my kid or sleep when she was sleeping.
Scheduled posts helped me reach my blogging goals in 2021, which brings me to my next point…
Setting goals will help you reach your goals.
It sounds idiotically stupid. Because it is.
Setting goals will help you reach your goals.
The caveat is setting attainable goals. Jotting down “write a novel” on your to-do list isn’t helpful. “Write 1,000 words” is.
Bite sized objectives that can be completed in a reasonable (I’ll let you interpret that as you will) amount of time will increase your confidence that you can attain your goals.
I keep a long and short list of goals in the notes section of my phone so they are easy to find.
This one seems obvious, but I found it difficult in 2021 to practice this one.
First off, there’s the big distractions. I waited until my daughter was asleep (parents who get work done while their kids are awake, I praise you). I put my phone on silent. Closed all other tabs.
Then, there are mid-level distractions, like stopping to change a song or check the time. I found long YouTube compilations of classical music and the like so I didn’t have to stop. Setting a timer eliminated the need to constantly check the time.
Lastly, there are pesky little time thieves that are sneaky because they feel productive. My biggest one is the thesaurus. I noticed that I was disrupting my “flow” of writing by needing to find the perfect word. I would simply write a word in ALL CAPS if I didn’t feel like it was the right fit, that way I could clearly tell that it needed to be replaced once I was editing. This made me a faster writer, instantly.
My other tip is to write in Comic Sans in Google Drive document. I saw this online. I don’t know who thought of this, but it works. It takes the pressure out of it, and I’ve discovered that the Google doc interface is much faster than the WordPress editor – just my two cents!
I wish someone told me this sooner!
There are plenty of brands out there who are looking to work with smaller bloggers.
I had read time and time again that if you’re producing quality content, the brands will just come to you. And maybe that is true.
But, there are a lot of blogs out there. And then there’s Instagram. And TikTok. And YouTube. I felt there was so much competition.
Then, I read about an abundance mindset, something I heard mentioned by Amber Fillerup Clark (check out my post on 10 Mom Influencers to Follow for Inspiration)
There are so many creators and there are SO MANY opportunities out there! More than enough to go around. With the change from a competitive attitude to an abundance mindset, I had a newfound confidence around working with companies.
I reached out to some of my favorite brands, or ones that I hoped to work with. Some said no, some didn’t answer, and some said yes. We were able to work together on content and I felt good about promoting products that I actually used and would recommend anyways.
If you’re small, reach out!
What blogging lessons did you learn in 2021? Do any on this list resonate with you?
Let me know below!
O.
It might be November, but I wanted to share my experience with this years Blogtober tag!
Read moreIs November too early to decorate for Christmas?
It’s a very contentious debate in this house.
Traditionally, I would wait until the day after Thanksgiving to decorate for Christmas. In my mind, that’s the official start to the holiday season.
But, if you’re out in the world, you know that Christmas now starts in October, at least for retailers. The Christmas Creep has been pushed farther than ever this year. I know I noticed holiday decor in stores as early as September.
It’s crazy that it’s early November and I feel late to the party! Christmas is undoubtedly my favorite holiday and favorite time of year. I love how strangers can become cheery and kind. I love the music. I love the lights and decorations. I love the focus on gratitude and family and being together.
Is it too early to decorate for Christmas?
This is a very personal question.
Here are some things to think about when asking yourself whether or not it’s time to bust out the lights and snowglobes.
There are many layers to the Christmas season. Maybe you prefer to do it all at once, making a day of it. Or, maybe you like to slowly integrate in your decor and music.
Let’s dive into the layers of Christmas below.
This one is pretty innocuous. Personally, I believe that Christmas music doesn’t have to be reserved for the season.
Silent Night? A great lullaby. Winter Wonderland? Works in February too.
I love listening to Christmas mixes on YouTube to get in the holiday mood.
The next layer is to me, a true signal that we’re getting started. Maybe it starts with a little reindeer, maybe some mistletoe? We’re just flirting with Christmas here – we’re not taking Christmas out to dinner yet.
Here we go, now it’s really begun. This is what I would usually wait until Black Friday to start, but heck it I’m going to start in November. Deep indoor decor would be pulling out the big box from the attic that’s labeled XMAS and going ham.
I’m talking garlands.
I’m talking needlepoint North Pole pillows.
I’m talking fir tree scented candles.
I’m talking obscure santa memorabilia.
At this stage, you’ve gone full Christmas, baby!
This is to show the neighbors that you’re not messing around and waiting until December. This is when you get out the gloves, the boots, the lights, and you find a tall person. Anyone tall will work.
You hang those lights and you show that neighborhood that you are ready for Christmas and you’re not messing around.
If you have a fake tree, please fight me in the comments. Live trees are superior. I don’t care if it’s 4 feet tall. Get a real tree. Forget to water it. Spend a good portion of December trying to figure out if it’s going to hold out until Christmas. Find pine needles in places you didn’t know pine needles could go for years to come.
If you have your tree up, Christmas is a comin’. There’s nothing better than a lit Christmas tree with Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas on in the background.
This is the last and final layer. Putting presents under the tree is the ultimate sign that Christmas is near. If you have kids or a pets, this might be a no-no until Christmas Eve.
When I was growing up, “Santa” put all the presents under the tree on Christmas Eve night. We would leave out cookies, milk, and carrots for the reindeer. The living room doors closed and the house would fill with a quiet excitement. We could hardly fall asleep.
My siblings and I would wait at the top of the stairs together and then rush into the living room all at once while our parents watched.
It was always inexplicably magical.
There are very few things in my life that compare to the excitement and enchantment of Christmas morning.
Now, I have a kid, so I’m more than excited to share that magic with her.
Do you do layers? Or go all at once? There’s no right way to get into the Christmas spirit.
Where do you stand on this? Is November too early to decorate for Christmas? Let me know below!
O.
Finding a Pinterest strategy in 2021 that works can be tricky.
The list goes on. These aren’t bad ideas, and they still work. But, social media is ever changing. And while Pinterest might not feel as “social” as Instagram or Twitter, its algorithm also goes through major shifts.
In 2021, Pinterest can still be a driving source of traffic for your blog.
Pinterest provides evergreen traffic, so you can see results even YEARS after posting. I get thousands of monthly impressions off a pin from 2018.
First, let’s go over what all these terms mean:
Impressions: the number of times your Pins or ads were on screen.
Outbound Clicks: the number of times someone clicked on your pin and was brought to it’s destination (presumably your blog or social media).
Saves: the number of times your pins were saved to a board.
Followers: how many accounts follow you (duh).
Impressions, saves and followers are great.
The secret to Pinterest is NOT followers or saves. It’s outbound clicks.
More outbound clicks = more traffic.
More outbound clicks = higher ranking on Pinterest.
More organic traffic = higher ranking on Google = gold!
If you follow any content creators or influencers on Instagram, you may have heard them mention if they’re not on “stories” every day, their posts don’t get shown to as many people.
I know that my numbers were slashed in the past year.
This is becoming true for Pinterest as well. Idea pins are the way to go as far as boosting traffic and getting those clicks. They’re controversial because they aren’t able to be linked to your content. The hope is that someone views it and goes to your profile, and then clicks through to your site.
As annoying as this detail is, the algorithm loves idea pins.
Re-pinning old posts, being consistent and creating idea pins is what has gotten my numbers back in the green!
Do you use Pinterest to drive traffic to your blog? Have you noticed any changes in your Pinterest account in the past few months?
Let me know below.
O.
