Welcome and Happy Valentines Day!!! We have another wonderful blogger to interview today, so I will get to that! Have a wonderful holiday!
1) Introduction:
My name is Anna Geiger. I taught for eight years and received my master’s in education before staying home to raise my children. We have a daughter (6) and three little boys (5,3,2). Currently we are past our due date as we wait for our fifth little blessing any day now! I teach my children at home for preschool, and they begin school with half day kindergarten at our church’s parochial school. I began my blog, The Measured Mom, in January of 2013. It has become a source of free education materials for parents, homeschoolers, and classroom teachers. I I love to share my ideas and printables with a growing audience.
2) Niche:
When I began my blog I wanted to be a source of inspiration and ideas for stay at home moms. My goal was to be a “one stop shop” with parenting articles, recipes, and ideas for teaching and connecting with our children at home. I soon realized that my scope was much too broad, and I couldn’t compete with bloggers who were already doing a great job in these areas. However, I saw a lack of free, quality education materials for parents who teach their children at home. I decided to help fill that void. I also wanted to be a resource for classroom teachers who spend far too much of their own money to educate their students. My blog is now becoming a resource for homeschoolers and preschool-early elementary teachers.
3) Finding time to blog:
I spent a great deal of time the first year… for the first few months, I was very haphazard with my early morning exercise routine and spent all my free time blogging: during afternoon nap/quiet time and after the kids were in bed. This felt necessary for the first year as I was on a steep learning curve and working to build my site. Now I can take a day off of blogging and still have a good number of visitors. My goal for 2014 is to learn to balance social media time (with a timer!), set reasonable goals for creating and sharing new material, and to be more present with my family.
4) My advice to other bloggers:
a) Start with a plan to succeed. If you have lofty goals, spend the money and get a self-hosted site. You can start very cheaply at just $5 a month (heads up: as your blog grows, your host will raise your monthly fee).
b) Get a quality theme for your blog, even if you have to spend some money. I have the Prose Theme from Genesis. It was $90, which was my Christmas present to myself. Now my blog is making money, but at the time this was quite an investment. I never regretted it! Do your homework. A good theme will save you many headaches.
c) Read as much as you can about blogging how-to’s so that you don’t have to undo your mistakes later. The e-book iBlog was very helpful to me at the beginning.
d) You will hear a lot about finding your “niche,” which can be daunting at first. But as you write, notice what topics you enjoy writing the most – and which ones connect most with your audience. You will discover what you do best.
e) Connect with your readers. Answer as many comments as you can (I try to answer all of them), reply to comments on Facebook posts (yes, you definitely need a fan page!), and learn to use social media like Google Plus, Pinterest, and Twitter.
d) Find a blogging community to join. After I joined Kid Blogger Network (for blogs primarily focused on kid activities), my blog grew by leaps and bounds. A blogging community is so important for encouragement, support, and networking.
e) Don’t give away your ad space or time. You will probably receive requests for guest posts from strangers – they will want to share “quality content relevant to your readers” with a link back to their site (for free). Don’t say yes to mysterious guest bloggers. You will also receive offers of free products in exchange for a review and giveaway. Your time – not to mention that beautiful blog that you’ve worked so hard at – are worth a great deal. Demand compensation for ad space and reviews. If they say no, you’ve lost nothing.
f) Be consistent. Show up, connect, and care. When you find ways to do this while balancing your faith and family, your efforts will be blessed!
So glad to hear about another Christian educator blogger! There are not a lot of us! 🙂