Have you ever wished you could just sit down with a cup of coffee and pick the brain of a big-time blogger, such as Mom Blogger, Elna Cain? 🙋🏻♀️
You desperately want to monetize your blog. So badly that you can taste it. And you know it takes time. You know it takes perseverance. But you are so frustrated because it just ain’t happening yet!!
And you think you must be doing something wrong.
Maybe you are just getting started with your blogging journey, and you are wondering how to take that first step or what to do first. What should be your main focus right now?
Or maybe you’ve been at it for a while now and are frustrated that you just aren’t making any traction. You keep chasing one shiny object after the next, thinking that this time it’ll be different. This time, it’ll really work.
Only to realize, time and time again, that was the wrong strategy.
And now, you just don’t know what to do.
Whatever boat you are in, you have some questions. And your biggest question is, “How did the gurus do it?”
You know, the big guns, like Suzie, from Start a Mom Blog, Jill Smokler, who founded Scary Mommy, and my personal favorite… Elna Cain, from Twins Mommy.
What is the secret to big-time blogging success?
Well….I’ve been wondering that too. And as you know, I’m in that second boat. I’ve been chasing this dream for some time now (Five years? Six?? I lose track!) and I keep chasing every squirrel up the wrong tree.
But I’m lucky enough to have taken a few of Elna’s courses. And every time I need someone to set me straight, I just ask Elna.
And she always has the answer.
So, today, I thought I’d ask Elna ALL of the questions I’ve been dying to ask her! With the biggest being, HOW DO YOU DO IT?? 🤣 😂
And she graciously agreed to tell me. ☺️
No, we didn’t get to have a cup of coffee together. We didn’t even zoom or skype – I didn’t ask her. She’s a busy mom of twins. And I’m a busy mom of twins (plus four!). So, we just talked through email. But the beauty of that is I get her exact words, ready to share with you.
I also have to tell you, before we dive into my interview with Elna, that some of the links in this post may be affiliate links, which means I may get a small commission if you purchase through the link. No worries; it costs you nothing extra and helps me to monetize my own blog.
And as you know, I absolutely LOVE Elna’s courses and talk about them all of the time anyway. I’d never promote something I didn’t believe in. ☺️
So, without further ado, let’s grab that cup of coffee and pick Elna’s brain!!
Interview with Mom Blogger, Elna Cain
Making Mommas:
Welcome, Elna!! Thank you so much for agreeing to let us pick your brain a bit!! Please start by telling us a little bit about who you are and what you do.
Elna Cain:
My name is Elna and I’m a mom to twins and a freelance writer and blogger. I help moms with little kids make money blogging over on my blog, Twins Mommy. But I also help people get paid to write over on my freelance writing blog, Elna Cain.
Making Mommas:
Elna, everyone starts a blog for different reasons, but often times it is either as a hobby or to bring in a little extra income. Why did you start blogging?
Elna:
I started blogging when my twins were roughly 15 months old. This was the time I had clarity – because I was sleeping more hours per night! – and “free time.” I found that I did the chores, activities and meal prepping during the day and when my twins were napping, I had, “me time.” Since I was nearing the end of my maternity leave, I wanted to continue to stay home and that’s when my husband suggested I do something online.
He read about some mom bloggers doing VA work and freelance writing work. I was intrigued so I did some investigation and learned about freelance writing and was hooked. Through my freelance writing blog and writing for clients, I learned that I continued to love blogging in general and started Twins Mommy to share my work from home challenges. Over time Twins Mommy grew to help mom bloggers make money blogging.
Making Mommas:
When you started blogging, did you intend to turn it into a business, or was it initially a hobby?
Elna:
My freelance writing blog was really my first blog and I only wrote about what I was learning at the time, freelance writing! So, yes, initially it was a passion blog, but I soon learned that other people were reading my blog and commenting. Over time I learned that I was helping new writers figure out freelance writing and that is when I explored monetizing my blog.
Making Mommas:
I have heard that you have many blogs now, Elna. How many blogs do you have?
Elna:
I have quite a few, but my main sites are Twins Mommy and Elna Cain. I also have two contributor sites, FreelancerFAQs and Imperfectly Perfect Mama.
Making Mommas:
What are the different ways you monetize your blogs?
Elna:
The most popular way to monetize your blog is with affiliate marketing. This is when you sign up for a program or a product’s referral program and get a special link to market on your blog and on social media. If a person uses your links and purchases, you typically get a commission. I use affiliate marketing on most of my sites.
Another popular monetization strategy is display ads. Companies display ads on your blog, and you can make money with impressions. If you generate a lot of traffic to your site, then display ads can be a nice passive income.
For many bloggers, creating products is a popular choice. I create online courses, masterclasses, and guides that I sell and it’s a nice chunk of income.
I also provide a service – freelance writing – and every month I write for clients and get paid for my writing.
All in all, I use a lot of different monetization strategies to make a living blogging.
Making Mommas:
How long did it take you to monetize your blogs?
Elna:
When I offered a service – freelance writing – it took me around four months to reach my first $1k. For traditional blogging – using affiliate marketing – it took me close to a year to reach my first $1k.
Making Mommas:
What is typically the fastest way to monetize a blog?
Elna:
Definitely offering a service – graphic design, outreach, editing, proofreading, writing, email management – and display ads.
Making Mommas:
It is so easy to get off course when you are just starting out as a blogger. What are the most common mistakes you see new bloggers making?
Elna:
One of the biggest mistakes new bloggers make is their blog niche. Many look inwards in what they want to blog about, forgetting that a blog is for readers, not necessarily for the blogger. It’s okay to share your story about your family or your addiction or your love of coffee, but for many new bloggers, they fail to write WIIFM posts (what’s in it for me). So, once you find a blog niche – motherhood – new bloggers need to dig deep and find problems and challenges mothers face. Once you do that, you can create blog posts to help that audience.
Making Mommas:
When you are first starting out, you feel so confused – and all alone. So, if you have the money, it makes sense to invest in courses, programs, and coaches. But a lot of bloggers are bootstrapping their blogs when they first start out.
At least initially, you were a self-taught solopreneur. What resources or people were the most help to you?
Elna:
I relied on other freelance writers and my husband through this process. Since I was starting a new service, I contacted many freelance writers to get advice. I also read a lot of freelance writing blogs to learn about this new world. I did the same when I started Twins Mommy. I was new to the mom blog scene and early on I reached out to many mom bloggers as a way to network and get to know my fellow bloggers.
Making Mommas:
I too have reached out to other bloggers – and rely on my husband for moral support. But I have also taken three of your courses and cannot rave about them enough!
How far into your blogging journey were you when you started creating courses? And why did you start creating courses?
Elna:
Thank you so much! I decided to create my first course, Write Your Way to Your First $1k, about a year or two after starting my blog. I first started coaching new writers. I helped them form a pitching plan and helped them narrow their writing niche. I loved helping writers on a 1:1 basis, but I found it too time-consuming. That is when I decided to write down all my ideas and tactics and that eventually became my comprehensive freelance writing course. For Twins Mommy, I waited around a year as well to create Ready Set Blog for Traffic.
Making Mommas:
Elna, you got me started on my freelance writing journey. And over the years, I’ve also started three very different blogs. I know a lot of bloggers, myself included, are trying to provide a service and keep their blogs up to date at the same time.
How do you balance your client services and your blogs?
Elna:
I’m at this point in my freelance writing career that I can pick and choose my clients. So, for right now, I do turn down a lot of work – that I pass on to my course students – and only pick gigs that align with my goals. So far, it’s been good. I picked up Walmart as a writing gig in the summer and that was a good time for that because I wasn’t doing much blogging at that time. I picked up a great ghostwriting gig in the spring and that was perfect too since I didn’t have anything to launch product-wise.
Making Mommas:
What is the secret to putting out so much content – your own and your work for your clients?
Elna:
I think you really have to love what you write about! If you don’t, then writing about it takes twice as long. I also hire out writers and ghostwriters for the blogs that I don’t want to write or have the time to write.
Making Mommas:
Many new bloggers struggle to stay focused. There are so many people out there now, teaching so many different strategies and techniques. When you first started, how did you keep from falling into the trap of chasing every new shiny object?
Elna:
I didn’t! I was the same too! I followed soo many new bloggers, but I let that happen. I was okay with that because I was learning this new world of mom bloggers and bloggers in general. Before that, I was following freelance writers, so this was new. I gave myself permission to learn about these tactics like Pinterest marketing or email marketing. I think the thing to remember is to not focus on it too much. Spend some time but then leave it and move on.
Making Mommas:
Elna, I’m so glad to hear that! I love that you gave yourself permission to explore some new ideas! And limiting the time spent on new things is a great idea!
What would you say are the most important things for bloggers to focus on if they want to monetize their blog?
Elna:
If you want to make money blogging, focus on your audience and content. Your content compounds over time so the more content you have the more opportunity your readers have to stay glued to your blog. So, focus on writing for your audience and then you can focus on starting an email list. Your list is how you will communicate with that audience and eventually sell to.
Making Mommas:
As you know, many new bloggers struggle with mindset issues as well. 🙋🏻♀️ When did you feel like you could finally call yourself a blogger, and why?
Elna:
It’s hard for sure. I typically don’t tell my IRL friends that I’m a blogger. I usually say I’m a writer or content creator. There is a stigma associated with blogging and that can be hard when you are first starting out. But hang in there! Once you find your peeps – other bloggers like you – you will love the world of blogging!
Making Mommas:
Did you ever experience self-doubt, and if so, how did you overcome it?
Elna:
Yup, all the time, and I still do. For me, I have to keep my head down and not look at what other bloggers are doing. This creates doubt for me, and I can’t have that in my business. So, I do my best to have my ideas and plan down on my whiteboard and just stick to that!
I have to keep my head down and not look at what other bloggers are doing. This creates doubt for me, and I can’t have that in my business.
Elna Cain
Making Mommas:
I love that, Elna! I think so many times, we, as new bloggers, compare ourselves to people who have been doing it for years. And that is definitely a trap we don’t want to fall into.
I love it when you said, “I can’t have that in my business.” So many times, over this last year, I have told myself something similar. Self-talk is huge! It can literally make or break you.
Thank you so much for chatting with us today Elna!! So many questions answered. ☺️ Do you have any last thoughts you’d like to share?
Elna:
Thank you, Shannon for interviewing me! I simply love the world of blogging and I love helping anyone make money blogging or get paid to write! Make next year your year to start a blog, grow an audience, and make a business!
At the end of the day…
There you have it, folks! All of Elna’s secrets. 😁 Well, maybe not all of them. But definitely the ones that I was wondering about. And maybe you too!
I think it’s so easy to compare our journey to someone else’s; especially someone who is highly successful and seems to have it all together, like Elna. But it’s good to remember that they are people too and that they started from ground zero, just like us.
Our journeys may all look different, but in the end, we are all just bloggers, trying to help someone else, share a message and make a little money while doing it, so that we can stay at home, with our babies. ☺️
If you still struggle, momma, then do what I did: buy Elna’s courses! She has so many to choose from! And they helped me immensely. I CANNOT RAVE about them enough!!
1. Elna’s Write Your Way to Your First 1K Course
This is the second course I ever bought. (The first was her Mailchimp course. Great course! I just no longer use Mailchimp and don’t recommend that you do, either.)
If you want to monetize your blog by offering a service, consider freelance writing. It is the easiest to do because you are already a blogger and a writer!
When I decided to become a freelance writer, I spent YEARS trying to land my first client. 🤣😂 Futile. I bought Elna’s course, and went through it all…but didn’t implement her strategies.
In one last-ditch effort, I grabbed her course, (digitally!) dusted it off, and went through it again. This time, I read and/or watched a lesson, and then did exactly what she said to do, before moving on to the next lesson.
Literally.
And I landed my very first client ever – within two weeks!! 😆
I did in two weeks what I spent years trying to do…all because I tried to do it on my own, in my own way.
Well, I’m here to tell you, that as a new freelance writer, that doesn’t work! 🤦🏻♀️. So, just get her course. Don’t waste your precious time.
You’ll quickly make back the money you spend on the course. It’s a solid investment. Pinky Swear.
2. Ready, Set, Blog for Traffic
I had so much success with Ena’s freelancing course, that I decided to invest in her blogging course.
Best thing I ever did!!!
I learned how to write content my readers will love, how to figure out who my audience is, and how to niche down my lifestyle blog.
I learned about SEO and Pinterest. I even was introduced to monetization!
If you are struggling with what to focus on, or are overwhelmed with this entire blogging gig, then this is the course for you. It is a great course for new bloggers or bloggers who are failing at monetization.
It will help you set up a solid foundation for your blog, and then move you on to growing your traffic and monetization.
3. Pinterest Perfection Masterclass
You guessed it…I had so much success with her blogging course that I just had to get her Pinterest course! 😁
I really didn’t understand Pinterest. Ready, Set, Blog for Traffic does cover Pinterest, quite nicely. But Elna’s Pinterest Masterclass dives in even deeper.
My traffic on Pinterest (and to my blog!) has exploded since I started implementing her techniques!
And I’m not gonna lie – I haven’t even implemented all of them yet. I got distracted with updating my blog instead. 😁
At the end of the day, momma, we are blogging because we want to create a successful side gig that will help support our family financially. This allows us to stay home with our children. So, with that goal in mind, it is important to invest in yourself and your business.
You need success now – not seven years from now!
So choose the course that will help you to meet your goals.
Then get back to work!
And happy blogging!!
More on starting a blog
9 Good Reasons You Should Start a Sahm Blog Today
7 Quick Steps to Starting a Sahm Blog
19 Exciting Online Business Ideas : How to Make Money as a Stay at Home Mom
