This Friday will mark 1 year of colleenccook.com!

Today I am sharing how I started my blog and started making money as an influencer!

While I lunched my blog almost one year ago, I didn’t start making money from it until about 6 months in.

• I didn’t know much about blogging when I started, and I didn’t personally know any bloggers or have anyone to guide me through step-by-step. 
• I didn’t know how to increase my following, engage my audience, or monetize my website. 
• I didn’t know what was legal and not legal or how to disclose gifted products.
• There wasn’t much I did know, but I knew I loved blogging.

So, I spent what seemed like endless time researching how to grow my blog. 

I spent hours on Instagram to try to increase engagement and grow my following count. I tried looking for 3rd party sites that pay influencers to promote their products.

I found several but was not sure how reliable and trustworthy the sites were. I did find one that I have worked with a lot recently called heartbeat. It does both paid promotions and gifted collaborations but does not pay influencers much.

Meanwhile, I decided to launch my blog on WordPress through Bluehost. I still use the site today but was pretty unfamiliar with it at first, and it take time to get used to.

And then I found an easier way to monetize my blog and Instagram…

I recently completed LadyBossBlogger’s How to Make Money as an Influencer course and I only resent not taking it earlier. 

Courses are great investments if you are serious about making an income blogging and as an influencer. 

I wish I had taken LadyBossBlogger’s class when I first started blogging because I think it would have more thoroughly introduced me to the blogging world and helped me start earning money sooner both on my blog and on my Instagram.

The course is 100% online, very descriptive and thorough but not dry to read!

LadyBossBlogger offers tips to keep you organized as a blogger and influencer so you can promote your brand as both reliable and trustworthy. Working with brands is something I also find to be difficult – the course offers specific guidelines to follow when communicating and pitching to brands to better increase your chances of working with them.

• The course includes easy-to-read descriptions of technical jargon so that it is easier to navigate the blog host sites. (I could have used this awhile ago, haha!)
• The course also lists many websites that hire bloggers and influencers for paid promotions where you can choose your desired price for the content you create. 
• I have also learned so much from the legal side that I have not learned anywhere else!

LadyBossBlogger offers many routes influencers can turn blogging hobbies into blogging careers. 

I had no idea how many ways there are to do so!

To give one of you the opportunity to take this informative blog class, I am hosting a GIVEAWAY with LadyBossBlogger on Instagram! 

All you have to do to enter is:

• Follow me, @LadyBossBlogger, and the founder @ElaineRau on Instagram.
• Like the photo and tag a friend in the comments!
• You can earn more entries by tagging additional friends.

You can also use my code COLLEENCOOK which takes 40% off any LadyBossBlogger course! 

Stay tuned as I announce the GIVEAWAY WINNER in my next LadyBossBlogger blog post!