When I first started blogging in 2009, I had no idea what I was doing. It took me a while to come up with the name “Gutsy Writer” for my free blogger.com blog. Little did I know at the time, that this was a perfect name for me, and that it would lead to my brand.
I often tell my audiences the story of why I started blogging, and explain how I wanted to be just like my hero, Catherine Sanderson. You see Catherine started blogging early on, when most of us had never heard of the word blog. She started a blog “La Petite Anglaise: Slices of My Life in Paris ,” and wrote gossipy work-related stories about life as a Brit in Paris, with a French boss. The followers started flocking to read her posts and she landed a book deal. Needless to say, I wanted to be just like Catherine.
I soon realized that I needed a more professional blog with a theme and tag-line that would encompass more than just myself, and that’s when I hired a professional web-designer and changed to a custom web-hosted WordPress blog. I started my “Gutsy Living: Life’s too short to play it safe,” blog and now I recommend to any writer who wishes to become a commercial author, whether indie-published, or traditionally published, to invest in their WordPress.org blog, and not waste time starting with a free blogger blog like I did. (There are many reasons, one of which is the lack of SEO, which means in layman’s terms, a lack of discoverability. Please contact me if you’d like me to explain other reasons.)
I followed many “Big” bloggers, to see what they were doing right, and Annabel Candy, was one of them. Here is a post I wrote about Annabel when I started reading every post she wrote, and also purchased her helpful e-book called, “Successful Blogging in 12-Simple Steps.”
I have come a long way since starting my blogger.com blog, and finally interviewed another hero of mine, Annabel Candy, about her life as a mother, a travel blogger whose work has been published in print and on the biggest blogs in the world, a website designer, and how she can run two successful blogs at the same time. Annabel lives in Queensland where she writes the popular travel blog Get In the Hot Spot and shares online marketing tips at SuccessfulBlogging.com.
Here is my interview with Annabel Candy on 3/26/14.
Would you like to submit your “My Gutsy Story®” and get published in our 2nd anthology?
Please see guidelines below and contact Sonia Marsh at: sonia@soniamarsh.com for details.
You can find all the information, and our new sponsors on the “My Gutsy Story®” contest page. (VIDEO) Submission guidelines here
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Bex says
Great interview Annabel!
I run a life and travel blog as I live in Athens, Greece & have also been featured on Google Hangouts with Sonia.
I wonder if you have any advice about getting a bigger profile for someone who lives in a country where blogging is hardly recognised by the tourism boards, etc?
Bex recently posted..Incorrect assumptions of an expat lifestyle
Sonia Marsh says
Bex,
I can send you Annabel’s e-mail if she doesn’t see your comment.
Sonia Marsh recently posted..Annabel Candy is a Gutsy Woman Who Runs 2 Successful Blogs