“There is no such thing as an overnight success. A blog takes time and determination to build.”

Natasha Courtenay-Smith: The Million Dollar Blog 

At the start of 2018, I set myself 10 personal goals to achieve for the year, one of them being to read more. I had a stack of unread motivational, blogging and style books that had been accumulating on my bedside table, office desk and living room sideboard throughout 2017 – I seem to have an addiction to ordering new books from Amazon when I haven’t read the ones I have already bought (does anyone else do this?) – 2018 is the year I planned to fix that.

For my first book of 2018 (I am now on my 3rd book btw – Yay me!) I picked up The Million Dollar Blog by Natasha Courtenay-Smith, which proclaims to be ‘your ultimate guide to starting a successful blog or taking your existing blog to the next level’. In 2018 I have set myself on the path of self improvement from my personal to professional life. So although I knew that more than half of this book would probably be information I have already consumed along my 5 year blogging journey. At the start of the year, I needed motivation and inspiration for kicking my blog (and my ass) to the ‘next level’.

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5 Things I Learnt From Reading The Million Dollar Blog

If I am being 100% honest I practically knew everything on the pages of this book before I opened it. But sometimes reading the obvious facts/advice that you already know can be like a light-bulb flicking on in your head with a: ‘Why didn’t I think about doing that?’ moment.

To switch up my content offering on Lurchhoundloves and share my reads with you I was thinking of starting a ‘book review’ series for each of the books I tick off my reading list. If you like today’s post and hearing what I took away from reading The Million Dollar Blog, and you would like more book reviews, do let me know in the comments below or by giving me a shoutout on Twitter @CharlotteLewis_

So here we go: 5 things reading ‘The Million Dollar Blog’ taught me…

1. How To Create a Clear Blog Goal Plan

A little bit like The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k, The Million Dollar Blog helps you to create a clear road path for your new or existing blog by providing you with space to jot down mental notes to questions asked, such as: ‘What is the main point of your blog?’, ‘Who are the individuals you would like to become the biggest fans of your blog? Questions that may seem obvious, I know, but by actually answering the questions in the book it helped me to visualise who I want my blog to reach and how I am going to reach them.

2. ‘No One Else Can Be YOU’

This point is SO true. Only you can do you so why try to be anything else. Rather than worrying about what other people are doing or think about me I should inject my own style, humour and personality into everything that I do. Instead of holding some things back and being scared to truly be me online.

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Personal Branding Makes Me Unique

I received a gentle reminder that personal branding covers everything from my values, reputation, talents, my behaviour, how I talk and how people experience me. Blogging as a side hustle to my full-time career in digital marketing I don’t always think about the above before posting each piece of content on my channels and I don’t always bear these in mind when carrying myself in the workplace. It is something I will be more conscious of in 2018. In the words of The Million Dollar Blog: “Defining your brand means defining a vision of yourself. Then taking steps to bring that vision to life”

Image IS everything

I know this sounds very fickle but first impressions count and in a day where Instagram reigns supreme alongside the need for a constant updated stream of new information, people prefer images to reading. From the way that I carry myself to the actual photographs that I take, I need to inject my personality into shoots more (instead of holding back) and use my photos to build a credible brand. Speaking of photos you may notice some experimentation with my shots on the blog and my instagram (@charlottebuttrick) until I find my feet with what editing I love and works for me, so apologies if anyone starts to spot some inconsistencies.

Give Your Audience What They Want

Natasha says that “understanding what’s going on in your reader’s world is the key to making your blog resonate with them” By carving out a bit more time to be analytical of my previous post performance and what you lovely lot are searching for online I will hopefully be able to find a balance of giving you what you want to read alongside the things I want to share.

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I AM WEARING: SHOES & BAG c/o CHARLES & KEITH / TOPSHOP JACKET / SKIRT c/o CHICWISH

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So, Is The Million Dollar Blog Worth Reading?

Sometimes you need to be told things you already know for them to actually sink in and mean something. As an established blogger (I feel so w***y even saying that, but I mean as some one who has actively been blogging for half a decade, over just thinking of starting up a blog) The Million Dollar Blog provided me with inspiration as it also includes success stories from successful bloggers and vloggers alongside Natasha’s blogging tips. After finishing the book I felt refreshed with a clear blog plan and mission statement in my head, which I hope has been showing in my posts since January.

If you are an existing blogger looking for a motivational book to give you a creative push (without expecting the world) or you are thinking of setting up a blog/are a blogging newbie. The Million Dollar Blog will give you insights into creating a clear blog goal plan, showing you how you can earn money from doing it and how to maximize your blog’s potential.

“Starting a blog is easy. Maintaining it is hard!”

AMEN Sister! This is one of my favourite quotes from The Million Dollar Blog by Natasha Courtenay-Smith

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I hope you have enjoyed reading today’s post 🙂 Would you like to see more book reviews?

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