Yes, it’s official, Mommies Home.net just had a birthday (or anniversary)! We officially turned one on the 9th of November.

Since I never do posts on blogging, I thought I’d do one on what I’ve learned in my first year of trying to make Mommies Home.net a success. Here goes nothing…

To start off with, the first month or so of Mommies Home.net was rough. I could track traffic count on one hand, it was rather rough. But I didn’t care about traffic or anything of the sort, just started it so I wouldn’t be bored at home and to see if I could make a little money.

I had a buddy of mine, found her site on the internet, who ran a Mom Money blog. Turned out her husband worked with my husband (small world). She was making good money, so I tried to do as much of what she was doing as possible. It started to work, little by little. Sadly she decided to sell her blog, which then tanked horribly (I should have bought the silly thing, that would have been great!). Anyhow, if you’re out in cyberspace Kristy, thank you for helping me as much as you did.

I got in with all the social networks, but honestly liked Entrecard the best. They brought the most traffic and my subscriber base started to rise, now at around 50. My alexa increased as did my technorati. My google traffic has steadily increased, making me quite happy.

But here’s some things I’ve learned:

1. People are going to get offended or take offense by what you post on your blog. Just deal with it and move on! I have a mom blog and I remember one post where I talked about feeding my kids vegetables and this guy came back saying I was a horrible mother and couldn’t believe I was allowed to keep my children. Ya, so just let it roll off your back.

2. People steal. Ya, it sucks. I’ve had people post the same articles as me within a day of my posts, people who suddenly have the same or eerily similar logos, stuff like that. Whatever, I’m flattered, not happy, but flattered. It’s all copyrighted buddies…

3. If you take a break, so will your money. I do rely on this money as a way to supplement some other money we SHOULD be getting every month but don’t. Seriously, our family needs it and this is how I get it. If I take a day off it’s like taking a day off of work, and I don’t get paid for vacation days.

4. Blogging is sometimes harder than it seems. I’m on this computer at 6 am, while the kiddo takes a nap during the day and at 8 pm every night. I check my e-mail all the time and always have the laptop up and running. It’s only a few hours a day, but sometimes I miss taking a shower or watching TV. It’s easy to let it slide.

5. Read other blogs. I’ve found some wonderful sites that I read daily, these people are to be commended because I’m fairly picky with how I spend my free time (usually because I don’t have any). I always check out sites of whoever comments, that’s how I usually end up subscribing to their blogs.

6. Technology sometimes sucks. We host everything and do everything, as my husband is an IT god. I know, I’m blessed. But honestly, if our cable goes down, so do all of our sites, and readers aren’t to forgiving. It is what it is, but we’re no google:-)

Anyhow, in the past year I’ve learned a ton and call myself a professional blogger because that’s how I make my money. I make it off surveys, pay per clicks and advertising, but writing is what I end up enjoying the most.

Here’s to another great year!!