[Team – 30DBC]

Please let everyone know of the progress you have made so far below.

Please let everyone know of the progress you have made so far below.

[Marie Palmeri]

So so far, I am learning my way around WordPress, getting to meet a few more people, commenting on their comments and pages, and adding them to my list. The videos throughout the course really help a lot giving me good information and techniques to have a successful blog site. I hope that I can remember what I have gathered so far for future use.

[Monica]

Hi Marie! I’m so glad you got to Week 3 and I’m so happy and proud of your achievements! You have been a great member of our challenge and we love having you in our little community. You can always access the course and refresh the things you might have forgotten but if you keep practicing it consistently, you will not have any problems 🙂

[Danielle Baker]

I am pleased to see that I am more at ease with Word Press. It takes me less time to set up my posts and publish.

I was struggling with navigating around Constant Contact this week but I will get through 🙂

I am getting motivated because I have had new subscribers. And I am so thankful for the participants in this challenge. Your encouraging words are great to keep me going. You are also inspiring with the work you do on your blogs. Thank you!

[Monica]

Well done Danielle! You got to Week 3 and I’m so pleased to see how far you’ve come! Your blog has been growing so much and your content just keeps getting better. I know there are a lot of technical issues that really get in the way sometimes but, I assure you, you will get through it and eventually master it. Keep being consistent and investing your time, you really have such an interesting niche and I can’t wait to see how it grows 🙂

[Lisa Lysen]

This has been an exciting week of learning more about WordPress for me, as well. I love the way the information is presented and illustrated. It’s incredibly helpful. I also sent my first email campaign, which TERRIFIED me … and for good reason, too, because I did it wrong … I didn’t have my name showing up in the “from” section and most weren’t opened. Fortunately my kids are on the list and they both texted me right away to let me know my mistake. I spent a long time trying to figure out how to fix it but eventually did and sent a second campaign that has been much more successful. 🙂

[Monica]

What an exciting week Lisa! Hope you are feeling better 🙂 You were also featured on the Member Spotlight, congratulations 🙂 That is a classic mistake in the beginning but I’m so glad your kids are on the list and immediately notified you. What a supportive tribe 🙂 Well done!

[Lisa Lysen]

Oh that’s awesome! Thanks for letting me know. I’m excited. And I’m feeling great again, thanks … it’s sure not a good time to have bronchitis … very grateful it’s only that, though.

[Karen Scofield]

I got out of my comfort zone and posted on facebook. Both in a group and on my wall. I was pleased to see a few people share it on their walls as well. Grateful for that.

I learned how to write a newsletter and how to stay active in facebook groups.

I struggle with promoting myself because I want to focus on being valuable. So these tasks are really great for getting me comfortable with marketing.

Next week I want to be less apprehensive of promoting my content and understanding that there are people out there who will get value from it

[Monica]

That’s such big progress Karen! Wow, I know how intimidating it can feel to share your project with friends and family, but I’m so glad it paid off. Well done 🙂

[Shelly Stone]

This past week I have hit some snags that have slowed me down, but they’ve also taught me to do research outside the course, which has led me to all kinds of fantastic and useful information. It has reminded me that I’m in control of what I get out of the course, and the more I work at it, the more I learn. I have some ladies in the course I’ve chatted with over the past week who are absolutely dynamite. They write great posts and they inspire me to keep improving my own writing. I’m very happy with my progress and can’t wait to see what comes next!

[Monica]

Hi Shelly! This is awesome progress 🙂 I’m so glad you are complementing the course with your own research, doing that extra work is so worth it. And how incredible that you guys are interacting with each other and helping each other out, this is what our community is for 🙂 Well done!

[Shelly Stone]

Thank you, Monica. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all of your encouragement and feedback. You are a ray of sunshine!

[Cheryl Millington]

Everything seems to take much longer, but I am grateful for this challenge to keep me on track (although, I’m a few days behind). I am learning a lot!

[Monica]

I totally understand, Cheryl! But keep up with it and I promise, in a few months, your process will be so much easier. It is very hard to start because of all the work, but things get easier 😀 You are doing a great job!

[Dana Trummel]

Here I am. I have learned so much this week. I have a facebook page for my website, a pinterest board and a twittler account. I emailed my welcome page to my 4 contacts. I didn’t gain any contacts this week. That is still really scary for me. I made my lead magnet, but I can’t seem to get my pop up for remail requests to work. I don’t feel like buying a subscription during my free trial with Constant Contact. I have completed all my blog posts to date. I am following other bloggers, have become members of many facebook groups and have started following a lot of pinterest boards. I don’t have time to look at everything, but I want to spend a little time every day just browsing so I can get ideas and motivation. What will week 4 bring?

[Monica]

Wow, Dana this is such great progress! You are becoming a pro 🙂 Well done. Try and share your blog in facebook groups, it really helps with traffic and contacts 😀

[AMANDA ZOYA]

Keeping on. Some challenges with the lead magnet and adding the Adsense code to my site. Working on hacking those two.

[AMANDA ZOYA]

Somebody please help me with a basic step by step guide on how to add the Google AdSense code to my site. I am unable to do it and quite frustrated. I have installed elementor page builder and elementor header and footer builder. I don’t know what options to choose when creating the header under Display on? and User roles? I also don’t know what to do after that and where to paste the Adsense code. Please help.

[Monica]

Hi Amanda! Our technical help group would love to help you! Can you post it there?

[Isabelle Colantonio]

Hi,

I’m so happy woth this 30DBC. I’m learning soooooo many things I even didn’t know that exists…

So I shared my free magnet thfugh my personal Facebook, and I got some more subscribers to my newsletter. I contacted a crochet designer about sharing her content and guest blogging, and she agreed! And I joined a few groups on Facebook and started to interact with other members…

I’m still a little behind the classes but I try to catch up. Writing posts takes me longer than I thought, because I’m extra cautious about the content – mainly when it’s a tutorial – and about images (OMG I’m in love with Canva!!!). I’m following the WP classes as well, but not the 3rd one yet.

I think I still have some issues with Mailchimp forms, but I will fix that by the end of this long weekend (Thanks Victoria!) and I will try to set up WooCommerce as well…

Well, that’s a lot on the to-do-list, my I enjoy that very much 🙂

Thanks you all!

[Monica]

Oh Isabelle, I’m so happy about your progress here! You are doing such a great job and I can see your work improving week after week 🙂 Well done, keep up with the good work! I’m so excited about the collab with the crochet designer 😀

[Julie Christiansen]

I would say that in general I had a good week. In the technical area, I got my pages and posts worked out in the navigation menu, I sent out a kind of newsletter, a bulletin really and people on my mailing list got it. I contacted all fifty people and more on my mailing list to explain what was coming and to correct some e-mail addresses that had fallen out of use. I like the Bulletin in Canva but somehow it didn’t get saved. So from now on, I am doing all the writing in Word, then cutting and pasting. In the content area, I made leaps and bounds. It seems to have all come together in the last two days. Aside from my website, I have come up with an idea for a weekly reading hour for children. It is geared toward ages 8 to 14, because they will be encouraged to read and write on their own and may participate in monthly contests based on the stories I will have read to them. And the magnet? I will be dressed as Drucilla. I am having a costume made so I will be dressed up as the queen bee. Some will love it, some will think it’s stupid and still others will laugh themselves sick. But few will forget about it. Possibilities for earning money with it might come as a guest on other shows, selling my books, getting sponsors. And the point of the whole thing is to get kids more interested in reading by showing them all that is out there in books and urging them to write their own creative ideas.

There were a few difficulties during the week as well. We are working at such a turbo-speed that if you don’t understand something, especially something crucial, you cannot finish the assignments and moved ahead. I am having trouble with linking and with Canva. I am not always able to save things in it. I am still having difficulties linking my graphics there to my website and I am not finding the templates I need. Today I tried to make a logo. The program wouldn’t let me alter anything in the template. I really need someone who will answer my questions. Every time I ask for help, I am referred to the lesson that covered this concept. That is not wrong in itself, but I have already been through these lessons three or four times and my screen does not look exactly like the screen in the lesson. If I could talk to someone on the phone, my questions would be answer in five minutes and I would know what I was doing again. Now I am four lessons behind because I cannot get a particular thing to work. Then all my frustration with computers come back up to the surface. Oh well, I will probably feel rather proud of myself when I get it all figured out.

This week, I am going to get my facebook and twitter profiles cleaned up. I had also started up an instagram account a couple of years ago. But I am not very good with pictures, so I did not keep up with it for very long. Now I have something that I can use these media for. How long are we going to have access to the lessons after the 30 days are up? I need to go through everything SLOWLY. I will also focus more comments and replies this week and get some friends to do some practice runs with me. Wow! I’m exhausted just thinking about it, but in a good sort of way.

[Monica]

Hi Julie! Thank you so much for your thorough feedback and for being honest with us!

First of all you are doing an amazing job and your blog has been developing so much in the few weeks, you must be super proud of all the work and effort you are putting into it. I know what you love to do is to write and I understand how frustrating it can be to have to handle everything else such as marketing, design, etc.

We have the office hours every sunday 7pm – 8pm est in which I’m always available in a Zoom meeting. If you need something from me you can always message me here and we can set up a call if you are having any issues with Canva, brand strategy, marketing or with your stories. I’m in Australia and unfortunately, when you are active and working in your blog I’m almost always asleep but I always check my messages everyday and would love to help you out.

Still, we have our Technical Help forum in which you can write all of your questions and issues and Callan will be kind enough to help you with those since she is our WordPress genius

Hope this helped and feel free to message me to set up a call if you need any other help

[Binky Theodore]

I am so proud of the progress I made this week. My two greatest accomplishments were tackling Canva and Constant Contact. I created my Lead Magnet and wrote a few more blog posts. I created links within my website between posts and pages, categories and tags, and my email list is just beginning to grow. I find it all so exciting! I never knew I had it in me!

Day 17 took me about 4 days to complete, so I feel like I’m playing catch-up, but I’m getting there. Joining Facebook Groups is brand new to me. I never joined or followed any other groups or bloggers. The whole “community” aspect of blogging is new and a little scary to me. I am an introvert, which is why I have always preferred to write instead of speak face-to-face with people. I’m looking forward to growing “as a human” that way, and putting myself out there for others to judge or respond to.

I’m also still making progress in the WordPress for Beginners Course. The more I learn, the longer my To Do list grows! But I am thoroughly enjoying every minute of it! I used to be a sound sleeper, but now I find it hard to fall asleep because I’m so excited for the next day so I can jump back in again!

[Monica]

This is such great progress, Binky! You really are on the right track and I truly believe all of your effort will be worth it in the long run. I know it can be a little overwhelming to share your blog and try and monetize it, especially when it is something so personal but think that there is a lot people can learn from.you and your experiences. Great job 🙂

[Bonnie Taylor Wachowicz]

I’m keeping up with the lessons – have three slightly different Facebook intros to use in three types of Facebook groups, sent my first newsletter, and wrote a lead magnet that is now connected to my subscribe link. Writing the post that was chosen as the post of the week was a real boost to my motivation!

I am struggling with my design – lots to learn about themes (I want to try changing the theme so I know what to do if it breaks). Also lots to learn about Canva and graphic design in general. I am struggling with sharing my blog. I don’t think it is ready to share with people I know yet, but it’s close. I feel like people I know will be more judgmental – I’m probably wrong on that, but it is still slowing me down.

Focus for the next week will be keeping up with lessons, work on design/theme, fine tune my content plan, and start sharing the blog. I need to set up a Facebook business page, and check out Constant Contact to see what has changed since I last used it.

[Monica]

You are doing such an awesome job, Bonnie! You should be proud of everything you already accomplished, even if it doesn’t seem like a big deal, it is so much information to process already!

It will come to a time when you will be comfortable with all of the aspects of the blog but, for now, try to dedicate time to the design and you will see so much improvement! It seems intimidating but as soon as you get the grip of it, becomes so much easier. 🙂 Well done!

[Casey Williams]

We are learning so much through this course. It has been very helpful! Our goal this week is to reach out to a few close friends to share our blog. After doing this we will be able to put the last few days of work to good use! Wish us luck!

[Monica]

I’m so happy you guys are enjoying the challenge and taking so much from it. Well done 🙂 Good luck with sharing it with your friends, they will love it 🙂

[Heather.locke]

I am enjoying this so far. It has been helpful in getting blogs set up. I have made my newsletter to send out, I have made notes on future posts that I am in the works for. I have had 1 comment on my post so I sent an email with the newsletter to try to entice her to more and getting her to join. I am posting a lot in social media groups, more than I did previously to get noticed and people to see my pages. I have had 10 more followers on instagram which I do lots of posts and video posts on since January (way before I started the blog).. I am starting to get more comfortable in creating work on Canva but I am still struggling on getting people to my site, I don’t have emails for people (never really had a lot of peopleI know.friends). I have added a lot to my facebook page and working on adding more so that I can use that as a source to my blog and to join. I posted my newsletter on my social media. I am now working on my next free resource which is what I am going to use for my school next year as a book study/professional development.

[Monica]

You are working so hard, Heather! And making such great progress 🙂 I love that you are doing so much but don’t overwhelm yourself, you can still grow your business and take things slower if you ever need to. Great job 🙂

[Melissa.dunnington]

Doing ok, learning my around WordPress is becoming easier. Having lots of fun with Canva.

I’m a bit behind, so I’m hoping we still have access to this platform after day 30, I would like to check out more of the courses.

[Monica]

Hi Melissa! Don’t worry about the 30 days, we are aware all of us have different paces 🙂 The course will be available.

[Elizabeth.rodriguez]

canva is the best

[Kate.elliott]

Hey,

Not a bad week… I am finding that I am a bit behind though as I had other commitments for a few days and couldn’t find as much time. I agree with what Julie said that sometimes a task can take a bit longer and it feels like its hard to catch up…. however I saw your response to Melissa that it will still be available after 30 days which now makes me feel better! I find sometimes I get caught up in trying to make sure everything looks good etc, until a friend reminded me that it is the content that is important, not what colour the page is etc. I also need to remember that “good enough is good” 😉

I have been getting lots of positive feedback on my facebook group, I have 78 friends who are supporting me there (not all are reading though lol). I am trying to get my blogs into other groups… but most of the ones I find either don’t allow blogs (for my niche) or they are open blog promo sites and just get bombarded with links. So still finding my groove there. I’m sure I will work it out. I am planning on starting a pintrest and twitter account too. On the plus side I have received some new comments from being on those blog promo groups. I spent a long time creating a lead magnet but I don’t have many subscribers though. Constant contact doesn’t send emails to people when I update either – is this because I haven’t paid yet?

But overall I am loving this course!! It has really motivated me to get writing and to share my story. I also feel a lot more at ease using wordpress thanks to the wp for beginners course. I’m not working at the moment and I feel this course has kept me being productive instead of watching netflix all day haha.

Thank you!

[Monica]

Love how much you are accomplishing, Kate! So inspiring to watch. I understand we all have different paces and it can be overwhelming trying to achieve everything in the 30 days but, be patient with yourself and do whatever you can at your own pace 🙂

I’m also so happy you have that group to support what you are doing, it makes such a big difference! 🙂

[Anonymous]

I think I have been doing pretty well. I now have social media platforms of Facebook, twitter, Instagram and pinterest. I am slowly building up an audience from all three. Its all about learning how to gain followers on each platform. I am still working on blog posts, but I am starting to get a work flow for getting followers.

[Monica]

Great job, Ashley! You are progressing so much and truly approaching your blog with such a smart strategy. I really believe you will grow so much 🙂

[Elizabeth.rodriguez]

So far I’m in 3 Facebook blogging groups and I have about 150 followers within the blogging community on twitter. and 50 page likes/follows on my Blog Facebook page. And an additional 50 followers on Instagram

[Monica]

Wow, Elizabeth! You are stepping up your game and it really shows. Congratulations on so many new followers 🙂

[Scott.charleboix]

Here’s the link to my reflection. Every week I post a new reflection of the week’s progress.

[Monica]

Love how your reflections are always so detailed and complete, Scott! You seem to be having a lot of struggles with your theme choice, have you looked into some Premium options? Sometimes it is very worth to pay for and saves you so much trouble. Hope you find this helpful 🙂

[Mackenzie.frey]

Hello everyone! Hope you are all moving along well. I have been doing great on my blog and have made a lot of process. Social media has made a great platform for my progress!

[Monica]

Hi Mackenzie! I’m so glad you are happy and comfortable with your progress. Your blog has developed so much 🙂

[Magda.abarca]

I have gotten comfortable using canva to create my images and I have gotten into a schedule for writing my posts. I am still struggling in using Facebook as a way to drive interest for my blog. To be honest I am new to Facebook I only joined a month ago and I think that is what is holding me back. I hope to work on this next week.

[Monica]

Hi Magda! I’m so happy you’ve gotten comfortable with Canva, it’s such a useful and interesting tool! If Facebook is a platform you don’t especially identify with or if you don’t think it works for you, try pinterest! It is such a cool platform and it also is known for driving loads of traffic to blogs. Hope this helps 🙂

[Saebyl.mcdoulett]

I’ve slowed down a bit but I’m still doing little things everyday. Which is comforting. I was afraid I would burnout after the initial burst of enthusiasm. And while I’m settling it, I think it is into more of a routine than apathy. The next step is stepping up my social media game and interacting with the community more. That has always been my struggle.

[Monica]

Love that you are taking a break and reflecting on your journey. Well done for taking care of yourself above everything else 🙂 I understand how intimidating social media can be and it takes a good amount of time to get comfortable with. Nevertheless, we are here for you! 🙂

[Cheryl.quigley]

Still learning lots about blogging which is all new to me. I am a bit behind schedule but have several blog post drafts started. The writing for me is the easy part. Making them look like something someone might want to read is the really hard and time consuming part. I was trying to get caught up but that was getting too stressful so I will spend more time learning even if I get behing creating new blogs.