Three years ago I was posting reels I hated, following guru advice I didn’t believe in, and wondering why nothing was working. I thought I was the problem. I wasn’t.

I was just using completely wrong tools for the way my brain works.

I quit the reels. Started a blog. Two months later, 1,000 people had read my words.

That number sounds small. But after three years of reels going nowhere, seeing 1,000 real people find my writing felt like proof that I hadn’t wasted my entire twenties.

If you’ve been thinking about starting a blog but keep putting it off, waiting until you feel ready or have more time or know enough – this is for you.

I’m going to walk you through exactly what I did, what worked, and what I’d do differently if I started today.

Skip the Reels, Start Writing

Every guru told me the same thing. Post reels. Show your face. Be on Instagram daily. Build your personal brand on camera.

So I did.

For three years I filmed, edited, posted, and waited. My heart wasn’t in it. My numbers showed it. I was exhausted from doing something I genuinely hated and calling it a business strategy.

Writing works just as well. Better, actually, for people like me. Pinterest doesn’t care if you’re camera shy. Google ranks words, not faces. Email subscribers fall in love with your writing, not your aesthetic.

An entire business can be built around sitting at your laptop and writing things people want to read.

I wish someone had told me that in 2021. It would have saved three years.

How to apply this: Before you start your blog, get honest about what kind of content you’ll actually sustain. If video makes you want to quit before you begin, skip it entirely. Build your content strategy around writing – blog posts, Pinterest, email. It works.

You Don’t Have to Pick a Niche

Every blogging course will tell you to niche down. Pick one specific topic. Stay in your lane. Don’t confuse your audience.

I did the opposite.

My blog is a diary.

It follows my life and my journey, not a rigid content category. Some weeks I write about email marketing. Some weeks I write about working from Bali. Some weeks I write about the slow painful parts of building something online when nothing feels like it’s working.

There’s no content box I stay inside. There’s just me, writing honestly about what I’m living and learning.

That’s actually what built my audience.

People don’t follow my blog because it’s the best resource for one specific topic. They follow it because they feel like they know me. Because my writing makes them feel less alone in what they’re trying to build.

A diary-style blog doesn’t mean you’re unfocused. It means your content has a through-line that’s more powerful than any niche: a real person they actually care about.

How to apply this: Instead of asking “what’s my niche?” ask “what’s my story and who needs to hear it?” Write about what you’re genuinely living. The journey, the pivots, the figuring it out. The right people will find you and they’ll stay because they connected with YOU, not just your topic.

The Tools I Actually Use

Before anything else, let me save you the hours I spent researching which tools to use.

For your blog design: Showit

Most bloggers use WordPress themes and spend weeks trying to make them look the way they want. I use Showit instead, which works like designing in Canva – completely drag and drop, no coding, total creative control.

You design your blog exactly how you want it to look, then Showit’s team integrates WordPress directly into your site. You handle the aesthetic in Showit and write your actual blog content in WordPress.

The result is a blog that looks genuinely custom without hiring a developer or learning any code.

For writing and publishing: WordPress

Still the best content management system for blogging. Your posts live here, your SEO happens here, your blog content gets published here. Showit handles how it looks, WordPress handles how it works.

For your email list: Kit

Kit is what I use to send my weekly diary emails to thousands of subscribers. It’s built specifically for creators which means the features you actually need – landing pages, automated sequences, tagging subscribers, selling digital products – are all built in without needing five different tools.

Free up to 10,000 subscribers which is plenty when you’re starting out. [Start your free Kit account here.]

For Pinterest graphics: Canva

Every pin I create lives in Canva. Simple templates, consistent branding, batch create 15-20 pins at a time. Free version works perfectly fine.

For your domain: Namecheap

Around €10/year. Register your domain before someone else does.

Launch Before You’re Ready

My blog isn’t what most people picture when they think “successful blog.”

There are no ads loading every two seconds. No pop-ups interrupting you mid-sentence. No corporate listicles that feel like they were assembled by a content factory somewhere.

It reads like a diary. My actual diary.

Stories about building my business while moving between hotel reception shifts, Bali beach clubs, and my mom’s cottage in Scandinavia. Real talk about the slow months and the zero-sale weeks and the moments I almost packed it in entirely.

I spent three weeks designing it before publishing a single word. Three weeks of zero visitors, zero growth, zero progress. The day I stopped designing and started writing, my blog became an actual blog.

How to launch this weekend:

• Buy your domain on Namecheap (around €10/year)
• Sign up for Showit (they handle the WordPress integration for you)
• Design your basic layout (takes a weekend, not three weeks)
• Write your first post
• Publish it

Don’t wait until you have a perfect logo or color palette or about page. Those things can always be improved later. Publishing your first post cannot happen until you actually publish it.

Write in a Way That Actually Connects

Every other blogging advice post sounds exactly the same. Technically correct, completely soulless. My readers stay because they feel like they actually know me.

The blogs that build real audiences aren’t the ones with the most polished SEO content. They’re the ones that feel human. That read like a real person wrote them instead of a content strategy document.

Write about real things. The messy stuff, the figuring-it-out stuff, the moments that didn’t go according to plan. People connect with honesty in a way they never connect with highlight reels.

How to write posts that actually connect:

• Write to one specific person, not a general audience
• Share your actual experience, not just research you found online
• Be honest about what didn’t work, not just what did
• Write the post you wish you could have read when you were struggling with this topic
• Read it back and ask yourself – does this sound like me talking to a friend, or does it sound like a generic blog post?

If it sounds like a generic blog post, rewrite it until it sounds like you.

Use Pinterest From Day One

Two months after launching my blog, I had 1,000 visitors. Pinterest brought them.

While everyone was obsessing over Instagram reach and TikTok virality, I was pinning my blog posts to a platform most people had written off as a place for recipes and wedding inspiration.

Pinterest is a search engine. People go there looking for specific answers. My posts gave them answers. They found me. Two months. 1,000 visitors. From writing and pinning, nothing else.

How to use Pinterest for blog traffic:

• Create a Pinterest business account (free)
• Design pins in Canva using vertical 2:3 ratio (1000x1500px)
• Write keyword-rich pin titles and descriptions – think about what someone would actually type into the search bar to find your post
• Pin 5-10 times per day consistently
• Link every pin directly to your blog post
• Be patient – Pinterest takes 3-6 months to really start compounding

Most people quit at month two because results feel invisible. Month three is usually when things start moving. Keep going past the point where it feels pointless.

Build Your Email List From Day One

If I could change one thing about how I started, it would be building my email list from day one instead of waiting until I felt ready.

Your email list is the only audience you genuinely own. Instagram can shadowban you overnight. Pinterest can change its algorithm. Threads can become irrelevant. Your email list goes with you everywhere, through every platform change and algorithm update.

My entire business runs through email.

My weekly diary emails go out to thousands of women every Wednesday and Saturday. When I launch something, I email them. When sales are slow, I email them. That direct line to people who specifically wanted to hear from me is worth more than any follower count on any platform.

How to start your email list:

• Sign up for Kit – free up to 10,000 subscribers
• Create one simple freebie – a template, checklist, or short guide that solves one specific problem your reader has
• Build a simple landing page in Kit (takes about 20 minutes)
• Add your signup link everywhere – end of every blog post, Pinterest bio, social media bio
• Send your first email this week even if you only have 10 subscribers
• Write to your list like you’re catching up with a friend, not broadcasting to a crowd

Your first 100 subscribers will feel impossibly slow to collect. Your first 500 will feel like momentum. Your first 1,000 will feel like a real business.

Make Money Sooner Than You Think

Everyone told me I needed massive traffic before I could monetize. That’s not true.

I made my first sales with a tiny audience because I had the right offer for the right people. My readers trusted me because I’d been honest with them. When I launched something, they bought it.

Display ads need massive traffic to make meaningful money and they make your reader’s experience worse in the meantime. I skip them entirely and focus on income that works with smaller engaged audiences.

How to start making money from your blog:

Affiliate marketing is the easiest starting point. Recommend products you genuinely use. Sign up for their affiliate programs. Include links naturally in relevant posts. Kit, Showit, hosting platforms, and tools in your niche all have programs worth joining.

Digital products are where the real money is with a small audience. A course, template pack, or guide that solves your reader’s biggest problem. Price it properly – $97-$197 is a reasonable starting point for a solid course.

Email marketing ties everything together. Your list is where you build the trust that converts readers into buyers. Every email you send is an investment in future sales.

The Timeline Nobody Wants to Hear

Pinterest takes 3-6 months to compound. Google takes 6-12 months to rank your posts. Your email list grows slowly and then suddenly it doesn’t.

I kept going through zero-sale months, through algorithm changes that wiped out my growth overnight, through the uncomfortable middle phase where nothing feels like it’s working and everyone around you seems to think you should just get a real job.

Working from different countries, building something entirely mine, writing for a living – all of it exists because I kept going when I genuinely wanted to quit.

Give your blog a real chance. That means at least 6-12 months of consistent effort before you decide if it’s working. Most people quit at month three, right before things start moving.

Don’t be most people.

Start This Weekend

Pick your story and register your domain. Sign up for Showit. Write your first honest post. Pin it. Start your Kit email list.

Then do it again next week and the week after that.

Your blog won’t change your life the day you launch it. It changes your life the day you actually commit to it and keep going past the point where most people stop!

Want a step-by-step guide to launching your blog, getting your first Pinterest traffic, and making your first sale? Her Soft Blog Playbook walks you through everything from Showit setup to your first $100 online. [Check it out here.]