Melissa shares her Six Tips for Blogging with Chronic Illness:
1. Newsletter list is your own home, followers are your rental home. I started with a free WordPress website because I just started writing. I thought that all my WordPress followers would just migrate when I did. They didn’t. Start a newsletter list immediately.
2. Traffic is important but the right traffic is best – I found Pinterest and YouTube more engaged than Twitter or Facebook people, so apportion your time and energy on the places that matter.
3. Hosting is tricky but important. My first hosting experience went terribly. I am now with GreenGeeks and they are great. You can check out their awesome hosting deal here.
4. Use Canva for images, my energy-friendly tip is to make a Pinterest size image and use as the blog image and then it is easily shareable to Pinterest. If you want to get fancy make two pin images and one Facebook image for Facebook group sharing. It is worth learning to use Canva immediately.
5. Long form content makes useful resources but make sure its very easily readable in short paragraphs. I have found a mix of personal experience, research and other anecdotal experience to be great.
6. It is so fulfilling to be able to simultaneously write and help others. There was a time I thought I wouldn’t be able to complete my number one life list goal of writing a book but I did! Bit by bit. You just have to start.
You can read her article Make Money Blogging With a Chronic IllnessMelissa Reynolds has been sharing her personal journey and research into fighting the chronic illnesses fibromyalgia and myofascial pain syndrome since 2013 on the blog www.melissavsfibromyalgia.com. Over time this has grown to include two books, courses, Facebook support groups and coaching. It has developed organically responding to client need and Melissa’s ability as her personal journey has taken her closer to wellness. You can visit her blog here.
