Blog by Number is a beginner blogging course by Suzi Whitford of Start a Mom Blog. Suzi teaches blogging to moms (and others!) in the step by step course hosted on Teachable. Here is my honest review of the Blog by Number blogging course.
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My Blogging Story
I’ve always loved to write and when I went to college I thought I would pursue a career in journalism. By my senior year, I was looking for internships with magazines and newspapers, hoping to get my foot in the door. I consider myself very lucky to have found a great internship at an editorial travel website.
While this internship actually persuaded me away from journalism and more toward public relations, I gained so much knowledge about writing online, social media promotion and the backend of websites.
Long story short, when I finally found my career path in public relations, I still wanted to continue writing and realized the best way to do this was to start my own blog. I also noticed a lot of bloggers sharing income reports of how much money they were making with their blogs and decided a little side income could never hurt.
Fast forward a few years and I’m still learning and building my blog. While it sounds fun and easy, there is so much to learn in order to be successful. At first, I thought I could just use some of the knowledge I had gained in my internship to write blog posts and eventually the money would just fall into my lap. That is so far from the truth! Building a blog takes time, dedication, consistency and adjusting as you go.
It wasn’t until I invested in some blogging courses that I finally started to improve my blog and start to make some side income. And of course, there’s still so much to do and learn in order to continue to grow, but I now have the foundation to succeed. Much of this foundation is due to the tips and tools I learned through the Blog by Number blogging course.
What is the Blog by Number Course?
The Blog by Number course is a beginner’s training course hosted on Teachable and created by Suzi Whitford of Start a Mom Blog. The Blog by Number course contains video lessons, as well as written resources, to take you from zero to money-making blogger.
The course is specifically geared toward moms, but as I am not a mom myself, I can attest that it is really for anyone who wants to start and grow their blog. Suzi, a full-time, million-dollar mommy blogger, takes you from finding your niche and name to setting up your WordPress site to writing blog posts to gaining traffic and finally making some money.
What do you get with Blog by Number?
The Blog by Number course is stacked with information and different resources. There are over 65 video tutorials with step-by-step guidance to take you from basics to more advanced strategies in your blogging journey. The course also gives you a 110-page ebook, workbooks, blog templates, stock images and fill-in-the-blank worksheets.
The video lessons include:
- Finding your blog niche and name
- How to start your blog
- Writing your first blog post
- Writing your About Me page
- Launching your blog
- Researching blog post ideas
- How to write different types of blog posts
- How to add legal pages to your blog*
- Setting up your email and creating your first freebie
- Google Analytics set up
- What plugins to use
- Pinterest strategies for traffic
- SEO for traffic
- Facebook for traffic
- How to make money blogging
*This course suggests using free legal pages for your blog. I highly recommend against this and suggest investing in lawyer-approved legal templates. You can read more about the legal templates I recommend here.
Additional resources include:
- Thousands of blog post ideas
- The Blog by Number Ebook
- Course checklist and glossary
- Resource library with stock images
- Blog post templates
- Blog name cheatsheet
- How to create a professional logo
- Blog post checklist
- Easy blogging schedule
My Honest Review of Blog by Number
Having laid out all the nuts and bolts of the actual course above, now I can truly explain my personal experience with Blog by Number. This course is actually my favorite blogging course and I’ve taken quite a few over the years. I just love Suzi’s personality and teaching style and felt that I learned way more value than the cost of this course.
For me personally, I loved the video format and over-the-shoulder style that Suzi uses. I felt it was so simple to follow along and implement as I went. Even as someone who was taking the course with my blog already built, I still felt like I could build a foundation as I went. In fact, I redid many things on the backend of my blog to set it up exactly as Suzi showed me to improve my site performance.
Some examples included her suggestions for plugins, creating and inserting images into posts and updating SEO on old blog posts as well as writing for SEO in new posts. I also learned valuable lessons that I didn’t find elsewhere, such as her keyword research strategy. That alone was a game-changer for me!
Finally, I purchased the Blog by Number course in 2017 or 2018 and the course has been updated at least twice since then. I’ve retaken the course with every update and I go back to lessons all the time when I need a refresher or just some inspiration.
Along the lines of inspiration, one last point I have to say is that Suzi is by far the most inspiring blogger I’ve ever learned from. Watching the video lessons truly felt like I was gaining knowledge and advice from one of my best friends. She is so down-to-earth and natural in her teaching that it made the lessons (even the most technical ones) easy to enjoy and fun. I know this may not be everyone’s favorite style for learning, but I just can’t say enough nice things about Suzi!
Should You Invest in Blog by Number?
Now that I’ve laid out my personal thoughts on the Blog by Number course, I wanted to break things down for you to see if it’s really right for you. I know that choosing to spend money on blogging courses can be a tough decision. If you are just starting out and not making any money, it may be difficult to drop some dough. Here are a few things to consider:
Pros
Value
There is way more value for the money than what the course costs. Honestly, Suzi could charge a lot more for this course than she does with all the lessons and bonuses that she provides. If you follow along and implement the lessons with consistency, you will be able to pay for the course many times over once you begin making money with your blog.
Updates
The consistent updates to the course mean you always have access to the latest and greatest knowledge. It’s not hard to believe that the online world changes constantly, sometimes day to day. What works for bloggers now may not work down the road. That means that a good course instructor will update when changes occur and Suzi certainly does that. As I mentioned above, since I bought the course a few years ago, Blog by Number has been updated at least twice. This is so important in the blogging world!
Foundation and Growth
Like I mentioned above, this course is only worth the value if you implement what you learn. That being said, if you do follow this course from start to finish and implement as you go, you will not only build and launch your blog, but also be able to begin to make money and scale your blog. Most introduction to blogging courses stop after you’ve set up and launched your blog. Suzi takes it several steps further by providing you tools and tips to keep growing even after you set up and launch.
Cons
I honestly have no negative comments about the Blog by Number course, but I do know that everyone learns differently. This course is provided in video format with step-by-step over-the-shoulder instruction. For some, this may be too elementary and basic for your learning style. Also, if you don’t learn well with video (I’m a very visual person, so I personally love video), this course may not be right for you.
Free Blog Plan from Start a Mom Blog
As you can see from above, I’m a big fan of Suzi’s Blog by Number course and I think it’s totally worth the investment. But I also understand that when starting out with your blog, you may not have extra money to invest.
If you’re not quite ready to spend money on a full course or you want to get to know Suzi better first, try out her FREE blog plan. This free course is a great introduction to blogging and takes you through the exact steps that Suzi used to grow her blog in the first year. She literally lays out for you step-by-step what to do each month in the first year to start your blog, grow your email list and start making money!
This is a great option if you’d like to start making money before investing in bigger courses. But I truly think that if you start with this free course, you will definitely want to take the next step and invest in the full Blog by Number course.
Final Thoughts
If you are just starting out blogging or looking to improve and grow your blog, then I highly recommend purchasing the Blog by Number blogging course.
This course is jam packed with value, including 65 video tutorials, a 110-page ebook, workbooks, blog templates, stock images and fill-in-the-blank worksheets. If you are looking to start a blog, grow your blog and start making money blogging, then this course is for you.
While the Blog by Number course, is specifically targeted toward mommy bloggers, the course is truly for anyone who wants to start a blog. As I am not a mom myself yet and I don’t blog in the mommy/parenting niche, I still found the course to be useful across all niches and genres.
In closing, there are many blogging courses out there, but this is my favorite course to start, launch and grow a blog. If you’re not sure if you are ready to invest in the full course, the free blog plan by Suzi is an incredible introduction to blogging for your first year.
If you have questions about the Blog by Number course, let me know in the comments below!
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