{the blog class} success stories

About a year ago, Ryan and I had this great idea to put together a few tutorials and resources to help show how we created Jones Design Company, the blog. Over and over I was asked how I got started, what I used to design my blog, what shopping cart I used, etc. and we wanted to share. We had a short outline of the basics and thought it would just take a few weeks to compile.

Um, right.

Once we got started, we realized that we couldn’t show how to do this without also showing how to do that. And once you talk about that, you better mention how to accomplish this, too. And on and on. If we were going to do this, we were going to do it completely. So we jumped in with both feet and spent the next nine months doing silly things like recording our voices while we walked through every, single step of setting up a blog.

We opened registration for our collaborative project, The Blog Class, in June. It’s a full-fledged, start-to-finish, how-to guide for creating the blog you’ve always dreamed of.

Putting this class together was a great learning experience. We are so proud of what we produced. We enjoyed working together on it.  We believe in the class and continue to add new videos to keep it current.

But most of all, we L-O-V-E seeing the results.

To walk with so many ladies as they open their minds to new {sort of intimidating} words like web hosting and plugins, and then see them come out the other end with a perfectly “them” blog.

To give our best tips for gaining readership and then see success stories of our new blogger-students being featured on larger blogs and gaining exposure.

To create the header, sidebar and background graphics that are offered in the class and then see how each student uses them differently to give their blog the right look.

The first of The Blog Class students have worked through the content and have amazing, unique, personal, professional-looking blogs to show for it. We feel so honored and excited to be part of their blogging journeys.

With great pride and pleasure, I present to you a small handful of blogs created by students in The Blog Class. This will be an ongoing blog feature, as I want to highlight a few new blogs at a time. It is a way to support the ladies in the class and share their amazing stories with you.

A charmingly fresh and helpful site full of great ideas for what to eat, make, buy and where to go in the Phoenix area and beyond. Don’t shy away if you are not in the Arizona vicinity – Disa & Katie do a great job of keeping the content relevant no matter where you live {and they may even inspire a family trip to the desert!}

A family blog with lots of projects, recipes {meal planning tips, too!}, house remodeling and more. Teresa is the mom of four {two biological and two adopted} and perhaps one of the most touching posts I’ve ever read is this one on the struggle with wanting to be pregnant when there are so many orphaned children needing homes. I admire her heart, her eye for style and her amazingly toned arms.

I love this line from Nicole’s about page: “I like to think I have an eye for pretty.  Whether it’s a great space or a fabulous party I love it all.  But let’s face it, real life isn’t always pretty.  More often than not, I have spit up on my clothes and my hair in a ponytail.  This blog is all about my quest to find the pretty in life’s ordinary moments.” She’s my kind of girl!

A teacher by day and musician, reader, traveler, creator, thinker, talker, seeker, and Believer in life, Katie’s blog is a pleasant and thoughtful place.  She’s currently doing 31 days of Lovely Lines {a quote from a favorite book each day this month} as part of The Nester’s 31 days.  You’ll leave her site feeling a little bit smarter and inspired each day.

You’ll fall in love with sweet Cassie, the talented, darling and stylish 23 year old behind this new blog. She talks about beauty, design, house projects, inspiration, recipes and life.

It’s hard to be a brand new blogger and feel like you are writing to the wind. So if you have a second, please click a few of the links, leave a comment or two and offer some encouragement for these incredibly talented women.

. . .

If you’ve been wanting to start a blog but have no idea where to begin, we’d love to be your guides! The Blog Class is an online course with over 85 how-to videos walking you through everything from signing up for web hosting, installing wordpress, choosing a theme, creating a header graphic, adding posts and pages, spreading the word about your new blog and finding the best way to monetize.  This all takes some work, but we’ve split it up into four weeks to make it simple, manageable and completely do-able.  Once your four weeks are over, you remain members of the class for as long as you need it. No expiration!

And perhaps our students’ favorite part is that Ryan and I are here to answer questions along the way.

The cost is three weekly payments of $97 with your fourth week free.

Included is access to all videos, a premium theme {valued at $200}, a graphics pack with over 100 backgrounds, header and sidebar images, interviews from some of your favorite bloggers, a members-only facebook group as well as live and email support.

Posted by emily | 9 comments