Interview With Award-Winning WordPress Trainer: Alice Elliott from FairyBlogMother

Hey, Bloggers today we have invited Alice Elliott from FairyBlogMother, she is doing blogging for a decade means she has experience of 10+ years of blogging. So we definitely lots of things from their experience. Alice is the award winner WordPress trainer for midlife bloggers.

Now if you want to learn from Alice then read this article entirely

1. Hi Alice, can you please introduce yourself to our readers?

Hi, I’m Alice, and I started a blog called the Fairy Blog Mother to help beginner would-be bloggers understand about blogging using ordinary, everyday language.

This was back in March 2009, when blogging was a different animal, and the process was more complicated and technical than it is today. 

However, now blogs have evolved to make them simpler for the majority of amateur bloggers. Technology has moved on, and its methods have changed drastically in a way I disapprove of. 

So I am now focusing on blog commenting, engagement and interaction using blogs. This suffered greatly in 2014 when blogging gurus turned off their commenting facilities to combat spam.

Commenting moved over to social media, where real-time communications created a different style of commenting. 

I aim to re-educate people in proper commenting on blogs again, especially since these gurus realized the error of their ways a year later and reopened their commenting boxes again.

But the damage had been done, and people need to know the benefits and how it can help them achieve their goals and objectives in their lives or businesses.

2. How many hours do you work per day? How does it feel like to be a home-based blogger?

There are some days I work continuously throughout the day, and others when I do not. Being a freelance writer means you have the ability to choose when and where you work, as long as you get the job done. 

You could decide to be a 9-5 blogger, blog when the children are asleep or at school, or whenever convenient for you. Some people get up at 5 am to get a post written before going to their day jobs.

Some are more inspired in the evenings or even late at night. 

Blogging doesn’t thrive in the rigid workplace. I worked once in a PR firm where they demanded three posts a day. The result was inadequate work that I was not proud of because I wasn’t allowed to curate and contemplate before creating.

Also, it was incredibly dull, as the subject matter was equally rigid and uninspiring.

You can always spot the guest blogger who has been told to write about a subject they know very little about. Not only do they provide very little substance, but their heart also is not in it, and the work is bland and boring.

3. If you had to start again in blogging, what would you do differently?

Not really. When I started blogging, my writing was appalling. But over the years, I started to improve, not only because I practised, but because I read other blogs and noticed how the successful bloggers wrote their posts. 

I think you need to not worry about being perfect from the beginning. Treat blogging as a work in progress. The more you do it, the better you will become.

But as long as you are willing to notice how others do it, learn from them and be willing to adapt their ways into your own. There is no quick fix in blogging.  

4. If you were given $100,000, how would you invest it to grow your blog?

Wow, that’s a lot of money! It would depend upon your objectives. 

Do you want to increase website traffic or amass a huge, dedicated and loyal readership? Traffic is full of empty stats, visitors arriving through algorithmic methods which may not be suitable or interested.

The majority of them would leave without taking any action, as your blog is obviously not what they expected or were looking for. 

Whereas an audience of people who care, are interested in what you write about and are willing to participate in your blog is a much more worthwhile goal to aim towards.

You are guaranteed regular traffic by readers who value what you write about and are willing to have their say. This feedback is vital for you to continue writing posts these guys want to read, which keeps them coming back for more.

Now you could happily spend your $100,000 on SEO, PPC ads, a fancy design with all bells ringing, and your stats could go sky high, and the majority of bloggers would be very happy with this. They think a large number of visitors suggests success.

If I had $100,000, I would spend it on what my readers wanted.

I would give them the latest information, create valuable and useful tools which they could benefit from, get other experts involved to increase the expertise factor, and invite influencers to attract new audiences.

To transform my blog into a thriving forum full of comments and interaction, Not only giving my readers what they want but helping the world to become a better place as a result.

5. Would you please tell me what your website traffic sources are?

I found that using SEO to get my posts into the top 10 results in the search engines produced very little satisfaction for me.

What was the point of languishing at number 1 if all the comments and feedback you got in return was from spammers or people who didn’t understand what your post was about?

My best traffic return comes from being social. Getting comments and engagement, not necessarily on my blog but on social media, shows people have bothered to stop and read my content and then are sufficiently moved to respond.

This is ultimately more valuable to me than a load of numbers on a spreadsheet or traffic results page. 

6. Would you please tell me the significant challenges you faced in your blogging journey?

Developing technology and hackers who are hell-bent on destroying all your hard work because they can.

Another challenge could be trolls, but they are usually too stupid to bother with. 

Technology moves at an alarming pace and requires valuable time, which could be spent writing, trying to sort it out. Also, you need to realize whether it is worth investing in the latest shiny or whether it is a waste of your hard-earned cash.

This is both hard and software. Your computer needs an upgrade, so as a result of all the apps and other facilities on it suddenly don’t work anymore and you need to get new versions.

Or your trusty computer, which has served you well, suddenly goes on the blink, and you have the expense of buying a new one. 

WordPress change how they present itself in a way that is incomprehensible to older bloggers, making existing functions disappear and rearranging facilities in inappropriate layout.

Time wasted trying to fathom it out when the old version was much better, and you knew where everything was and how it worked.

And clever dicks who attempt to hack into your blog daily, either because they want to plant malware into it or to do so, gives them kicks, are a real pain in the butt. It is unnecessary,

but a lot of time is spent cleaning up the backend of your blog to make it function again, which could have been more fruitful in creating new posts and answering comments. 

7. We know every business needs investment, but in the initial days, many bloggers don’t invest much, so what suggestion did you give this type of blogger?

In the beginning, bloggers don’t need to invest much. I suggest creating your blog in a free system, like Blogger, WordPress.com, Wix.

Take advantage of not having to worry about hosting and designing while you cut your teeth as a blogger and flex your writing muscles. It would help if you focused on your writing style and attracting people who like it.

Also, don’t get hung up about how your blog looks like. It should be the quality of your writing and how you interact with your readers which should come out to the fore.

If your blog is entertaining enough and people enjoy reading what you write, your blog will increase in popularity, you’ll gain more readers, and the search engines and algorithms will start to notice you and place you higher in their rankings.

Focus on getting engagement from your readers. And you can do this yourself by reading lots of other blogs in your niche, or where your ideal readers hang out, and writing comments which draw the right kind of attention to yourself, and therefore your blog as a result.

8. For new bloggers, can you give some practical working tips to increase traffic?

Start commenting. Find blogs in your niche or blogs your ideal readers like to read. Then read the posts carefully and thoroughly before commenting.

Your comments need to provide value and be quite substantial. Answer a question, solve a problem, continue the conversation, showcase your expertise or knowledge, show appreciation, give encouragement – anything to get others to notice you (for the right reasons).

If you continue with this to give the right impression, people may be compelled to find out more about you, visit your blog and start commenting there. This appropriate traffic is what you’ll find is the most beneficial to you.

9. What do you think is the BIGGEST mistake most Digital Marketer & beginners Bloggers make?

They are not paying enough attention to their readers or customers. You may have the most wonderful product or the most useful service, but is this what your readers or customers actually want? 

I remember when I had a wedding stationery business. My designs were beautiful, based on flowers. 

I could provide any flower in any colour in any design. But this wasn’t what the majority of brides wanted. It didn’t matter how diverse my flower stationery was; not enough brides were interested. 

It would be best if you found out what your customers and readers really want. Ask them for their feedback, and act upon it.

Do some social listening (sitting in the shadows in social forums and listening, reading, and watching what others are saying) to find out what your customers or readers are talking about.

Only once you are properly primed do you join in the conversations, purely to find out more rather than to promote your business.

Digital marketing thrives more on pulling rather than pushing. Pushing is 20th-century marketing. Pulling is about getting the customers to notice you on their own terms, rather than you pushing stuff in front of their noses which they don’t want.

The way to get customers to notice you and what you offer is by communicating with them.

This can be on social media, blogs, and online, and the answer is to get them to interact with you and participate in your blog or social groups through conversation.  

Find out what your readers or customers want, and then give it to them. And the best way to do this is to ask them directly. Never assume you know what they want because you don’t. 

10. What is the future of Digital Marketing in upcoming years?

I am concerned it is going to become so technical, only a few will be able to cope with it. 

However, those that succeed will take their lead from their customers. It will be the customers who call the shots, and digital marketers will have to comply.

Also, marketing will have to become short, sharp and snappy to cope with the short attention spans of their time-poor customers. It will have to be visual, attractive and totally focused on them. 

11. How do you Monetize your blog? Can you please share with our readers, So maybe they can also earn money from their blog?

I create courses and challenges which teach people how to benefit from commenting, engagement and interaction through a membership scheme. I also offer my services as a mentor for beginner bloggers. 

12. What’s your favourite blog which you read mostly? Would you please mention at least three blogs?

I subscribe to so many blogs to keep myself abreast of the fast-moving digital world, and I couldn’t possibly pick out only three.

The answer is to sign up to their RSS feeds, or in their chosen feed readers, so you are always alerted to whenever they publish, to be one of the first to read and comment on their latest posts. 

Do some social listening to find out which blogs your readers are reading. Go on social forums to find out which blogs are commented on there. Ask your friends for their recommendations.

Google a specific keyword to find blogs in your niche. Maintain a record of which blogs you read and comment on, to keep on top of your knowledge and commenting tactics.

13. Where can we find you other than your blog?

My blog is https://www.thecommentingclub.co.uk, and you can also find me on

• LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin/in/aliceelliott)
• Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/alice.elliott1)
• Twitter (https://twitter.com/alice_elliott). 

14. Would you please give me some suggestions for my blog:

You could create some better images for your posts on the home page. What you have is not inspiring or compelling enough to click on it. Images can say more than words, so think carefully about them. 

I don’t particularly like the orange blocks for your subheadings. They are too much and detract from the ability to read the post properly. 

Offer a Contact page to make it easier for people to talk to you. 

If your blog has categories, list them in the sidebar. Categories are like folders in which relevant blogs are placed and allow readers to find other posts within that subject to read and assist the search mechanism of your blog and the interest in the search engines.