The Ultimate Blog Podcast - Blogging Basics That Build Success with Corrie Morris of MyFriendMegBlog

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

Want to start a blog in 2025? Tune in to this episode to get inspired! In this episode of The Ultimate Blog Podcast, we’re chatting with Corrie Morris, owner of MyFriendMegBlog and a member of our Ultimate Blog Roadmap Community. She’s someone we’ve had the honor of helping on her blogging journey for quite some time now, and we’ve seen her grow from a brand new blogger to being accepted into the Grow by Mediavine Journey Program.Tune in to hear how Corrie got started with her motherhood blog, how she grew her blog with the help of a community, and the key areas she’s focused on to find success. If you’re finally ready to start a blog this year, you need this episode! Check out the show notes for Episode 160!

Hey bloggers, are you serious about turning your blog into a money-making machine? One of the ultimate milestones is getting on an ad network. And let's be honest, figuring out how to get there can feel overwhelming. That's where the ultimate blog roadmap comes in. Our course and membership community are designed to help beginner bloggers like you build a rock-solid foundation for success. For just $97 a month, you'll get access to step-by-step training, all the resources you need,

and a supportive community to keep you accountable and motivated. You'll learn exactly how to create content that works, focus on the right steps to reach your goals faster, and also avoid wasting time on the things that don't really matter. Plus, our membership includes ongoing support and cheerleading and also guidance from other bloggers who have been where you are.

We have three monthly calls and a forum that's always open for collaboration and help. The best part, no more overwhelm. With the ultimate blog roadmap, you'll know exactly what to do and when to do it. It's a monthly membership designed to take the guesswork out of blogging and help you reach your goals for just $97 a month. If you're ready to join us, head over to ultimateblogroadmap.com and let's get started. Welcome to the Ultimate Blog Podcast. This podcast is the podcast we wish we had when we started blogging. I'm Amy Reinike and I'm Jennifer Draper.

Our episodes dive deep into how to monetize your blog, sharing unique insights and practical tips. We bring you in-depth interviews with successful bloggers and experts who offer valuable, actionable advice. Our mission is to educate, support, inspire, and empower you in your blogging business. Welcome to The Ultimate Blog Podcast. Okay, it's 2025, the first episode of a brand new year, and we're excited for 2025 and hope that you are too.

We're seven days in, and so we're already a week in. And I hope that so far this year has gone really well. And I know that a lot of you who are hitting play today likely have the goal to start a blog this year or pick up your blog that you've maybe started or grow the blog that you already have. And so we hope that this year you can utilize the podcast and our community to help support you on that journey. But to kick off the podcast for 2025, we have Corrie Morris with us today. And Corrie is part of our Ultimate Blog Roadmap community, someone that we have had the honor of helping

on her blogging journey now for quite a while. And so, Cori, welcome to the Ultimate Blog Podcast. Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here with you all today. Yeah. We always love when we get these one-on-one opportunities with our students to share you guys, because we get to see the ins and outs of your blogging journey, but to put a mic in front of you today and allow you to share it with our community is something that we are really excited about.

So to kind of kick us off, Corey, I would love for you to just share a little bit about where this idea of starting a blog started for you, when that was and kind of how that journey has evolved. Well, I think my blogging journey actually began about 10 years ago. I hadn't bought a domain name, but I had just been thinking about it for so many years. When I was pregnant with my oldest daughter, my husband and I had to relocate across the country

for his job. And so we found ourselves away from family, friends, a lot of those support sources. So I would be going to where going to my OB appointments, doing all the things. And I just found a couple of motherhood blogs that really resonated with me and were really helpful and important to me during that time. I actually ended up on bed rest for a couple of weeks before she was born and she was healthy and everything was great. So we're so grateful for that. But I remember I came across a couple of blog posts that would say 50 things to do while you're on bed rest or ways to kind

of keep yourself occupied, things you can still do for your family and help out with your family, even frame your computer on bed rest. And that wasn't information I was getting from my OB. And I love my OB. I love my medical team there. But it just kind of was that personal, really granular life experience shared that was really impactful to me during that time. And then even after she was born, there's so many new things becoming a parent. Their sleep schedule, what you're feeding them, the making. I wanted to make all the homemade baby food, you know? And so you find all, and there were different blogs that kind of spoke, you know, women

sharing their experiences, sharing what was working for them. And my husband and I both have a background in healthcare and that information that you get directly from your healthcare provider is invaluable. But also getting that real life experience from other women that were kind of in the trenches just was a huge source of information and really kind of support for me. I mean, I didn't, I've never met any of them and didn't know them well, but it was, it felt like a big source of support during that time. I love that.

Yeah. I always kind of thought too that that early parenting phase was it was a challenge for me. It was just something I'd never done before and think we're all caught off guard a little bit. I didn't feel like I had a ton to offer because I was learning so much, but I thought, gosh, I'm so thankful that these women are blogging about this. And if I ever got to a point where I felt confident and comfortable doing this, I would want to share in that way.

So I think that that's really kind of where the idea for my blog started. Yeah, I think that your story is probably familiar to so many, especially women. Like you made this, you found this way to connect with others and even though you maybe don't know them in person like that, just feeling of like somebody's going through what I'm going through and they've

walked in my shoes. It's just so important, I think, on our journeys. Especially when you're in a situation like you said, you were in a new town, you didn't have a lot of people that you were connecting with in person. I think the blogs just certainly have a place in the world and I think they will continue to do so because people are going to constantly look for that kind of connection. And I love that you were an avid blog reader for years before you dove into this idea of starting your own blog. Did you get to this point where you're like, okay, I've learned enough, I'm ready to share it all?

Or how did you finally get the confidence to be like, OK, it's OK for me to do this now, too. I have I have something to share and I can connect with people, too. Right. So, yeah, it was kind of like a natural progression to that. So I had two more children over the next couple of years. And you definitely, you know, you'll never know at all. But by the time your your third one is in the mix, then you feel like you've at least been around the block as far as a lot of mom stuff.

So I really think that each of us thrives in different seasons of our life. I think even as bloggers, there's different areas, sometimes SEO in the technical end, other people coming up with content ideas, all have our different strengths and weaknesses and different areas. And I felt like kind of getting into like late preschool, early elementary years with my kids, I feel like I kind of hit my stride in motherhood. It was just a season that I was personally enjoying and kind of aligned with who I am as a person.

And I felt like that was a season my children were thriving into. And so, you know, we would be at a t ball practice and I could, you can just tell that new mom where it's their first time at that practice and they're looking at you, they're kind of looking at your kid's bag, like, what do they have in there? And I just thought, of course I would want to share this is what we got for T-ball or this is how you do. We're planning. I've been a room mom in my kids classes for years and this is what we're doing for our fall class party. There's no need to reinvent the wheel. I put, I've shared with my audience before kind of a quote that says, motherhood

is too hard and parenting is too important not to help each other any way we can. And I think that my blog has really, I've tried to share some of the things that I've learned along the way. There's so many different ways to do things in motherhood. And I think that if anybody could benefit from, again, they're a class party at school, like what to buy for their first swim meet, what to get for a tee ball practice. Little things like that,

you may have just saved somebody an hour of their life. They got an hour of their life back that they can be spending quality time with their kid, connecting with them in a special way, rather than like another run to Dick's Sporting Goods or something. So I just think that that's kind of where the idea was born. We don't need to reinvent the wheel,

if I can help you in even a little practical way like that, I think that that really has value. And I have been benefited from so many great moms and great mom friends in my life. And I feel like I just would love to share that with other people. One thing that, as you were talking there, that I thought of was something that

a conference that we went to, a speaker had said something about a lot of times we overcomplicate content because we think that we have to plan out like an extra part of our day to create it. But the exact scenario that you just described is you are showing up in your day-to-day life and you are thinking about the things that you are doing to get your kids to practice, to get food on the table, all these things that we do as a mom and you're asking yourself how could this help another mom and you're just propping up a camera and you're writing about it and things like that and so I want I want that to be encouragement. If somebody's listening today who's considering starting a blog similar to what Cori has done, that as a mom, I think

a lot of times we can feel a little stretched thin with our time. But like what you've done, Cori, is you've said, okay, yes, I want to incorporate a blog alongside being a mom and this is how I'm doing it. So I'd love to talk a little bit more about that too, like how you kind of prioritize blogging along with being a mom, because I think that, especially in the years that you're in, it can be hard to find the time to do that. And so like, how do you incorporate that time

to make sure that you're an engaged part part of your kids life, but you're also helping other parents and moms as they are in the same same season of life. I think that's a great question and I think that it certainly very obviously applies to where to my family and then also to my blog, but I think it can apply to a lot of other niches as well because I think if you're starting a blog the niche that you choose needs to be something that is really near and dear to your heart. I mean, you have to kind of think it, you know, if that is recipe creation, if that is home organization, home decor. I think just doing it the few years that I have, I think that if it's not something that you really live and breathe every day, it will be hard to sustain.

So I think that for me, obviously kind of the motherhood, early elementary aged years, and we have a very active family lifestyle and that is reflected in a lot of my posts. And so it feels easy to me in a lot of ways. Now, the technical and the posts don't always feel easy, but the content creation, the ideas, because I really try to look around and conversations that I have with friends, one of my son's best friend, he has,

so I'm talking to his mom, they play sports together, they're in school together. What can we bring for a snack after a sports, after their soccer game that he can have too, he can enjoy? What are some other options? I know a lot of moms have questions like that. So I think as I go about my day thinking, what questions do I have? What questions am I coming up against in conversations that I'm having? I think those are your posts. Those are where the ideas come from. Yeah, it's so true because we can struggle with like, well, what does Google want to

see and what does Pinterest want to see? But when you get your feet on the ground and you're finding out, I have a mom blog and I'm finding out what other moms wanna see. I mean, that's where the gold is because that goes back to the heart of what you wanted to do. You wanted to start this blog and you said it very plainly,

you wanted to help people, you wanted to help other moms and I think that's awesome. And a great way to get your content ideas, there's no better way than to actually talk to people who have the questions and the challenges that you are trying to help with than to ask them, like, what do you need to know? But besides that aspect of starting your blog where you were helping people, did you know very much about blogging in terms of creating a business

with a blog or like what you needed to do to get your blog up and running? Was that kind of on your radar? Like, hey, I could start a blog and possibly bring in a little bit of side income for my family. Was any of that part of what your goal was when you, when you first got started? Well, to your first question, I have no background in any sort of, any sort of tech, I listened to your podcast. I'm an avid podcast listener. I listened to so many episodes and you know, when a lot of times when you all have experts that have been in blogging

and been in content creation for years and years, just hearing their journeys, oh, I had this website, and then I started another website, and then I was working in this IT company. That is not me at all. So I give any encouragement to the people listening. I feel like if I can do it and I could figure out the tech end, anybody, anyone can do it. But I actually came across, I found your podcast just on Apple podcast. And I remember I've been kind of thinking about it. But anytime I would look into starting it, you know, buying a domain name, figuring out hosting all of those nitty gritty things that you have to do early on. I honestly just got so overwhelmed and felt so lost and there was so much information

and so many ways to do it that I just kind of, I was never able to get over that hurdle. And probably for a year or two, I would sit down on a weekend or have a mid hour at my computer and I would kind of start looking stuff up or different ways people had done it. And then I would kind of hit a wall and just not really know where to go. So I did that on and off. And then I found your podcast. And I remember I had to take my daughter to her first out of town soccer tournament and we were in the car for a couple of hours that weekend. And I think I listened to every podcast episode that you all had at that point. I like finished your podcast for a whole weekend. And I heard about at that time, what's the

boot camp. And I just thought, okay, I think that I with their help, I could do it. I think that if they're saying we have really simple instructions, we have kind of time, trusted and true resources, I thought if I was ever going to be able to do it, this is how it was going to happen. So that's when I signed up for the bootcamp and got started. And you all, I mean, you all delivered. I like it took me a while, but I would just kind of sit down with one module at a time and go through the steps and give the support, ask questions, give the help when I needed it. But again, I think from a tech standpoint and kind of those early, really important like stuff you don't think about every day now, but really important foundational things that I think

if I could do it, anybody could do it. When it comes to hosting your website, you want somebody you can trust. That's why we recommend Big Scoots. Not only do we recommend Big Scoots to our students, but we both use them for our own blogs as well. We love them because as a new or experienced blogger, their hands-on 24-7 support is invaluable. Anytime we've submitted a support request, we've gotten quick responses from a real person ready to help.

Big Scoots has an uptime of 99.99%, meaning your site won't go down at critical times like with other hosting companies. With managed and shared plans, you'll be able to get support that fits your budget. Big Scoots is the perfect hosting company for bloggers. Use the link in our show notes to find a plan that works for you. So you made it through the boot camp and you realized you were fully capable of starting this blog. And then what were kind of the next steps that you took? What did you realize after taking the boot camp and what kinds of things did you focus on

the most in those early times of your blog? I think we're what, like a couple years in at this point, but what did you spend the most time on and what did you focus on the most to get started after your blog was built and then kind of what does your journey look like forward? Well, as far as, so I think it took me a little bit longer than maybe most people to get through the boot camp, but that's okay. There was a lot of screenshotting and putting that in our communication portal and then getting feedback. And I just think that those little touches, even if it felt like a silly

question to me, I never, you all certainly never made me feel like it was silly. And a lot of times, a lot of other people in the group had the same question. So I think that kind of support was super helpful. And then also, I think that the group kind of was able to put me in touch with some really good resources too. I think that's been, I just kind of can't speak to that enough that I remember I was kind of in the process of installing Jennifer, you may maybe remember this, but my G it was the transition to G for analytics and I was just getting all that installed and I for sure did it incorrectly.

And then also it was a transition time. So there was just a lot going on and you there was a lot of support in the group and people were trying to help me and walk me through it in different ways. And I kind of just hit a wall with it and we ended up, you all referred me to Grayson Bell and he was able to help me. And I think that, you know, not having any background in the blogging world or really in any kind of IT field, knowing those resources has been so helpful. The Restored 316 team is amazing and Grayson, some SEO coaching that you all have recommended to, I just think that kind of, it really takes a team.

For me, it has taken a team. And I think that getting those people in place, kind of having the ultimate blog roadmap as kind of, and then kind of reaching out as I needed to has been, has been so helpful. And I think that a lot of people, especially if you don't have a blogging background can really benefit from something like that and having some great resources. So after I got everything built, I think a lot of people might think like me that you can just throw up 10 or 20 blog posts and that just people will be amazed by your content and start coming to your blog regularly and coming back. And I thought that was what was going to happen because I had worked really hard on it and

my photography and getting everything up. And that did not happen. So I would keep putting posts up. I was doing some keyword research but not very well and pinning a little bit on Pinterest to hopefully start driving traffic and just did not have a great system in place to set myself up for success. So I guess it was early this year. I kind of felt like I had been kind of at it long enough and knew enough where I had gotten to the point where I kind of knew I either needed to get more strategic and you and I, you all were both so instrumental

with helping me really get some clear goals, but I knew I needed to either get more strategic with how I was spending my time and the things I was kind of putting my effort into, or I kind of maybe needed to just call this a hobby blog and then that would be it. So the three things that at that point that I really decided I was said I'm going to give myself six months to a year of really being consistent with three things and you all kind of helped me come up with this list, but I decided on weekly SEO, like keyword, SEO optimized blog posts. So I have only missed one week since we have that conversation.

I got really hyper consistent with pinning on Pinterest using Tailwind and I have stayed really committed to my weekly email. So I think those three things, it is nothing fancy. I had just been looking at my Google Analytics Google Search Console, just the needle wasn't moving. I think especially with Google updates and algorithm changes, sometimes it feels like we have so little that we can control. changes. Sometimes it feels like we have so little that we can control. But I thought these are three things I can control. I can write a high quality, very user oriented, helpful blog post that's helpful to my user every week. I can pin consistently and I can be committed to my email list. So those were the things that I decided on. And that has kind of been the biggest thing or that combination that has kind of been the recipe that I think

has really helped move the needle for me. I love that they are three quote unquote simple things. It's not something flashy. It's not something expensive. It's not. It's just like the nitty gritty. It's the foundations of blogging. And I think that that's the encouragement here is that sometimes we can have that squirrel mentality and you can see the bright flashy things and feel like we have to go chase all those other things. But at the end of the day, like ask yourself, am I doing the things to move that needle forward? And you just described three really, really important and foundational things that bloggers need to focus on. And that's content creation

is at the heart of it. We're bloggers, we're content creators. So how are you connecting with not just your current readers, but potential readers? And how are you doing that? So I love that you've done that. I'm really proud of you for staying focused. And so where has that led you then with that consistency? Is there anything that you get to celebrate now because of maybe this consistency? I know. Well, I was recently accepted to the Journey program with Grow by Mediavine and accepted to the Journey program with Grow by Mediavine. And that has been, it's been a gold mine since they rolled that program out. And since I was kind of introduced to it through the group.

And I really think it has just been the little weekly checking the boxes every week with the content creation and pinning and those kinds of things that led me there. I think there are so many kind of flashy things happening in the blog world and a lot of ups and downs with algorithm updates and that kind of thing. But I think that just doing those little things every week has helped me to qualify for the program. So yeah, getting on the ad network has been a really big goal of mine. And I'm just excited to hopefully continue to do the little things to see that

traffic grow. Yeah, that's what I was going to ask you. Now that you're on this ad network, what does that mean for you in terms of what are your next steps? What are you going to focus on now that we're in a new year and new opportunities? Will that change anything that you're focusing on or are you going to continue to work on those three main things? That's a great question. I mean, I think that kind of as Amy just said, that is, I feel like really those three things I think are the heart of my blogging business. I think really helpful quality content creation I always want to come back to. I think my email list is growing in an audience that I want to serve well.

And as kind of I have had some ideas, but as future things come up, I hope to get to share them with that email list first and that they feel like those weekly kind of like helpful motherhood updates are bringing value to their lives through, you know, recipes, way to save time, you know, seasonal things for kids. So, and then Pinterest, I think that if I may kind of change anything up, it may be my Pinterest strategy this year. Pinterest has been a huge source of traffic for my blog. I think that when we're talking about niche and finding niche, I definitely fall in the motherhood category, but even more specific than

that is elementary age kids, active family kids, and then it's all these specific things. active family kids, and then it's all these specific things. And I really kind of, when I take a step back, I'm like, it's really me, it's really my friends, it's really the women in my community. Like that's my niche. And a lot of, so many of them are on Pinterest and I think it's a great, it has been a great, great place for my niche.

I think that if you are considering kind of getting into the parenting or motherhood blog space, Pinterest would be a great place to spend some time and energy. So I think that is one area that I definitely want to continue to grow because it has been real, has a really good return as far as traffic. And I think the encouragement too is to anybody who thinks that you can't find success as a mom blogger in 2025. You can, you just have to narrow down who you're talking to and be really clear with

who you're talking to. I like I am your target audience, Cori. So whenever you put out new content, I'm like, yes, like I need to know these things. Like it really does feel like that. It feels like a very like genuine connection from like we're in similar. Our kids are similar ages. They do similar sports, but we're in different parts of the country too. And I still find a lot of value from that. And so I think it's just finding your people like you're saying.

And I think one of my favorite things about you, Cori, is that I always, anytime you share content, it's always with this helpful attitude. Like how can this help another mom? How can this help another family? And that's what blogging is. You know, if we've said that once, we've said it a hundred times on this podcast that you guys have heard that. But that truly is what it is. And I, I want you to feel inspired by that.

Like whatever it is that you want to share with someone, how, I think a lot of times people are afraid to put themselves out there with blogging and maybe you can, you'll want to speak to this a little bit, Corey, because I know that I felt this way, but you get a little nervous about sharing like, Cory, because I know that I felt this way, but you get a little nervous about sharing, like, well, who am I? It's a little bit of imposter syndrome. Like, who am I to share? I don't have this completely figured out.

Like, I have some of it figured out, but I don't have all of it and I surely fail. So I think that that can hold some people back. Have you had to navigate any of that kind of negative like self-talk and how have you done done that? I know that's totally putting you on the spot here. But I do think you know we're a new year and like people thinking about blogging. I know that that's holding some people back from being like okay I actually want to do this and I am going to do this and I'm going to take judgment and just forget

about it. Right. Well as I said at the very beginning of the episode, I, um, I felt like really early, even before I had my daughter when I was pregnant and after she was born, some of those mom blogs that I would read kind of that during that season of life were really helpful to me. And I would bookmark certain articles about sleep, baby sleep schedules and homemade baby food and all the things. And I, you know, on any one of those blogs, I didn't necessarily, you know, put every single thing that one blogger put, you know, it didn't implement all of those things in my life, but there would be articles

and pieces that I would take. And I think that now as a blogger, that's kind of the attitude I have. I can share my experience. I think there is nothing that hum kind of the attitude I have. I can share my experience. I think there is nothing that humbles us more than motherhood. And I think that I can share what's working for our family and things that have been helpful for us, things that have been helpful for me as a mom. I'm always happy to share those if it helps another mom or helps another family. There are a lot of different ways to do things.

I think years ago, commenting on blogs was a much bigger thing than it is now. I think now Instagram comments have replaced that. I'll be honest, every once in a while I'll get a like, why did you do that that way? Or that's a silly way to do that. Or no one needs that. Or, I don't know, comments like that. But then I also think I get a lot of comments from people who say, gosh, I have been trying to figure out which goggles I can get to stay on my kids head for this swim team that we just signed up for. And the ones you recommended are the only ones that work. We have eight pairs of goggles in our swim bag now.

And it's so small, but it feels like a win. Or my kids really picky. You know, that recipe that you posted was really helpful and it's kind of gotten us through some busy weeks and that I don't know. I'm like that, that's why that's, that's my why. And, um, you know, if whenever I do get some of those kind of night, more negative comment or negative feedback, I just kind of try to remember those comments from other people who are just like in the trenches of motherhood and just needed a win that day,

needed something that was real practical and helpful for them. Yeah, yeah. Just holding onto those whys will really help you, I think, during those tougher times because there's gonna be times that, yeah, you get a negative comment from somebody and you can let it kind of ruin your day or you can get stuck on a particular technical problem with your blog or something changes that you weren't expecting and you've

got to spend some time you know fixing something or updating something but really truly holding on to those whys and those positive experiences will will get you through those harder times, I feel like, and remembering who you're helping, which is awesome. And then the other part that you were talking about is it's not this big earth-shattering thing that you've shared. It's a simple thing that can help somebody in their day-to-day. And so anybody who's listening, I don't want you to think you have to have this big, grandiose idea of saving the world.

It's just helping somebody, even just with a simple thing in their life. Hey, I'm gonna save you from buying eight pairs of goggles. Here's the ones that really truly work, because I've done it. Now I'm gonna save you the trouble. And people truly appreciate and connect with that kind of stuff.

I think it's important to share those kinds of things. Even if you feel like, oh, who am I? I don't know at all. But you know something, and what you have to share is valuable. I think what you just said, Jennifer too, about knowing your person and finding your person is so important.

And that knowing that they are out there and really looking for your shared experience, any advice that you might have for them. And I think that that would apply to home decor, organization, recipes. I mean, there's so many within these broader niches that we talk about. There's so many, I think within motherhood right now, there's a lot of homeschool, farm setting, really urban accounts, families that are, you know, military family, military moms. You know, there's a lot of different kind of subsets of the motherhood space right now.

And sometimes I honestly, I feel like my life is pretty boring. Like we live in the suburbs of a smallish town. I go to our kids' school. I go to Target. Like that's my life. It doesn't feel super exciting, but there's a lot of people that that's their life too. And I think that those are your people. And I think that in the face of some of that negativity, I have found more often than not,

it's just not your person. It's maybe they may be served better by another blog or another account. And so I think that you'll find your people, they will find you. It definitely takes some time, but that's where I think that's where those connections happen that really makes it worth it. Yeah. I think connections are huge in blogging and we are lucky that we get to still connect with you after the bootcamp and now we have you in the membership that's just recently changed shape

into the ultimate blog roadmap. And I would love for you just to speak a little bit before we sign off here about that blogging community and what that has, how that has empowered you in this journey to stay in a membership community, not just with us, it's really far less about Jennifer and I, I feel, but more about who's in there and what you're learning together. So I just, I just love to hear how that is supporting you currently with your blog.

That's a great question. One. So I remember on one of the early podcasts at this, I think you all had a tagline for a while that said like community over competition. And that was really something that kind of drew me to, um, the program and to working with you all. I think that that kind of spirit and that attitude, I think there's a lot of, you know, look at me, me, you know, kind of the energy and like the blogging

space sometimes. But when I heard that, I remember thinking, okay, these are my people. This is, this is where I need to be. times. But when I heard that, I remember thinking, okay, these are my people. This is where I need to be. And I think that obviously coaching calls that we've been on the technical steps through the bootcamp, all that kind of stuff was super helpful. I think now where I am, it's been really beneficial for me to stay in the membership for kind of more advanced topic, kind of getting introduced to more advanced topics in the blog, different Pinterest strategies, different email marketing strategies. And there's just always so much more to learn and having kind of like a direct pipeline of new information, important updates, that kind of thing. That piece has been super beneficial. And then I also think just the community itself, there are probably five or six other

women. Everybody in the group is great, but five or six other women have kind of, we started at the same time and have been on a similar journey. And you can have some kind of sidebar chats through the platform and just that source of encouragement. I just put this blog post up. I'm not a travel blogger, but I wrote a post recently about a travel baseball experience that our family went on kind of from the sports mom perspective. But I had a gal in the group who is a travel blogger

read that for me and offer some feedback and just kind of more from a travel standpoint. And that was so helpful. She just thinks about things and sets her posts up in a little bit different way than I do. And I think that that kind of give and take has been super helpful. So yeah, I mean, I think that that you all do a great job of encouraging that community, encouraging us to bounce ideas off of each other, share those experiences because it can get isolating.

I mean, you're a lot of the time you're just sitting in a random room in your house with the door closed on your computer. And I'm an extrovert and a people person. And those hours can get long and kind of lonely. And so it's just you're feeling stuck, you know, creatively or stuck with something technically. I just might it's kind of become my default now of like, I'm just going to put a post creatively or stuck with something technically, it's kind of become my default now of like, I'm just gonna put a post about this

in our membership platform, take a minute, come back to it later when I get some feedback. And that has been really, really kept me going. I'm so glad that you've been able to find those connections and what you just described as, hey, I wrote this post, I'm not really sure. And so you went to another travel blogger that's in there and to get feedback, that is exactly

what the ultimate blog Red Map was designed for, is for you guys to network and communicate and create some of those sidebar conversations. Besides Jennifer and I, I don't know anybody in the group who lives in the same town. And I think that that's a really cool thing that we are all over the country and we're all doing similar things, not the exact same thing, but we are blogging yet we're learning from one another in there and we're empowering one another on this journey.

And so I'm just really glad that you find it as valuable as we hope it is for everybody and that it's allowed us truly to just connect with you. And I mean, as a fellow sports mom, and I've learned a lot from you. I bought the swim goggles, Corey. You know, those. I know, I have an affiliate for the goggles,

but it's actually like my number one affiliate link. It's those goggles. I think goggles are like the bane of every mother's existence. Yeah, they are because they lose them. Oh yeah, they are. They are, but they are now. They're life-saving goggles. Well, Cory, thank you so much for joining us today. And if you want to join Cory in the Ultimate Blog Roadmap, you can. You can just go to ultimateblogroadmap.com. We'd love to connect with you. but I know that there will be people who want to connect with you personally, Cory. And so can you please tell everybody

where they can find you and connect with you? Yes, thank you. So my blog, my website is called My Friend Meg. And then I'm also on Instagram at My Friend Meg blog is my Instagram handle. And then in the show on Instagram at my friend Meg blog is my Instagram handle. And then in the show notes will actually be a link to my weekly newsletter as well. So if any of those would be helpful for you or someone that you know, I'd love to connect with you in that way.

Yes, we will put all of those links in the show notes and thanks just for sharing your journey with us today. And I know it inspired somebody listening. So thanks, Corey. Thank you. It's great to be here. Thanks for listening to the Ultimate Blog Podcast. If you'd like to learn more about building your blog, visit theultimateblogpodcast.com backslash newsletter to get signed up for our email newsletter. If you enjoyed this episode, we'd love for you to share it with a friend, subscribe, and leave a rating and review on Apple podcasts. Thanks for tuning in today and we'll see you next time.