This is an interview with Lucrezia Iapichino of Blogging for New Bloggers.

Hey, Lucrezia. Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do.

Hi, thanks so much for having me today.

My name is Lucrezia and alongside my sister, Marina, I founded Blogging for New Bloggers, Legals for Business Owners, and Tinylovebug. My background is in international and EU law, and I’ve worked in several countries as a lawyer, researcher, manager, and university lecturer. I’m originally from Italy, and while working in London, I met my Australian husband, Sam. We decided to settle in Melbourne permanently.

I draw on my legal, teaching, and blogging experience to help fellow bloggers and online entrepreneurs grow and protect their businesses legally. I believe in an anti-hustle approach, aiming to empower business owners to run profitable and legally compliant businesses while enjoying their lives.

Our community’s mission is straightforward: to help people achieve their goals without unnecessary stress. We want to show that reaching your dreams doesn’t always require excessive hard work; it’s about knowing the right steps to take.

Our content focuses on growing a blog without burning out and doing so legally (I still have a legal background, after all). We have built a six-figure business starting from our blog without missing anything in life and now we want to empower people to do the same.

What was your life like before becoming a full-time blogger?

When I started my blog, I was working in a corporate role. It wasn’t awful; in fact, I quite liked it, but it wasn’t my true passion.

Let’s take a step back. Part of my family and most people in my life were involved in a legal profession. So, when it was time for me to choose a major in university, I naturally picked Law.

To make it more interesting, I specialized in international law, which allowed me to travel, live in different countries, pass the bar exam to become a lawyer, pursue a PhD, teach at university, and eventually settle into a corporate role.

How did your blogging journey begin?

People kept telling me I had an amazing job and a successful career, but despite my accomplishments, I always felt a yearning for a creative outlet.

Then, I faced a challenging period in my life. My husband and I wanted to expand our family, but we struggled with fertility issues. I needed something to distract me and lift my spirits.

That’s when I started a blog, and it changed everything. I launched a lifestyle blog that is still thriving today. Initially, it was just a hobby that brought me joy. Despite still having my corporate job, I eagerly anticipated coming home to work on the blog. My sister Marina, my sister-in-law Emma, and I all poured our hearts into it.

We were happy. We maintained our jobs, but now we also had something we were truly passionate about. The blog became a significant part of our lives.

How was Blogging for New Bloggers born?

Very early on, our blog, which started as a hobby, began generating an income. Things became serious when people started asking how we made money with our first blog.

So, we decided to launch a new blog to guide aspiring bloggers on how to start a blog and make money – and thus, Blogging for New Bloggers was born.

When and why did you start Legals for Business Owners?

Since then, our blog has grown into a six-figure business. Fellow online entrepreneurs began asking about legal protection for their own ventures.

We realized it was time to assist not just bloggers but all online business owners. The demand was high, as our community was turning their blogs into thriving businesses.

It was time to create something tailored for online businesses, whether they had a blog or not.

The legal aspects of running a business are more complex than those of a standalone blog. To avoid confusion, we decided to keep them separate, and that’s how Legals for Business Owners was born.

How long did it take you to make your first money blogging?

Even though I didn’t start my blog as a business venture, I did make money from the beginning.

In the first month, it was a modest $128, but that small amount proved there was potential. It showed us that there was money to be made in this business!

Most of our earnings came from affiliate marketing. I wanted to offer a valuable service to my audience, so I included all the necessary links in my blog posts to streamline the process for my readers and save them time.

By using affiliate links, I started making money from the start.

People often say you should build your blog and audience before diving into monetization strategies, but I completely disagree. I made $128 in my first month of blogging because I had active monetization channels. You can’t win the lottery if you don’t buy a ticket.

While building audience trust is crucial for conversions, you never know who might be ready to make a purchase right away.

How did your first year as a blogger go in terms of traffic, income, and site growth?

As I mentioned, the initial income was negligible, but it gave us the confidence that we were onto something valuable and heading in the right direction. Our monthly revenue steadily increased, and within the first six months, we had our first $1,000 month.

By 2019, we were making six figures from blogging, and now we’re earning multiple six figures per year.

We have never relied on huge amounts of traffic. What has truly worked for us from the beginning is the strong relationship we have with our community.

Having a great relationship with your followers is essential for sustained success. When your audience feels connected to you, they trust you, and this trust is the foundation of loyalty. Loyal followers are more likely to engage with your content, support your monetization efforts, and spread the word about your blog.

In our journey, we have always prioritized understanding our community’s needs and providing valuable content tailored to them. This approach has helped us build a supportive and engaged community, which has been instrumental in our growth and success.

How much traffic do the blogs get now? What are your top traffic sources?

Although we don’t rely on huge amounts of traffic, we have an average of 500+ new students monthly on our Blogging for New Bloggers school.

We only average between 15k and 20k pageviews monthly on our Blogging for New Bloggers website. We don’t have many blog posts published there, so the traffic potential is limited, but our strength lies in converting our visitors and followers into loyal customers.

The content in our courses and templates is incredibly valuable. As a result, our upgrade conversion, customer retention, and repeat purchase rates are outstandingly high.

What’s your current content strategy like?

We don’t post frequently, but when we do, we focus on what our audience wants to read.

Our strong relationship with our community makes it easy to choose topics— we simply ask them.

We also look for questions in the comments under our YouTube videos and blog posts. Additionally, we use the questions we receive in our Facebook group and via email most frequently.

When did you get into SEO? And do you optimize every blog post?

We started with SEO quite early in our journey. I’m a strong advocate for the power of organic traffic. The quality of visitors to your blog is far more critical than sheer volume. It’s essential to attract an audience that is genuinely engaged and interested in your content.

There’s nothing better than having people who are actively seeking out your content. A highly engaged target audience is much more valuable—and more likely to convert—than thousands of casual visitors.

We used both Google and Pinterest, especially at the start.

What’s one SEO strategy that has worked best for you?

Blogging about blogging is a super competitive niche. We know we can’t compete with giants like ProBlogger or SmartBlogger on popular queries or highly competitive keywords.

Our primary on-page SEO strategy focuses on targeting long-tail keywords and latent semantic indexing (LSI) keywords, incorporating multiple ones into each blog post. These keywords may not have huge search volumes individually, but together, they contribute significantly over time.

We rank on the first page for numerous keywords, and I’ve observed that Google increasingly trusts our authority, even for broader or short-tail keywords. This gives me confidence that our organic traffic will continue to grow.

What do you do if you notice a significant drop in your blog’s traffic?

When I notice a significant drop in traffic, I take a systematic approach to identify the cause and address it: I analyze traffic sources, review recent changes, check for algorithm updates, perform an SEO audit, engage with the community, and update content.

How have you grown your Facebook group over the years?

We’ve grown our Facebook group Blogging for New Bloggers by sharing valuable content, cross-promoting, engaging with members, offering exclusive resources, and providing regular updates.

How do you keep the members engaged?

We keep members engaged with regular posts, member spotlights, live sessions, polls, and exclusive content.

Our team helps with moderation and answering questions.

Do you use Pinterest as a blogger? What are your top tips for getting blog traffic coming it?

For years, Pinterest has been a fantastic source of traffic, helping us attract new customers and subscribers. However, it eventually became too demanding.

Given our philosophy of maximizing results with minimal effort, we decided to put Pinterest marketing on hold for a while.

Now, it seems Pinterest has returned to its former ease, no longer requiring constant attention. Additionally, I believe traffic from search engines is crucial for a business. Since Marina loves Pinterest, we’ll likely start focusing on it again soon.

The key to successful Pinterest marketing is building authority on the platform. We offer a free course on Pinterest and will soon reopen our premium course.

How much are you currently earning from your business per month?

Our business generates multiple six figures annually. It’s challenging to pinpoint exactly how much Blogging for New Bloggers makes per month since we have various income streams across different sites.

Our revenue model includes display ads, affiliate marketing, sponsored posts, and selling our own services and products, such as trainings, e-books, and courses.

Tracking these can be complex due to different payment platforms and terms, but thankfully, our accountant handles the calculations to keep us on track.

Our income fluctuates significantly from month to month due to seasonality, partnerships, promotional activities, and joint ventures. To give you a rough idea, the income from the Legal Bundle Value Pack™ alone ranges between $5,000 and $15,000 per month.

A substantial portion of our revenue comes from promoting products, tools, and courses as affiliates. What works well for us is that we only promote things that are ideal for our target audience, their budget, and their stage of development.

We promote products, tools, e-books, and courses that genuinely address a pain point for our audience and provide real solutions. We ensure that what we promote meets the highest quality standards and strive to get our audience special discounts or the best deals available.

What was your greatest blogging mistake?

One mistake we made early on was with our first site, Tinylovebug. We covered a wide range of topics. While this approach has the potential to reach a broader audience, we learned that niching down is much more effective.

Focusing on a single topic allows you to serve your audience with the most value possible.

For example, we offer everything from keto recipes and gift guides to blogging tips. This makes it particularly challenging to offer an opt-in freebie that appeals to such a diverse audience. How do you provide something of value to such varied interests?

The same issue applies to content. Someone might land on our site looking for gift ideas for their husband and instead find tips on how to grow blog traffic. This can complicate SEO efforts, as having several unrelated topics on one site can confuse search engines.

Despite its success and consistent income, Tinylovebug is more challenging to market and manage in a way that best suits potential readers.

Also, I wish I had known the importance of creating internal documents and SOPs (standard operating procedures) from the start.

When we were ready to scale our business, it was a real headache to create all the SOPs at once for onboarding new team members.

We should have developed them as we built each task and system. This approach would have made the process painless and time-efficient.

What would you say is your biggest strength as a blogger?

My biggest strength is probably my ability to create valuable content that resonates with my audience and builds trust.

Plus, being able to run a six-figure business without getting into the hustle mentality.

What are your top 3 legal tips for new bloggers?

First tip, always disclose sponsored content, affiliate links, and any material connections with brands or products you endorse. This transparency builds trust with your audience and helps you comply with advertising regulations.

Second tip, ensure your blog has all your legal pages in order and especially, a privacy policy that outlines how you collect, use, and protect personal information from your visitors. 

Finally, always respect copyright laws by obtaining permission to use images, videos, or other content that you didn’t create yourself. Make sure you understand fair use principles and attribute sources properly. 

By proactively addressing these legal aspects, you can protect your blog, build credibility with your audience, and avoid potential legal issues down the road.

What are the challenges of running multiple blogs?

We’ve built a business that operates largely on autopilot. My goal was to have the flexibility to work whenever and wherever I choose, and to spend ample time with my family and friends—and we’ve achieved that.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly how much time I invest in the business, as it varies based on my other commitments and personal life. Each week is different, but on average, I would say I dedicate between 5 to 20 hours.

While I could work more and potentially earn more, I’m happy enjoying a balanced life without financial stress.

What’s next for you and your blogs?

We intend to develop new legal templates as needed, such as our recent addition of a new tier to our Legal Bundle Value Pack™ and the launch of our new AI template.

Our primary focus now is expanding our course offerings and diversifying platforms to cater to various learning styles—we recently started a YouTube channel for this purpose. We aim to further expand our community through engaging content and collaborations.

Additionally, we’re considering re-engaging with Pinterest in our strategy moving forward.