Tips for Starting Your Own Blog
I’ve been blogging on Life in a Break Down for 8 years now, and I’ve learned a thing or two along the way. In this article, I’ll share some tips for starting your own blog.
Research
Before you start, research is your best friend. Look into different web hosting platforms to help you build a blog. I use Lyrical Host, which offers good value managed blog hosting plans. If you choose to go self-hosted, you’ll need to choose a WordPress theme that makes it easy to customize and design your blog without needing a professional web developer.
You may want to start on a platform like Blogger, where you don’t need to worry about hosting. Starting on Blogger can offer a chance to try out blogging for little to no cost and allow you to easily move to a self-hosted site later on. You can start with a free domain and switch to a paid one once you know you’ll stick with it.
Decide on a name for your blog, and make sure to check if someone else is using a similar name. Getting mixed up with another blogger isn’t fun, and you want to stand out and be unique and memorable.
Research what you want to blog about. It’s usually best to blog about something you’re passionate about. If you love beauty, travel, or fashion, your passion will shine through and make it easier to keep writing.
Planning Your Content
Often, my best-performing blog content comes when it’s well-planned out. Put together an editorial calendar of the content you want to share on your blog and social networks.
Set up Google Analytics for your blog to see how many visits you’ve had, where they’ve come from, and which posts are performing well. This should inform your future content plan and ensure you’re creating great content that people want to read.
Niche or Not
Niche bloggers have taken off virally this year. However, I just can’t stick to a niche. I tried it and failed. So, I’d say while niches are good and can really help, they aren’t everything. If you want to blog about a bit of this and a bit of that, do it, try it, and see what happens. Take into account your target audience and what they’d like to read.
Promoting Your Blog
Now that you’ve launched your blog, you’ll need to get people to read it. Create social media profiles, join Facebook blogger groups, and consider email marketing and building an email list to boost your blog traffic.
The most successful bloggers are those who promote their blogs everywhere they can to drive traffic to them. You’ll also need to think about whether you want to start monetizing your blog or keep it as a hobby. If you do want to start making money from your blog, you could take paid guest posts, sign up for Google AdSense to show advertising on your blog, or sign up for affiliate programs.
Insurance
As a business owner, you know that one thing you really need is insurance. There are many different types of insurance, and it’s great to know that companies like PolicyBee offer insurance, especially for bloggers. Scratching your head yet? Yeah, me too! It can be quite a minefield to decipher what you do or don’t need. When it comes to blogging, it’s not quite so black and white (and it wasn’t very clear to begin with), but yes, you may need it. However, it’s pretty much on a case-by-case basis.
Blogging Buddies
If you’re blogging, you definitely need to make sure you have some friends in the same boat. Successful blogging can be hard at times, especially if you’re doing it as a job. It can also be lonely. So, having someone who knows how this feels too is a must. But blogging friends are helpful in other ways too – you can support each other on social media by sharing each other’s posts, and swap blog comments, amplifying your posts and getting them seen by more people. Focus on building a network of blogging buddies who you can rely on to promote your blog and vice versa.
Building a Media Kit
For those already into blogging, one thing you should think about is building a media kit. These share insight into you and your blog and quickly convey information to brands who want to work with you. Things to include in this important part of your blog kit include:
- An introduction to you and your blog
- Unique monthly views
- Average dwell time
- Audience breakdown of gender/age/location
- Follower count and links to social media
- References from people you’ve worked with
- Names of brands you’ve collaborated with
Some people choose to also include a rate card with their media kit.
To build one, there are many simple ways. Design Bundles and Canva, for instance, offer a range of templates to help you put together a simple setup. Canva also offers a simple and easy platform to edit and make that kit your own.
Personally, I find my media kit is great to add to any emails where people are asking for more information, as it helps give a bit more depth and insight. Once you’ve made your media kit, remember to keep it up to date.
I hope you found these tips helpful in starting your own blog. Good luck!