Starting your own blog does take courage. You are starting it with the obvious intent to reach out to others, whether it to provide information, provide inspiration, make money, for therapeutic reasons, or other reasons.
Before you start a blog, you really have no need to be monetizing it yet. Of course, you can implement Adsense, but without traffic and clicks, you make nothing and appear to be all in for the money.
Get your priorities in order before you start a blog.
Planning your blog is the best place to start.
What do you want to do with your site? Do you want to teach people something? Do you want to make money? You want to create a sturdy focus, specifically on what you want to cover or have a great interest to learn about. Unfortunately, just picking something to blog about will not cover it. Why? Well, you are more than likely to become disinterested. That is why a lot of bloggers and social media consultants will urge you to have a real passion for what you write about.
Once you have what you want to write about, create a site. Whether it is using WordPress, Google Blogger, or some other platform, you need a medium to become your blog headquarters.
When you get that site, just do not let it sit idle for one moment! Write your first post. Make it your introductory. Include:
- A little bit about yourself.
- Your intentions for your blog.
- Topics that will be covered.
Be prepared to blog more than just an introductory posts. You can always save a post on draft mode and publish when you are ready. The fact of the matter is- blog! This is where you take your first step into the open.
Do not worry about the design. Do not worry about the monetizing. Your content needs to come first.
How are you going to invite people to your site if there is nothing there to welcome them? Your blog is much like a home. If you have nothing to make people feel at home, why would they want to stay… let alone come back.
Most blog platforms and content management systems have at least a pleasant default theme. Some bloggers wait until they have a perfectly design site to make their debut. However, what about all the time waiting for that theme to be finished, or the time to find the right one?
You could be blogging and already engaging with people!
So many people want to worry about making money, playing with their site to optimize it for the search engines, and more….however, you really do not have to focus on that so much. Search engines becoming social oriented, other than normal algorithms. So, that means, your visitors will be the ones to say your site has more authority, and not just a bot.
After you have written your content and actually started driving in readers, you can think about all the other luxuries to add to your site.
Focus, focus, focus. I see that over and over again with every piece of blogging advice. Having a clear image of what your purpose is and what you want to deliver will help you build a market. It’s one of my challenges with my professional blog, because I have so many interests. But, my professional blog is meant to be part of my online portfolio which showcases my work and interests, so ultimately it all fits in with my goals and purpose of staying active in the field, giving a sense of how I think, and showing that I use my writing skills on a regular basis.
Oddly enough, it is still something that needs to be emphasized with niche bloggers. I have repeated the fact that you should have a focus for your site for quite a long time… and it is good to see newer bloggers finding that tidbit something to carry over.
If your site is a portfolio, then definitely putting your written pieces is part of your site’s focus.
It takes a lot of courage to start a new blog, specially when you’re not really am very familiar with it. I can still remember my firs experience when I started to take a big step in the blogging world. I’m very grateful that there are now a lot of resources such as your post to help me understand the blogging world and to help me be more efficient and effective blogger. Hope to learn more blogging tips from you Niles. 🙂
I agree with the author – just start walking…. I had the same problem and I needed to stay focused on learning the new medium (wordpress), my hosting company’s in’s and out’s that to worry about the quality and money were just too much…
Get the operational aspects and writing down first and then go back and spiffy it up and start thinking about making money. I am glad I did this because you need to be able to navigate cPanel and write stuff before the others are a concern!
when I started blogging I didn’t think and focused as I have to then I realize it’s not gonna last longer …so I quit from blogging but after searching for months finally found out what I have to write about ……
every time I read a blogging beginning article like this why I didn’t read it first….
but I am still confused with the blogging platform because I am using Blogger ,what’s your opinion what is best to use Blogger or WordPress?
Here i want to discuss something related to selection of topics for blog posts. This is also really crucial issue when start blogging about different topics. We can get help from Google trends, Google insight for searches, Twitter trends and social mentions for getting information about hot and trending topics in relevant industry.
Thank you very much for the information you provide
I hope it’s useful for me and others.
Good first step to start a Blog. Thanks for a great article. I’ve been searching for this kind information for a while and had not found it until today. It’s rare to find well written articles like this anymore so I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Thanks again for sharing this information.
Nice tips actually when I started my blog I am hesitant since I really don’t have background with blogging. One thing I will suggest to startups is that if you blog do it with a big heart. Blog for the people and not for search engine.
Excellent post.
Very good advice and recommendations.
Definitely the secret is to stay focused on the subject you love. So to create content will be much easier and enjoyable for you.
regards
what makes a blog special is if you take the time to put up relevant pertinent information that others can use.
Keeping it simple and addressing the readers needs or concerns is a proven method for success in starting a new blog or site. You will never have any success if you do not get started. It is like anything else you have ever tried,it get easier the more you do it.
I agree with most of this. Content is the key to a blog so you must do that first before monetizing the blog. On the other hand, I think it is good to set up the design for the blog right away, so you know how to want to lay out your posts, how you will order and arrange them, and such. The design was the first thing I did when I started my blog.
I’ve debated time and again on whether I should post more good content or get the design to look better. Then I notice some very authoritative blogs in my niche and see that they don’t look the greatest, but they get lots of traffic. That’s what made my mind up for me. It’s all about content.
I think the hardest part about starting to blog is just taking action.
I find i am more successful if I set aside a certain time to get online and work.
Great post! I like WordPress which has come on a lot in the last six or seven decades and is now amazingly versatile, easy-to-use and regularly modified. The big benefits with WP is that you van use a lots of plug-ins both in paid or free service which are available everywhere.
Hi Nile,
What a great instructional, inspirational article. You are completely right — after you find your passion, you just have to start. The rest will come to you. This is a super post for all ages of bloggers, very refreshing.
Hi Nile,
This is so true, visitors are not coming to a blog for the great design, they are coming to get information and learn more from your blog posts. So even if the design is not perfect this is not a reason to wait before you publish new posts…
Its help to people understanding blogs…This is also really crucial issue when start blogging about different topics.nice contain….
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