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Although I’ve only been “professionally” blogging for about a year and a half (though I have blogged without the intent of monetizing since 2008), I feel like I’ve become pretty skilled in the trade. While I have a lot to learn, I love being able to share my tips for success with others. Not everyone is cut out to be a blogger, but if you have the passion and drive to do what it takes, the possibilities are endless!
1) Choosing a Platform
Before you really can do anything, you have to pick a place for your blog to “live.” There are several different options, but I would say that the majority of people go with one of the three options:
Blogger: This free platform is often the platform of choice for those just starting out. Blogger has many pros (and a few cons). For someone who doesn’t know a lot of coding, wants to start their blog quickly, but still have control over design, this is a great option. Many great blogs have not only been created, but have thrived on Blogger. The one gripe many have about Blogger is the fact that you don’t really own everything on your blog — Google does. And, at any time, Google can shut down your blog. Now, this doesn’t happen to everyone, but it’s not a myth. Want to know how I know?
Because it happened to me! For a short period of time, my blog was marked as spam, and I couldn’t do anything about it. I was luckily able to petition this quickly, but I’ve known others to not be as lucky. WordPress.com: This is the free version of WordPress. If you know you like the way WordPress runs, this wouldn’t be a bad place to start.
The biggest downside, in my opinion, is WordPress.org: If you are wanting to be serious about blogging, WordPress.org is definitely where I recommend you being. I started out on Blogger, but then I switched to WordPress.org a few months ago, and I wish I had been there from the start. For one, you own everything. It’s also supposed to be better for SEO. The downside is, that there is an investment that will have to be made. You have to buy hosting (we recommend bluehost , RFE, or Black Chicken. BlueHost is the best budget provider in our opinion), often times you will need to purchase a theme, and other costs will inevitably come up. However, most bloggers will tell you that there is a definite return on investment — myself included. As soon as I moved to WordPress, my stats skyrocketed, which means ad revenue went up, and my appeal to brands increased as well. After being on WordPress for over a. year now, it’s the place I recommend any blogger begin.
2) Picking a niche
Parenting? Foodie? Tech? There’s so many different blogging niches out there, and one for just about everyone. Pick something you are a passionate about,
not what you think will be most popular. If you feel like you would run out of topics quickly, then don’t go with that one! Over at my blog, Clarks Condensed, I have a modge podge of different topics — ranging from food to parenting and pregnancy to thrifty living — and that has worked well for me. You don’t have to post every day, but you want to be able to create content somewhat easily.
That’s not to say you won’t run into writer’s block. Every blogger will experience this at some time or another. But having a topic you are passionate about will make it far easier to break through that block, and start writing again.
I’d also avoid picking a topic that is too narrow, as it can make it hard to get a good readership. However, that doesn’t mean you should avoid something that isn’t so popular. If there is a community that would be interested in it, and you like writing about it, it’s worth trying. I write for a website all about electronic medical records and mobile health care. To the average person, this might not
be very exciting. However, there is a large enough community who does want to read it, that the site has been very successful.
3) Choose and Buy a Domain Name
If you are on Blogger or WordPress, by default, your domain will end with their domain (.blogspot or .wordpress.) However, having your own domain is really
an investment that is well made. You can buy a domain for about $10 a year.
Personally, I went with GoDaddy when I was on blogger, and I was very happy with that decision. Brands will take your blog more seriously if you have your own domain, plus, it just looks more professional.
When buying a domain, I highly suggest purchasing the extra security most companies offer. By doing this, if someone looks up your domain, they won’t be able to find your address, but the address of the company you bought the domain from. I found this out the hard way, when I was looking at my site on WhoIs.com, and discovered that my home address was right there for anyone to see. While I don’t think I have any enemies, I sure don’t want to make it any easier for someone to find me!
Be sure to put some thought into your domain name. You don’t want to have to go back and rebrand everything someday, and using something that is SEO
friendly, catchy, and interesting will draw people in. When choosing a domain name, I highly recommend checking out Namechk.com . This allows you to see if just about any social network out there has your name still available. It would really be unfortunate to go and get all excited about your domain name, only to realize that it isn’t available on your social networks!
4) Design
Many will say that beyond the content of your blog, the design is the most important aspect of your blog. If your site doesn’t have any real design to it, or it’s messy looking, littered with ads, or just is hard to navigate, readers won’t want to come back.
While there are many great designers out there, in all sorts of price ranges, you don’t necessarily have to pay someone to do a design for you. You don’t even have to have a fancy design program either. Ashton from Something Swanky has some amazing design tutorials that can help just about anyone get off the ground and make a fun design. Of course, if you can invest in a
designer, it would be a investment well-made.
If you are on self-hosted WordPress, you will need to use a theme, and either buy or make a child theme. I’ll talk more another time more in depth about but my personal favorite is the StudioPress (affiliate link). This company sells the Genesis Framework (affiliate link), which is required for any of their child themes. Then, you can purchase any of their child themes, which helps make
designing your blog so much easier. I know some of these terms may sound foreign, but I promise, I’ll explain in more detail all about themes in a post that is coming up soon! There are also tons of free themes that I know many
people have found to work well.
5) Install Analytics
In order to track how many visits your site gets, top posts, where your main visitors are from, and lots of other interesting (and important) information, you will need to install some sort of analytics. Doing this before your even launch your blog is important, because you want to track everything from the beginning. This makes it easy to track your progress, and provide details to brands and companies that may want to work with you.
The most popular analytics tracker is Google Analytics . Typically, this is the one that most companies will ask for, and I think it’s the most comprehensive.
It provides SO much information — more than you will probably even need! It can be a bit overwhelming at first, but there’s plenty of tutorials out there to help you get started. Another tracker I use a lot is StatCounter because it’s super simple to use and read.
6) Sign up for social networks
Simply said, being active on social networks can be the key to being a successful blogger. It’s a great way to interact with readers and promote content, connect with brands, and just create an overall presence on the
Internet.
There are a ton of networks out there, but the ones that I would suggest getting involved in right away are Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Google+. These are, by far, the most used social networks, and in between using them, you should be able to create a good following. It does take work (and a lot of it) but it’s worth it to be involved. Always keep your ears open for new social networks that open, so you can claim your brand’s name. You never know what might take off next!
7) Create great content
Anyone can make a blog. However, not everyone can make a successful good blog. Having good content is the number one key to being successful. If your content isn’t interesting, people won’t probably come back! And content can mean many different things — amazing photography, delicious recipes, writing…it’s up to you. Just create something that you think others will find
interesting. Don’t let this intimidate you though. Just write in your own voice!
No one else has the same story that you do, and even if you are posting the one millionth chocolate chip cookie recipe out there, if you post it in your voice and with your story, it’s different. People want authenticity. Don’t be
something you are not — be real and honest, and readers will want to come
back.
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