Starting a blog is easier now than ever before. You can set up a WordPress or Tumblr in a matter of minutes and start sharing your thoughts, however, if you are thinking about things a little bigger and want to start a successful blog there is a little more to consider.
There are certainly a few things you may want to understand before you even think about writing tour first blog post. Let’s have a look at them below:
A Plan Is Essential
You need to think about a blog as a new enterprise; if you want success, then you need to have a plan. If you don’t have a vision for your blog it’s not very likely to do very well in search engines, won’t achieve goals, and won’t attract readers. Some of the things to include in your plan are:
Your Goals
Think about the reason for your blog. Are you promoting something? Trying to make money from it? Or are you just going share your thoughts? It’s best if you have specific goals in place, these can involve things like the amount of content you want to post, how many readers you want each month, and how much money you want to make.
What Is It About
The most successful blogs will have a focus on one niche. You, therefore, need to decide what your niche will be. Think about what your goals are, what you want to write about, and what you think the readers want to read. If your aim is to make money and you want to rank well in the search engines then you may want to recruit the help of an SEO agency to perform tasks like extensive keyword research and niche research before you settle on your blog topic.
Research Your Competitors
If you are blogging to make money or for a business, then you will want to take a close look at the blog from your competitors. Do they have good ideas that you can use? What keywords rank their blog? How often do they supply new content? Think about how difficult it will be to make a blog better than theirs?
Choose Your Hosting And Platform
There are tonnes of different blogging platforms that you can use’ Blogger, Squarespace, WordPress, Tumblr, etc. so you can choose to use one of these. However, you may prefer to use your own space on a server, for this you need to find a hosting service. It will give you more control over the features on your blog, and even enable you to make and design your own web-developed blog.
Choose Your Theme
This is your design. You should pick a theme that suits the aims of your blog, your desired audience, and the topics discussed. Therefore, if you are talking about finance or business try not to use an unprofessional theme. Bear in mind that as more people like to read on the go, it’s important for you to choose responsive themes, enabling them to adjust to any size screen.
How Often Will You Post?
You need to be able to provide a regular stream of useful, original content to be successful. Think about how much time you have for writing a new piece, how long it takes you to write, and how much content you need in order to beat your competitors.
How Will You Promote
Plan how you will promote your blog. Are you going to use social media? Maybe you will use Pay Per Click or Google Adwords? Perhaps outreach and guest posting? Whatever you decide make sure you do your research and put a lot of time into this area.
Make It Social
Your blog is more likely to be successful if it is social. Social media has become one of the most popular online activities, with millions of users and content every day on a range of different platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. If you want to improve the number of visitors to your blog, then utilize social media and what it can provide for you. You can link all your profiles to your blog which gives you the ability to share all your great content.
Content Is Essential
There is no denying that a good blog has great content. Therefore, you shouldn’t be stingy when it comes to creating the content for your blog. It needs to be engaging, original, and give value to your readers. If you write top-quality content, then you are more likely to be found by search engines, and it may get shared around social media too.
This short guide should help you to get off on the right foot when you start a blog. Are you thinking about starting a blog? What have you considered?
