Starting a blog entails several steps. There are so many processes that it may be overwhelming for starters. And if you overlook a crucial stage, your blog’s future growth may suffer.
But don’t worry!
We’ve compiled 23 beginner blogging tips to help you get started and grow your blog even as a seasoned blogger. This piece covers everything from creating a website to writing blog posts to email marketing.
1. Do Some Research
Before you start blogging, as with many other new life tasks, you should research to learn more about it. There are numerous blog posts available online. Start by watching YouTube videos on the fundamentals of building and running a blog to start your blogging journey.
2. Figure Out Why You Want to Start a Blog
Before you begin blogging, consider why you want to do so in the first place.
For example, would you like to create a blog?
- Just for fun?
- To share your knowledge on a specific topic?
- To market an established company and add content to your website?
- To supplement your income, consider working online.
- To assist others?
- Do you want to establish a work-from-home business?
Make a brief “why” statement for your blog. Writing a “why” statement will assist you in determining your primary aim and making better future blog selections.
3. Decide on a Blog Niche
To attract readers, you must choose a niche when starting a blog. Ideally, you will select a single big topic that you will be able to investigate thoroughly. But how do you decide what to concentrate on?
Consider your objectives first. Do you wish to promote your business offerings? Share your knowledge or pursue your passion? Make money with your content? Whether you want to write about your profession, go deep into your personal interests, or monetize your site, thinking about your overall goals might help you get started.
Whatever blog niche you choose, it will become the focal point of your internet presence. With that in mind, choose a field in which you have experience and are genuinely interested.
Some of the most popular types of blog niches are:
- Business blogs
- Travel blogs
- Food blogs
- Finance blogs
- Lifestyle blogs
- Personal blogs
- Wellness blogs
- Design blogs
- Technology blogs
Based on your experience, you may want to narrow your focus even further in order to cater to a specific target. For example, within the areas of European travels, you could choose to specialize in cheap travel or food. If you’re not sure what niche to choose, look through these blog examples for inspiration.
4. Have a Passion For Your Niche
Remember, while choosing a niche, go with something you’re enthusiastic about rather than something you think will be successful. By doing this, you will find writing blog posts more pleasurable. Furthermore, your readers will be able to perceive your passion for your writing, increasing their likelihood of enjoying your site and trusting your thoughts and suggestions.
5. Set Goals
Many people start blogging for leisure; therefore, they don’t need to set goals. However, you must create goals to make money from your blog or develop it into a full-time business.
Setting goals can help you stay on track and make it easy to track your progress. Start modestly with your goals; you can establish bigger ones when you achieve them. For example, you can set goals for how many pageviews, subscribers, or money you wish to achieve.
6. Choose the Right Blogging Platform
To ensure success, you must select the best blogging platform. Unfortunately, many new bloggers are tempted to use free blogging platforms such as WordPress.com or Blogger.com to save money.
However, we do not advise using free blogging services. You don’t have complete control over your site when you use a free blogging platform, your customization options are limited, and you can only make money from your blog.
That is why we recommend starting a blog with WordPress.org. WordPress.org is the go-to blogging platform in the world; it’s simple to use, has limitless customization choices, and allows you to monetize your site. You may quickly build any blog you desire with WordPress.org.
7. Check Out Other Blogs For Design Inspiration
If you are still on the fence on how you want your blog to look, check out other successful blogs within your chosen niche for ideas. Looking at other popular blogs can show you which designs work best and provide you with many ideas for what to add to your site.
Make a list of the colors you choose, the layouts you prefer, the pages you require, and the features you desire. This will significantly simplify selecting a theme for your WordPress blog.
8. Use the Right WordPress Theme
WordPress themes make it simple to give your blog a professional appearance instantly. However, because there are so many WordPress themes available, choosing which one to use might take a lot of work.
We recommend adopting a WordPress theme that is both eye-catching and basic. Simple and clean WordPress themes have easy-to-read layouts that focus only on your content.
9. Make Sure Your WordPress Theme is Mobile-Friendly
A ton of people surf the web from their smartphones these days. So, many of your readers will also view your blog from their smartphones. So, when choosing a theme, make sure it’s mobile-friendly so your blog will look great on all devices.
10. Use a Drag and Drop Page Builder Plugin
It can be challenging for WordPress newbies to develop custom blog pages. To make things easier, you can utilize a drag-and-drop page builder plugin like SeedProd. SeedProd allows you to construct sales pages, email optin pages, webinar pages, coming soon sites, thank you pages, and many other types of pages.
Drag-and-drop builders are straightforward to use, and the changes you make to your page are visible in real-time. Furthermore, they provide 100+ templates and pre-made landing page-specific components such as contact forms, social profiles, countdown timers, and more to help you get started quickly.
11. Create an About Me Page
Your visitors want to know you, so include an About Me page on your site. Your readers will feel more connected to you and your blog if you have an About Me page with photos of yourself and information about who you are. They are more likely to become your biggest followers if they feel a connection with you.
12. Add Links to Your Social Media Profiles
Remember to include links to your social media profiles on your website. This will assist you in growing your social media following, connecting with your readers across many platforms, and keeping them up to speed on your blog at all times.
Here’s an excellent tutorial for adding social media icons to WordPress menus. Also, check out this guide on the best Facebook plugin for WordPress.
13. Learn About Your Target Audience
To develop content people enjoy, you must first learn about their interests. Next, consider your target audience and where they hang out on the internet.
For example, if your blog is targeted at horseback riding, your target audience will definitely be horseback riders. So, look into online horseback riding organizations and forums. Joining these online forums allows you to observe what your target audience is discussing about, what issues interest them, and what they want to learn.
14. Brainstorm Blog Post Ideas
Begin brainstorming blog post ideas based on the information you’ve obtained about your target audience. First, make a list of blog topics you can write about. Begin with broad keywords and then divide them into smaller parts.
For example, “barbecue recipes” could be a broad keyword. However, when you divide it into smaller portions, you get a list of blog post ideas such as barbecue chicken, barbecue sauce, grilled vegetables, and so on. Checking out your competitors is another excellent approach to getting topic ideas.
15. Research Your Competitors
Examining what your competitors are writing about is an excellent way to generate topic ideas for your blog. So, look at some popular blogs in the same niche as yours.
Take note of your competitors’ most popular pieces that have received a lot of shares and comments. This will reveal the topics their target audience is most interested in. Because you have a comparable readership, these issues will be of interest to your readers as well.
16. Set up a Schedule
Create a schedule to help you keep on track with composing blog content. For example, if you intend to publish a new blog article every Friday, schedule your chores on a calendar to ensure you fulfill your deadline.
Make time in your calendar to research, write, edit, and publish your blog pieces. If you want, you can use a calendar app on your mobile device or a real calendar.
17. Create a Content Calendar
Create a content calendar to manage everything after you’ve settled on your blogging schedule and planned your material for the month. A content calendar provides information such as the title of a blog post, its category, keywords, the date it will be published, and other remarks.
Several free content calendar templates are available online, such as the one provided by HubSpot below, but you can easily draft your own using Google Sheets.
18. Make Your Blog Posts Scannable
According to statistics, 73% of visitors skim instead of thoroughly read the blog content. As a result, you must make your blog entries scannable.
This includes employing bold headers, subheadings, numbered lists, and bullet lists. In addition, keep your words and paragraphs short so that they are easy to read. You can even utilize one-sentence paragraphs to capture the interest of your readers.
19. Craft Killer Headlines
Your blog post’s headline or title is frequently the first thing people notice. As a result, it must be compelling enough to pique their interest and compel them to read the piece. To help you generate clickable blog post headlines, you can also utilize a free software tool like IsItWP’s Headline Analyzer Tool. This tool will grade your title and provide suggestions for enhancing it.
20. Add Images to Your Blog Posts
Including graphics in your blog posts will make them more appealing to readers. Content containing photos receives more views and shares and can increase conversions by more than 300%. Adding photographs to your posts is very simple. Here’s how to find free photos for your blog.
21. Do Keyword Research
You must conduct keyword research if you want your content to rank higher on search engine algorithms. When your blog content ranks high in search engine rankings, it receives more views and visitors to your website.
Keyword research may appear complicated, but it is not. Instead, you’re determining which keywords and phrases people use to search for your topic online. Check out Step-by-step instructions on how to undertake keyword research.
22. Sprinkle Keywords Into Your Content Naturally
After conducting keyword research, incorporate relevant keywords into your article. But don’t cram them everywhere within the article or blog post. Your content should be written first and foremost for humans and SEO. If you jam too many keywords into your article, your audience will find it easier to read. Instead, incorporate keywords naturally into your content, titles, and descriptions.
23. Review and Edit Your Post
After you’ve finished writing your blog article, go back and reread it. Even experienced bloggers make mistakes from time to time, so checking and correcting your piece before publication is critical.
Look for spelling and grammar errors that need to be corrected before publishing your message. Another method for ensuring that your essay makes sense is to have a family member or friend read it before you publish it.
It can be challenging to see where you could enhance your work but having someone else read it will give you a fresh perspective.
Final thoughts
We hope you found these blogging tips for beginners useful. These blogging tips and methods should be plenty to get you started on your blog. Remember that blogging is hard work and that success does not happen overnight. So, all that remains for you to do is put these blogging strategies into action and start to work.