Hello, beautiful people from across the lands! Want to start a blog? Feeling overwhelmed and not really sure where to start? No worries I got you covered! I will be approaching my 3rd year blogging on Sept 12 of 2020. I have made so many mistakes and failed miserably with my launch. I’ve started and stopped, started, and stopped again. Once I finally got intentional and did my due diligence blogging began to come with more ease and less stress. In this post, I’ll discuss 5 important and doable steps you need to take if you plan to start a blog.
Identify A Niche
There are two different ways to pronounce this word or maybe one way is wrong. Either way, if you are going to start a blog it’s important to identify a niche aka your main topic. Some think it’s not necessary to identify a niche and you can talk about a variety of things. I have not seen many people succeed in doing it this way. I also think it would be very difficult to manage given the many components that go into blogging. From research, drafting, promoting, and building audience engagement. Audience engagement alone is a beast in itself. It is not forbidden to have multiple topics you just need to hone in on what you mainly want to be known for.
Identify An Audience
Identifying an audience is very important when you start a blog. Who are you talking to? What are their likes and dislikes? Buying habits, interest. It may sound bizarre at first but this is so vital when developing your content. You want people to walk away from your content feeling like you were talking directly to them. Addressing a need or filling a gap they were looking for. Which leads me to my next point.
Identify Pain Points/Problems
What problem are you looking to solve? What solutions will your blog offer? Knowing the pain points and common problems are essential when creating content. How well you are able to execute this step will help in your audience coming back for more. Or better, sharing your work!
Batch Content Before Launch
Batch content is creating a bulk of content at one time before releasing it to the masses. This by far was my biggest mistake I wish I knew to do sooner. As I mentioned before, blogging is more than just typing up your blog post. The marketing, branding, and imagery that goes along with it take work. I will say writing a blog post takes the most time. Creating your blog post and images in batches will save you so much pain and agony. Depending on how often you plan to release a post. I would aim to always be two months ahead.
Research & Secure Domain Name
A domain name is your URL/website name. I often find this step mentioned first or second. I have placed this last for a reason. You do not want to spend too much time on the domain name. Now do not get me wrong branding is very important and helps in marketing. People will be more drawn to the work you execute than the actual name itself. Having a domain is still important and you want to be sure it is available. I recommend researching in these three areas:
- Check domain availability on bluehost.com and click domain to begin your search
- Research social media handles (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, etc)
- Research trademark www.uspto.gov
If the name you have in mind is all clear, purchase your domain on Bluehost.com and grab the social media handles. Do not worry about having to post on the social handles just yet. This is just to secure it just in case two minds think alike. In this case, that’s not so great.
Action Steps to Take Now
Step 1: Start with the first two steps as this will require some research and a little soul searching if you have not identified niche and audience yet
Step 2: Take notes of the research that you will find and store them by your preference (i.e notebook, google docs etc.)
Step 3: Find experts in your niche you can learn from, follow their social sites and YouTube channels if applicable
Conclusion
Starting a blog is not as overwhelming as you may think. Taking the right steps that help get you to a strong start helps.
Identifying a niche that you enjoy discussing and researching allows you to brainstorm on content ideas.
Finding your tribe or audience allows you to be intentional in your blogging making sure you’re speaking their language.
In order to speak their language, it’s important to identify the pain points and problems. Providing solutions or inspiration is key to keep your readers engaged.
Last but not least batch your content from the very start before you officially launch. Trust me this will save you so much headache.
It is my hope this guide provided some assurance that can get you started with your blog today. Have you thought about starting a blog? Or maybe you’ve already started and you’re on the struggle bus. Either way, know it’s possible, and starting this way will help set a strong foundation.
Until next time dream, believe, and achieve.
