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So you want to be a blogger? Why? In my opinion, knowing your reason for blogging is the biggest hurdle you need to conquer in blogging 101. The reason for this is because knowing why you are doing it will determine the amount of time and work you are willing to put into making it a success. People start blogs for many reasons, but the ones who are successful know why they are doing it and with hard work and determination they make it work.
Before I get too deep into my two-cents let me add this disclaimer. Everything you read here are my own personal experiences. The tips I offer here are from the things I’ve learned along the way.
A Tad Bit About Me
I started blogging a few years ago to help jump start my journey as a writer. I had a slow start but eventually in 2017 I found my passion again. In September of this year I revamped my blog altogether. I integrated from WordPress.com to WordPress.org. (I’ll have to write another blog about that experience.) In the few short months that I’ve started my blog over, I’ve had more success than all the months of my blogging history. The difference between the me when I first started blogging and the me now is that I am clear on why I started this blog journey. My purpose for this and all my blogs is to encourage and inspire someone else through my own experiences.
Blogging can be as easy or as difficult as you make it. Before you read any further, I want you to take a pen and paper and write down your reason for blogging. What is your “WHY”? Now, post it somewhere visible. Read it often. Whether you are blogging for personal reasons or to make a business out of it, there will come a time when you will need this reminder. Now read on.
Establishing A Niche
If you don’t know what a niche is don’t feel bad, neither did I when I first started blogging. So, what is it? It simply means you have an audience in mind that you want to target and your blog content will be geared towards that audience. You’ll hear this word a lot. My advice, ignore it. It is not a requirement for blogging and it won’t apply to everyone. Your blog may cover several niches and I assure you, that’s okay. Don’t think that you have to lock yourself into one subject matter. Instead focus on creating the best content that you want others to enjoy.
Building An Audience
Don’t get caught up in the numbers. (Repeat last sentence.) Everyone wants to drive traffic to their site, that’s an established fact. However, what your site looks like, the information being provided there and the visual presentations are what’s going to grab and keep your audience’s attention. I can tell you from experience, if you make the numbers your focus you will lose precious time that could be used doing more important things, like writing for instance. It took me a minute to realize that whether I have 10 followers or whether I have 100, the ones that really matter are those that will actually read my content and enjoy it enough to leave some feedback.
Freebies Matter: Use Your Tools
Social media will be some of your biggest platforms to use to build your audience. The best part about social media is that it’s free and if used properly you can gain fans. ( Yes, I said fans. Accept that you’re a celebrity now. Ha Ha) The best social media sites that I’ve found that generates the most traffic are Pinterest and Twitter. This is not written in stone. This is what works for me. Most of my blog traffic is generated from pins directly connected to my blog. Twitter has also been a great source of traffic. This mainly due in part to the enormous blog community that has been very supportive throughout my journey. Other sites that I to use are Facebook and Instagram.
To Pay or Not to Pay
In the beginning of my blog journey I struggled with determining what things were worth investing my money in. While using freebies has been a great source of help for gaining traffic, I decided to try paid promotions for both Facebook and Instagram. (You won’t know unless you try.) What I like about these platforms is that you can integrate your ads to both sites. On each site, I was able to gain new followers who I would not otherwise have connected with. Would I recommend these methods to others? No. I would send you back to the beginning and ask you why are you blogging? That will help you determine what’s worth investing in or not.
Some key things to note here are that I chose to build a blog platform outside of my friends and family. For me this meant setting up my social media sites as business pages. On Facebook you are given some control over your audience but on Instagram becoming a business site meant changing to a public platform. This means anyone can follow you. (Depending on the purpose of your blog this may not be necessary).
This is My Blog and That’s Yours
Whatever you do on this blogging journey, don’t compare your journey to someone else’s. Each one of us have our own individual styles, our own individual purpose and our own way of doing things. What works for other bloggers may not work for you. Be yourself. Blog about about what fulfills your purpose. You truly have to carve out your own slice of this pie. Trust me when I tell you, it’s big enough for all of us.
My Two-Cents Times Infinity
- Stay focused on your “why” reason for blogging.
- Write. Video. Produce great content consistently.
- If you don’t know ask. The blog community is very forthcoming with info.
- Research.
- Invest your money wisely.
- Don’t fall for the get rich quick blogging schemes.
- Use your tools. (In my next post I’ll list my go to tools.)
- Did I say produce great content consistently?
- Be patient. Don’t give up on your goals.
- And always “Chisel Until Your Dreams Manifest“.
And finally if you want to support a girl on her mission to spread love and encouragement around the world cop a t-shirt.
Great post, I really enjoyed the content! This is so timely because I am actually in the process of creating a vision board and established statement (at least for myself) of what I want my blog to be. I know the mission behind the blog and why I started it, but I am starting to look at what I want in the long term so I know what to invest in my blog.
Also, in regards to Pinterest, would you have any feedback on how to use it for a blog? I have had a personal account for years, but I just recently started a business account for my blog, and I’m working through how best to utilize it in this context. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
From the research I’ve done and the use of for the past few months Pinterest acts as a search engine. So I find that the more active I am the more engagement I have from viewers who may be searching for keywords related to my pins. All of my blog post have pin enabled pictures so they automatically link back to my blog. Most of my blog views come from Pinterest. I use Tailwind to schedule my pins in advance and that makes all the difference.
These are great tips! It’s so easy for new bloggers (and even more established ones!) to get caught up in their numbers, stray from their purpose, and get discouraged from comparing themselves to others. These are great reminders for anyone blogging!
Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts.
Great tips! I certainly find Twitter very supportive if new/small blogs like mine. Thanks! X
I love this post, very inspiring!
I enjoyed reading this post. I used to blog years ago and recently started again. I don’t really have a niche and since I really just blog for “fun,” will I really need one? I think the hardest thing about blogging is keeping people interested. I don’t want my posts to sound like I’m rambling about nothing. I do feel that practice makes perfect.
Practice definitely makes perfect! Good luck on your restart.