I’ve completed my first month of blogging, though it’s really much more than that as it took me about a month to launch. I love writing; always have, and one morning I woke up and decided I wanted to blog. I wanted to write, document, take pictures and teach. I was craving a creative outlet since quitting teaching to become a stay-at-home mom, and this seemed like the perfect solution. One of my favorite bloggers, Katie Reyes over at katiedidwhat.com, wrote a how-to piece on starting a lifestyle blog. I’d been eyeing it for a while and knew I wanted to follow her instructions for getting started. I purchased my account with a hosting site (which I knew absolutely nothing about) and set up a paid WordPress account with my own domain. I followed Katie’s advice and purchased a specific template (which I will explain later), and got to work! It took me weeks to figure out how to set up my blog … widgets, plugins, pages and posts … it was all new to me! I read a lot of articles, watched a lot of videos and did a lot of trial and error. Right before launching, my site was attacked by a virus, and after a long and tedious attempt at getting rid of it, I ended up scrapping the blog and starting over. It was very discouraging and frustrating, but I learned a lot and was more prepared the second time around. Finally, I was able to launch my blog, and I’ve been having a lot of fun with it for about a month now. It’s really just a hobby for me at this time. Though I would love for it to become more of a side hustle one day, I am just slowly pouring more into the blog day by day and we’ll see where it takes me. But I have some do’s and don’ts for anyone starting a blog or thinking of starting one!
- Research hosting companies. You want to consider price, customer service and what is being offered, such as malware protection services, for example! Read reviews and reach out to other bloggers for their recommendations.
- Bite the bullet and spend the money to buy your own domain and purchase a professional looking template. I purchased a Genesis template AND framework (because this was recommended to me), and I’ve been very happy with it so far.
- Research what plugins are necessary and recommended right away! Had I downloaded a few good plugins immediately, I may not have been attacked by a virus. There is strong malware protection out there, but it’s costly, and I know plenty of bloggers who haven’t needed it. Now, take this advice with a grain of salt. Since I’m new at this, I may be totally off-base and end up needing to purchase protection services in the future. Only time will tell, but I’m hoping not!
- Consider your niche and other blogs you admire when you design your own. You want your blog to reflect your personality and “brand.” If possible, narrow down your niche. I can’t say I’ve done that myself, but I am sure the more specific you are with your writing and target audience, the faster you will be able to grow your following.
- If you’re strongly interested in high traffic right away, research SEO. This is something I still haven’t done yet, but I know I need to. There’s a lot to it, like how you tag your pictures when saving them and creating meta-tags for your posts. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, I feel ya! Again, this was all new to me!
- Consider social media platforms that could help you drive traffic, and use those to your advantage. I started to use Instagram more when I launched my blog, and have recently started up again with Pinterest. It can be overwhelming when you are thinking of all the platforms out there, so start with one to lessen the load a bit. There are a lot of blogging communities and networks on Facebook that are very helpful as well. I’ve really just scratched the surface with this, but I’m moving forward little by little!
- Get yourself a planner! Old school perhaps, but I finally purchased one so I could keep everything organized – my blog post ideas, my passwords, my networks, my goals … it can all be in one place and help you stay focused and on task.
- Stay true to yourself and remember WHY you started blogging. I’ve seen a lot of people who seem desperate to make money from their blog right away, but do you really want tons of ads clogging up your blog pages? Maybe, maybe not. My point is that you should put in the time and effort to create something GOOD. Choose and edit your pictures carefully, write thoughtfully, spell check and have someone proof-read. Only create and market products you love and believe in. Slow and steady wins the race, right? Now granted, I’ve just started my race, but this is what I believe so I’m sticking to it!
I didn’t go into a ton of detail, but I would be more than happy to answer any questions you might have. Drop a comment below or get in touch with me via my contact page at the top of my blog. Blogging is a lot of fun, but it certainly takes some time, effort and money to get started on the right foot. Good luck!
xoxo, Heidi
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