How To Start Blogging: First Steps

How To Guide: How To Start BloggingIf you’ve ever wondered how to be a blogger, I have a few tips I’ve learned through trial and error.  I’m not making money off of my blog that is a different process.  Before you can advertise you have to build your brand and audience.

If you’ve ever wondered how to be a blogger, I have a few tips I’ve learned through trial and error.  I’m not making money off of my blog that is a different process.  Before you can advertise you have to build your brand and audience.

Branding seems impossible for any novice.  How do you pick a name that stands out from the rest?  How can people find that name if it stands out?  Will people understand your message?  Is it even available?

Start by writing down your message in short phrases include the top categories you wish to discus.  I used multiple associations to find my own “everyone is capable, fully able, say I’m able, fitness, motivation, accessible.”  I used my nickname, message, and purpose to build a brand.  All of my pages are linked by Truly.  I can easily adapt the name for business purposes, it fits with all categories on the blog.

Because I am not just fitness focused I wanted a title that would be all inclusive.  Something that could fit when I posted about special needs or motherhood but still work when we talked about health.  I arrived on my current name by googling those phrases together.  Don’t forget to check hashtags and screen names.  Consider any confusion over brands or competitors.

Once you’ve settled your name you have a few choices to consider.  Do you want to pay for your own domain, before you have an audience?  If you use WordPress it is cheaper to do this all at the beginning, before you’ve made any posts.  If you decide to wait you can upgrade at any time.  I want to have consistent posts, hits, and branding before I commit to the cost.  I also have a rule that I only spend money on my business if I’ve earned it from business, that’s just a personal rule to keep me out of the family coffers.

I also wrote down the names of bloggers and authors I admired.  I went to their site and looked at how they run their page.  I checked which system they used and added it to their name on my list.  When I was done I had a good idea of which system to use, what kind of themes are more professional, and how a blog should look.

Now that you have your address and name it’s time to put up some posts.  Pick three major categories that you would like to focus on, make a list of ideas for blog posts for each.  Use the momentum of your excitement to write any number your list.  You may want to fill up your blog with numerous posts to get rid of all the empty space, don’t.

Schedule each post to automatically publish as often as you plan to write.  You can build a loyal following by being consistent.  You also alleviate the “I haven’t written yet pressure” by having some already prepared and scheduled.  Get creative with themes or keep it simple.  Right now you just need to have a focus and stick to it.  You can build on themes later.  If you’re interested in getting started and need more help let me know.  I will follow this up with some additional guides on blogging to get you started.