In this guide, I’m going to run through exactly what you need to do to start your own blog.
WHY YOU SHOULD BLOG
1. Blogging is still growing
In 2017 blogging is now one of the most popular ways of communicating and spreading information and news online. There are millions of blogs online and everyday you delay in getting started with a blog is another day wasted.
2. Getting your message out there to the masses
Blogging is a great way to express yourself and share your ideas, creativity, and knowledge. Become a thought leader in your niche and leverage that authority for your own gain.
3. A blog to help connect with people
- Blogging will help you to connect with other people who share your interests and also become a better writer.
4. Making money with your blog
There’s a lot of people out there making a lot of money from blogging. It’s no big secret. The reason why these people (including myself) are making money from their blogs is that they have never given up, and they have chosen their niche wisely. Blog about what you know, and what you are passionate about to start with. At the same time, have an idea in mind to monetize the blog (adsense, affiliate, products, ebooks etc). If you put the work in, you will get your rewards.
Affiliate Marketing –
Where you send your readers to other people’s products and get a percentage of the sale. Affiliate commissions from software companies are the most popular amongst successful blogs.
Advertising –
Ads placed on your blog
Sponsored Posts –
Where companies pay you to post something specific on your blog
Selling Digital Products (Courses and eBooks) –
Creating a unique course or eBook on a topic and selling that information to your readers
Selling Physical Products –
Only difference from above is that you’re selling something that they can physically hold. This can be anything from a health supplement to a T-shirt, etc.
Selling Printables –
These are technically still a digital product but you can also print them out and use them as a physical product (think journals and guides).
5. Obtain more business or clients with your blog
Blogging is one of those marketing channels that can reach exactly the type of person or company that you would love as a client. A blog can drive customers to your door and can provide you with leads from people who want to work with you or your company, just by reading one of your posts.
6. To help you get your dream job
A lot of people use their blog as a shop window for themselves. Rather than sending in a traditional CV to potential employers, people are now using blogs to show off their skills and attributes. Getting creative on a blog will show more about you than a clinical and cold PDF CV.
What To Do
Take an unrelated topic and tie it to your field.
Take something that has nothing to do with your career and turn it into something that has something to do with your career.
List and embed videos that deal with your niche.
For example, if you were a blogger, you could put together a list of 20 actionable videos on how to be a more amazing blogger. Think of useful and helpful videos that will make your readers better at what they do.
Pitch an influencer to guest post on their blog.
Guest posting is such a great way to get more followers and build authority. Just make sure that when you pitch influencers, you put your best foot forward.
What sets your blog/business apart from your competitors?
Sometimes, it can be scary when your competitors’ websites look way more amazing than your own. Maybe they are better at social media than you. Maybe they have a bigger team than you, which makes it easier to create more or do more.
Steps to take:
Take a good look at your competitors’ blogs.
Write down their strengths and weaknesses.
Take a look at your blog.
What are your strengths and weaknesses? If you feel like you can’t answer these questions without being biased, ask a friend in your niche or even a blog reader.
How can you be better at your strengths while also covering your competitors’ weaknesses?
WHAT TO BLOG ABOUT?
Profile a few readers and/or customers.
Interview them. You might just learn something new about your blog or business.
Interviews and testimonial posts are great because it gives your audience a chance to hear from someone else, which can further add credibility to what you are teaching.
This type of post can be structured in a variety of ways, including…
An interview —
with a client, student, reader, another authority figure in your niche, or anyone else that can provide relevant insight for your audience
A testimonial —
with a client or student (this can help to sell your products)
Interviews and testimonials can be written, in video format, or in podcast format.
When you are interviewing someone or asking for a testimonial for your blog, these are some helpful questions to consider:
What is their background? How is their story relevant to your audience?
What questions can you ask that would provide the best insight for your audience?
What problems did they struggle within the beginning?
How did they overcome these problems?
If their story is transformational in nature (i.e. reached a big goal), remember the points we discussed above in the blog post idea of personal experiences and stories.
What is the best part of what you do?
Tell your readers everything. Why do you love what you do?
How do you use social media for growing traffic and sales?
Share how you’ve used social media to grow traffic and sales. This is a topic that many people are interested in as a way to grow their own blogs and businesses, so if you have great tips, share them all.
What didn’t work for you?
It’s always good to know what worked, but there are many things that don’t work. Why don’t you share them so no one else makes the same mistakes?
How-To Guides
People generally hate reading instruction manuals. When was the last time you snuggled up with a glass of wine and the instruction manual to your toaster?
How do people figure out how to do stuff?
They Google it.
WikiHow became insanely popular based on how-to articles alone.
These are usually very instructional in nature and can come in the following forms:
Beginner guides — Very basic. Intended to start from square 1 and teach a complete beginner on a topic.
Ultimate guides — Similar to the above but are often more comprehensive (or just differ in title)
Tutorials — Because you are explaining “how to” do something, you can also structure these more like a tutorial with detailed instructions.
Solving a problem — How to lose weight fast
Achieving a goal — How to build an email list
Politics
Politics are popular during every election year. Whether national or local, find a political topic to discuss, and join this conversation.
Politics can be dicey, however. People tend to get really polarized around political topics, so be prepared to handle some controversy.
Bacon
Everyone loves bacon.
Huffington Post is one of the most popular blogs online, and it has an entire archive of bacon articles.
It’s not a trend going away soon, so get on board.
Recipes
Recipes are a great way to draw traffic to your blog.
There’s always a new diet fad, e.g., today’s Whole30 is yesterday’s Atkins, so there’s always new recipes to be discovered.
Beginner guides
Before you can convince someone that you know the advanced stuff, start with 101 beginner guides.
Everyone has to start somewhere. Beginner guides are often the way bloggers build organic search traffic at the start, and they can even be done using infographics like this guide to Sharepoint.
Ultimate guides
Subject matter experts, on the other hand, are always seeking out the most credible ultimate guides for their areas of expertise.
The term “ultimate guide,” however, is a bit overused. You can use some alternate terms if you want, such as these from Business Casual Copywriting:
- Essential Guide
- Complete Guide
- Uncensored Guide
- Last Guide to ____ You’ll Ever Need
Whenever you’re writing an informative guide, back it up with statistics.
Use data only from authority sources, and give them credit for the information.
Adding data to your guides shows your readers your content is legitimate.
You didn’t just pull ideas out of thin air. You took the time to conduct research and then formed opinions based on your findings.
I use this strategy all the time. Before I take a stance or give advice, I find numbers to back up my claims.
If you are interested in doing original research, consider highlighting your case studies in a blog post.
This will help you get traffic from organic searches as well as through backlinks whenever another site uses your study as a source of information.
If you’re an expert on something, creating an ultimate guide is an ultimately awesome way to do some ultimately popular blogging.
Frequently asked questions
Be warned that posting answers to frequently asked questions online won’t stop people from asking anyway.
They do, however, serve as a resource for people, and they are often featured on e-commerce websites—but overlooked on blogs. FAQs are blogging gold in any age.
Interviews
The best way to set yourself apart from the ocean of bloggers is to gain insight from industry experts.
Whether it’s with people on your team or from other companies in the industry, set up interviews on websites like helpareporter.com to gain valuable knowledge from a professional.
Thankfully, you don’t have to be in the same room as your interviewee to talk to them. Come up with a list of questions your audience would be curious about, and email it instead. You could also post the questions via Twitter or another social media channel.
Trending Topics And News
This gives you new and “fresh” ideas to share with your audience while also giving you the opportunity to weigh in on the topic. Your audience wants to know your opinion!Use data only from authority sources, and give them credit for the information.
Adding data to your guides shows your readers your content is legitimate.
You didn’t just pull ideas out of thin air. You took the time to conduct research and then formed opinions based on your findings.
I use this strategy all the time. Before I take a stance or give advice, I find numbers to back up my claims.
If you are interested in doing original research, consider highlighting your case studies in a blog post.
This will help you get traffic from organic searches as well as through backlinks whenever another site uses your study as a source of information.
If you’re an expert on something, creating an ultimate guide is an ultimately awesome way to do some ultimately popular blogging.
Frequently asked questions
Be warned that posting answers to frequently asked questions online won’t stop people from asking anyway.
They do, however, serve as a resource for people, and they are often featured on e-commerce websites—but overlooked on blogs. FAQs are blogging gold in any age.
Interviews
The best way to set yourself apart from the ocean of bloggers is to gain insight from industry experts.
Whether it’s with people on your team or from other companies in the industry, set up interviews on websites like helpareporter.com to gain valuable knowledge from a professional.
Thankfully, you don’t have to be in the same room as your interviewee to talk to them. Come up with a list of questions your audience would be curious about, and email it instead. You could also post the questions via Twitter or another social media channel.
Trending Topics And News
If you’re talking about the hottest new topic in your blog niche, it will catch your readers’ attention because fewer people are talking about it.
Rather than giving straight facts or a general overview of a particular topic, consider being a little more polarizing if you have a strong opinion. Your audience wants (and deserves) your honesty!
Here are some examples from various blog topics:
- Health: new fad diet
- Travel: latest news on carbon emissions
- Politics: election news (there’s always SOMETHING here)
- Pets: latest news on pets traveling on airplanes
- Beauty: anything on anti-aging technologies is always a hot topic to discuss
- Business: taxes and legal are topics that are always being updated
Personal stories
While personal stories may not be the keyword-filled anchor pieces you want, they’re still valuable additions to any blog.
Through sharing personal stories, you give readers a chance to relate to your business on a personal level, which helps build brand affinity.
Learning how to tell a story is an art. Once you master this skill, the quality of your blog posts will improve.
A great story will keep your readers on the edge of their seats.
You need to understand the impact storytelling has on our brains:
When readers have an emotional response to your story, dopamine gets released from their brains.
Use this information to your advantage. The best stories are written to elicit some type of emotion, whatever that may be.
The choice is up to you. Maybe you want your readers to feel sad or angry while they’re reading your posts. And some of you may prefer to evoke joy, surprise, or love.
If you can make your readers feel emotions, they’ll be more likely to continue reading the blog.
As a result, they’ll come back to read more in the future.
Depending on the nature of your story, it can also generate traffic based on curiosity alone. For example, if I saw a blog post that said something like “How I Caught a Shark With a Pair of Jeans,” I would be very inclined to click on it to find out what happened.
Charity and activism
Any type of charitable actions, events, or activism you support should be blogged about.
Crowdfunding sites such as KickStarter, IndieGoGo, GoFundMe, and the like appeal to the good in people, and showing you’re active in these communities can build your readership. Even an occasional Change.org petition can help the brand image.
Product reviews
Reviewing products and services is another great way to drive traffic to your blog. Not only are product reviews a trusted resource online that will draw traffic, but they are also a revenue stream for bloggers.
If you want to monetize your blog instantly, this is a smart move.
By linking to product pages through affiliate links like Amazon Affiliates, you can monetize a blog almost entirely on product reviews. Make sure you go niche since this provides the greatest platform for credibility and expertise.
Do a (number) by a (certain age) post.
Think of this blog idea as a bucket list before you or your business reaches a certain age.
Put together a gif-filled post.
Everyone loves gifs. Put together a post and use gifs for the images. Gifs have a way of adding humor and energy to posts in a way that images and graphics can’t. You could also make your own with Boomerang.
What would you love to learn how to do?
Share pictures and what you’d like to learn, then go out and try that thing. Share an update of your experience with your followers.
Write a parody post of some sort.
Bringing humor into a post can be good. It’s always fun to make people laugh. I once did a parody post with Taylor Swift’s song, “Shake It!” and I tied writing into it. It was a lot of fun!
Set up a contest on your blog.
After doing the giveaway or competition on your blog, share the results. Did it turn out, or was it a dud?
Set up your own contest.
- What is your goal? Have a clear goal in mind. Do you want more email subscribers or buying customers? More social media followers?
- What kind of content do you want to have? Think about whether it will be a skills or challenge contest.
Use questions on forums as blog ideas.
Have you ever spent time on websites, like Quora? There are so many people asking questions that you can use for new blog ideas.
Once you’ve written your answer in blog post format, go back to the question on Quora and leave a comment that answers the question. It’s helpful, and it could also bring some traffic back to your blog.
Find the best jokes in your niche and share them in a blog post.
We like to laugh and smile. A great place to look is on Google. There are plenty of good places full of jokes.
Do this as a special post and share it on a Friday or a day off.
What adventures does a person experience in career like yours?
Are there any fun adventures that you’ve gotten to go on or to be a part of while being a _____ (your title)? If so, share your adventures.
Seen any good movies? Pick one and tie it into something to do with a topic in your niche.
Write a post about how a certain character or situation in a movie has something to do with your niche. These can be a lot of fun to write. Play around with some ideas.
What are your top five distractions. How do you deal with them?
Distractions aren’t fun, but sadly, we have them a lot in our lives — especially with the internet. There’s always a distraction waiting around the corner.
Do you have a way of holding the distractions at bay? If so, share your tips.
Pick out three, creative people who inspire you. If they collaborated to make a product, what would the product be?
If those three people created something awesome with all their skills, what would it be? Create that and then share your process and inspiration.
What scares you the most? Why?
It’s interesting to dig into why something scares or doesn’t scare you. Share ways you’ve gotten over your fear, since there are people out there who probably have the same fears.
Share ways you’ve gotten over your fear
there are people out there who probably have the same fears.
What is your first memory?
Do you remember your first memory? Think about it for a while and then write it up.
List of hacks
Write down the hacks to doing a certain task or job you have knowledge in.
Think about these things:
What steps will it take to finish your task or project?
Write those down.
Flesh out your blog outline with more detail. What are the actionable tips to doing that task or project?
Use five words to describe yourself, your blog, or your business.
How would you describe yourself in only five words? Use those words as an outline for your idea.
Host a blog hop
Pick a topic or theme. A good way to think of this is like a party — at parties, there’s usually a theme.
Write up a few rules and a schedule of events. Set up a blog hop for a certain amount of time. For each of the days, provide a daily prompt. It will pull other bloggers into the fun of writing posts on that topic. Encourage bloggers to visit other bloggers’ posts who are also a part of the blog hop.
Blog hops are a cool way to create a sense of community and get more comments. Have fun with it!
WHAT DO READERS WANT?
Readers want to:
–Solve the problem. start a blog, solve the problems.Have you ever spent time on websites, like Quora? There are so many people asking questions that you can use for new blog ideas.
Once you’ve written your answer in blog post format, go back to the question on Quora and leave a comment that answers the question. It’s helpful, and it could also bring some traffic back to your blog.
Find the best jokes in your niche and share them in a blog post.
We like to laugh and smile. A great place to look is on Google. There are plenty of good places full of jokes.
Do this as a special post and share it on a Friday or a day off.
What adventures does a person experience in career like yours?
Are there any fun adventures that you’ve gotten to go on or to be a part of while being a _____ (your title)? If so, share your adventures.
Seen any good movies? Pick one and tie it into something to do with a topic in your niche.
Write a post about how a certain character or situation in a movie has something to do with your niche. These can be a lot of fun to write. Play around with some ideas.
What are your top five distractions. How do you deal with them?
Distractions aren’t fun, but sadly, we have them a lot in our lives — especially with the internet. There’s always a distraction waiting around the corner.
Do you have a way of holding the distractions at bay? If so, share your tips.
Pick out three, creative people who inspire you. If they collaborated to make a product, what would the product be?
If those three people created something awesome with all their skills, what would it be? Create that and then share your process and inspiration.
What scares you the most? Why?
It’s interesting to dig into why something scares or doesn’t scare you. Share ways you’ve gotten over your fear, since there are people out there who probably have the same fears.
Share ways you’ve gotten over your fear
there are people out there who probably have the same fears.
What is your first memory?
Do you remember your first memory? Think about it for a while and then write it up.
List of hacks
Write down the hacks to doing a certain task or job you have knowledge in.
Think about these things:
What steps will it take to finish your task or project?
Write those down.
Flesh out your blog outline with more detail. What are the actionable tips to doing that task or project?
Use five words to describe yourself, your blog, or your business.
How would you describe yourself in only five words? Use those words as an outline for your idea.
Host a blog hop
Pick a topic or theme. A good way to think of this is like a party — at parties, there’s usually a theme.
Write up a few rules and a schedule of events. Set up a blog hop for a certain amount of time. For each of the days, provide a daily prompt. It will pull other bloggers into the fun of writing posts on that topic. Encourage bloggers to visit other bloggers’ posts who are also a part of the blog hop.
Blog hops are a cool way to create a sense of community and get more comments. Have fun with it!
WHAT DO READERS WANT?
Readers want to:
–Learn something new. What do you know that you could teach others? Do you know how to decorate, sew, cook, build stuff? Others want to learn and you can teach them!
–Be inspired. People love to get ideas from others and be inspired to take action on their own.
-Reach a goal. Think of some of the common goals people have; weight loss or eating healthier, getting organized, getting out of debt, starting a new business, etc. Share with others how you did it… now you’re helping them reach a goal + providing inspiration!
–Be entertained. Do you have a story to share? Do you have an interesting life? Are you quick-witted? Chloe of Boxwood Avenue lives in the country raising goats, a pet duck ‘Eleanor’, chickens, and cattle. It’s entertaining and provides a lot of inspiration = a winning combination!
–To ease fears. What are people afraid of? Can you help ease their fears? Sharing your own story of struggles, healing and hope can help others through a similar crisis.
So, before we get started – building your first blog can take up to 30 minutes. It might make sense to bookmark this page if you are planning to start a blog when you have some extra time.
If you need any help while you are setting up your blog then you can email me here and I’ll help you as best I can.
IN ORDER TO START A BLOG YOU WILL
NEED TO WORK THROUGH THESE 4 SIMPLE STAGES:
1. Choose a blogging platform
2. Pick a Domain Name – Start Your Blog – Web Hosting
3. Install WordPress on your hosting account
4. Choosing Your WordPress Theme
