Starting your blog off with a BANG is important. Why be a drop in a bucket when you can be a tsunami?
You need to have a proper structure in place to ensure that you aren’t leaving any tables unturned.
I failed miserably when I commenced blogging. I had no direction and was simply going with the crowd. Everyone was creating a blog and so I wanted one, too.
What do I have to show for it? Knowledge and experience. However, it came at a cost. I wasted not only time but money that could have been put aside for difficult times.
But, that’s the past. Let’s look ahead. To ensure you become a tsunami, I’ve compiled a few blogging tips for beginners that you’ll fall in love with.
10 Actionable Must Try Blogging Tips for Beginners
As a new blogger in the blogosphere, there are a few items you must tick off on your checklist to make strides. The succeeding points underscore a few things you can do to appear professional and get the most out of your blog.
1. Find Your Voice
As previously mentioned, I started blogging because everyone was doing so. It happened haphazardly, and I didn’t get a chance to mull over important things, like deciding what I really wanted to blog about and the direction in which I wanted to drive my blog.
I ended up creating several blogs which disintegrated because they weren’t me. When I started The Calculated Rambler, it was after meticulous and calculated forethought.
I took notes and did my research. This blog resonates with me because it’s what I love, and I get to talk about what I’ve been practicing throughout my entire online career working for clients in various industries.
Find your voice. Ask yourself: what am I good at? What style of blogging do I want to assume? Your voice is very important. Are you the formal, informal or conversational blogger? What tone will you use to appeal to your audience?
Think. Think. Think. Unless you want to fail and then try again, that step is important. If you don’t find and hone your voice, you’ll get bored and give up after a while.
2. Set Goals for Your Blog
Goals provide direction. When you set written goals for your blog, you can keep track of progress and review areas in which you need to improve.
While you set goals, remember that small steps do count. Before setting big goals that might prove overwhelming or insurmountable, attack the small ones first. I initially had problems setting realistic goals, so it might take time to get things in motion.
I’d complain to my husband that my blog is not what I envisioned. His encouragements provided the jolt I needed, but it didn’t last. I was, once again, brooding.
I got the help I needed when I read “17 Anti-Procrastination Hacks”. That book helped me to appreciate the need to set micro and macro goals. To achieve my macro goals, I’d set several micro ones that would ultimately lead to the big thing.
How does that work? What if you wanted to increase the number of articles you write per month from two to five but find it impossible? Set micro goals. Could you spend an hour each day on an article?
You don’t necessarily have to complete an article in an hour, but the aim of setting micro goals is to spend small chunks of time on different aspects of a task until the whole is complete.
3. Practice Writing
You don’t have to be a professional writer to start a blog. However, you should be able to write well. It’s excruciatingly painful to read a blog post replete with grammatical errors, sentence fragments, and misspelt words.
You can lose your audience if your writing is not up to standards. If you’re not a Grammarian or you don’t spend countless hours reading English grammar publications, find the right tools.
Most of the word processing tools available will have a spell check feature. Have a dictionary close by for reference or make good use of Google. You can also download and install a free tool called Grammarly to help with punctuation and spelling. The developers do offer a paid version of the tool, but the free version is useful.
Word of caution, do not rely solely on Grammarly. Software make mistakes, too. If you have enough cash to hire a writer, that’s also an option but ensure to communicate your voice clearly, so it aligns with your brand.
4. Post to the Blog Frequently
You should post frequently. ‘Frequently’ is a tricky word and is opened to interpretation. How frequently you post depends on your availability and the relationship you’ve developed with your readers.
Do you usually post every Wednesday at about 12 noon? If that’s customary, your readers are expecting a post every Wednesday at the same time.
The frequency at which you blog also depends on you, but it’s important to try and update your blog regularly. When you have fresh content, your audience has something to interact with. That builds your blog’s reputation, gets you more traffic, and you’ll rank better in search engine results pages.
5. Engage with Your Audience
This blogging tip is crucial. Your readers want to know that there’s a human behind the articles. Do you make time to respond to comments and inquiries? Do you express appreciation for your readers when they leave a comment stating how much your blog post changed their lives?
You might not be able to respond to all the comments you get, but let your readers know that you’re available and you hear them.
For readers to engage with your blog, however, you must have comments enabled on the platform you use. Some bloggers opt to use the comment system that comes with their content management system, while others install a comment system such as Disqus.
6. Make Your Blog Design User-Friendly and Appealing
Your blog should offer a great user experience to your readers. It shouldn’t be a struggle to navigate.
For example: When someone locates a post on your blog, is it difficult to head back to the homepage?
If you use categories, are they able to pull up a list of articles published under that category? Using breadcrumbs on your website is a great way for readers to track and find similar content.
7. Use Up Your Footer Menu
A lot of bloggers underestimate the power of the footer. Even though it lives at the bottom of your blog, it can be useful.
Like your main menu, your blog’s footer can be set up to display additional information that would otherwise make your main navigation menu congested.
If you have several blogs or you contribute to other platforms, those links can be added to your footer.
If you have a storefront, your opening hours and location is a great addition to the mix. Always create a sitemap and add to your footer. A contact page is also nifty in cases where your readers would like to make personal contact.
It does help your readers a great deal.
8. Keep a Blog Checklist
I personally love and have benefited from this blogging tip.
Blogging is tough work. It takes up a great deal of my time. If you have a blog checklist working with, you’ll know exactly what to do and when to get it done.
Could you create a list of things you should do before writing a blog post? What about the things you must do after publishing a post?
Not only does that saves time, but it helps with organization. You’ll know what to get done instead of running around like a headless chicken.
9. Use an Editorial Calendar to Keep Track of Things
We don’t run out of ideas. As strange as it sounds, our minds run wild and we think about so many ways to create content.
So, the next time you decide to lament about having a brain fart moment or how uncreative you are, DON’T.
Find different ways to get inspiration. When those ideas hit, don’t rely on memory to remember. Take notes. Better yet, add it to your editorial content calendar.
An editorial content calendar is a calendar of sorts that’ll help you keep track of the ideas you have for your blog.
There are programs online that’ll allow you to create an editorial calendar but if you’re savvy with Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, you can easily whip up something to your liking.
10. Monetize as You Go
I once allowed a client to talk me into holding back from monetizing his blog posts. I should have stood my ground and underscore why he didn’t need to wait until he was getting a significant amount of traffic.
You need traffic to convert, but that doesn’t mean that your small following won’t support your business.
Monetize as you go. You don’t need to wait. If you’re writing content and find useful products that you know your customers will benefit from, go ahead and link to them.
Also, use Google Analytics or Ahrefs to keep up with those pages on your website that are getting traffic. You can start monetizing post by post.
While you add affiliate links where necessary, keep providing value. That’s the only factor that’ll keep your readers coming back. If you recommend more products than value, you’ll lose your readers.
While there are many other things you could employ for the smooth running of your blog, start with these 10 blogging tips for beginners.
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