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The Right Way to Start A Blog
Starting a blog as a side project for your business is all well and good. But what can you do if you want to create a blog that becomes a business in its own right? What are the initial steps on the road to becoming a blogging superstar?
Just to get one little issue out of the way – building and maintaining a successful blog is not easy. Nor is it the kind of project you can devote only a small part of your time and then expect things to work in your favour. If you would like to make a basic living out of your blog, you will need to be ready to commit to it.
Nevertheless, even the most outstanding blogs in the world had to start with the most rudimentary fundamentals. So with this in mind, we will be taking a look at the bare basics of starting a new blog. When it comes to general strategy, subject matter and content, this is all up to you. But in terms of the fundamental framework of your blog, these are the 5 boxes you will need to tick to take things off the ground.
1. Hosting and Domain
Firstly, you are going to need a domain name that reflects your business/blog and a dependable hosting package. The domain name you choose will play a crucial role in your wider marketing efforts and needs to be therefore chosen very carefully. Rather than trying to be too smart, go for a name that is concise, clear, memorable and which indicates whatever it is you do. As for the hosting package, remember that if things go well, your blog will eventually need to be able to support huge influxes of web traffic and enormous engagement. Hence - don’t cut corners on hosting quality.
2. Theme
You will also need to think very carefully about the overall theme for your blog. It will need to be something that reflects your area of expertise and your voice. Will you be blogging in a light-hearted tone? Or do you intend to be more serious and formal? Additionally, to what extent will your blog be built around video content, visuals and other mixed media?
3. Be Unique
Generic blogs that all look the same are never appealing. Considering that you will have selected some type of semi-generic theme for your blog, it is now up to you to make it unique. There are hundreds of options available when it comes to customisation – layouts, colours, widgets, fonts, unique imagery and so on. All of which can and should be taken full advantage of to create a memorable and unique user experience.
4. Plugins
The plugins that you select will take the general appeal and functionality of your blog to the next level. It is entirely up to you as to how simple or complex you go with plugins, but you will definitely need to include things like analytics, social media buttons, basic SEO plugins and so on. Read up on recommendations from other bloggers, take your time and add only the plugins that you know will be of relevance and value.
5. Promote Your Blog
Lastly, in the early days you can’t expect your target audience to just stumble over your blog by accident. Instead, you will need to make it impossible for your readers to miss. As your blog will be essentially your business, you will need to promote and market it with the same consistency and ferocity you would any other business. Use SEO, PPC, social media and as many traditional marketing channels as necessary until web traffic starts coming your way of its own accord.