If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s to Carpe Diem! Seize the day! If there’s something at the back of your mind that you’ve always wanted to do – do it! Always wanted to learn to play an instrument? Go ahead! Have you always envied people with perfectly synchronised dance moves at parties? Why not take up some dance lessons? Want to finally start a small business? What are you waiting for? Or how about that blog that you’ve been dreaming about for the last five years? What’s stopping you?
Here are five simple steps you need to follow to get that blog out of your imagination and into the world.
1. CONSIDER WHY YOU WOULD LIKE TO START A BLOG
For every journey you decide to embark on, there always has to be a motivating reason behind it. If not, you’ll find yourself throwing in the towel as soon as the going gets tough.
“I’ve always wanted to start a blog” isn’t quite a compelling enough reason on its own. If your motivation is this vague, it will be easy to give up a little further down the line, if things get a bit rough. And trust me, in the blogging world things can definitely get rough.
So, in order to ensure longevity (and making all the effort of starting a blog worth your while) seriously consider sitting down before you do anything else, and come up with a persuasive reason as to why your blog has to be out there.
Try this.
“I’ve always wanted to start a blog because …”
Fill in the blanks.
Are you super knowledgeable about a specific topic? Perhaps you’re a fashion or beauty guru and you feel that your insights could really help those who struggle in this area.
Maybe you’re an avid traveller (possibly not so much in recent times, but nonetheless). Maybe you’d like to share all your fascinating travel stories for those who are thinking about travelling at some stage.
You may possibly want to share parenting tips with newbie moms and dads.
Or perhaps you’d like to create a passive income for yourself.
The reasons for wanting to start a blog are endless. But your reason for wanting to start a blog will be unique to you. Once you know what that reason is – hold onto it. That will be your motivation to keep moving forward.
2. COMMIT YOURSELF TO SOME HARD WORK AND LATE NIGHTS
If you’ve never had a blog before, let me break it to you. It’s not all sunshine and roses.
It. Is. Hard. Work.
In the beginning it will be exciting, like all new projects are. But there will come a point when the blog will actually start feeling like a job.
That’s not a bad thing, though. If you treat it like a ‘job’, chances are good that you’ll feel more committed to it.
Creating content is not always easy. You will have writer’s block – that is almost a given. You will find yourself writing early in the morning, or waaaay past a reasonable bedtime hour. It’s just how it is. But if this is your passion – something you’ve always dreamed of – then you will have to put in the work if you want to make a success of it.
3. DECIDE WHERE PEOPLE WILL READ YOUR BLOG
If you’re starting out your blog, there is no need for a big budget. Basically, all you’ll need is WiFi, great ideas and organisational skills (see below).
But you would have to get your blog onto the web. Contrary to popular belief, you actually don’t need to fork out tons of money to buy a domain name and get a company to host your site.
There are a myriad of free (yes, 100% free!) ways in which you can create your very own website. There’s WordPress, Google’s own Blogspot, Wix – to name only a few. Each of these sites come with free themes that you could use to customise your blog to exactly how you would like it to look.
Disclaimer: with these free sites, even though you’re able to create your own blog name, it will still be followed by the name of the website. For example, if your blog name is My Fantastic Blog, on WordPress it would be www.myfantasticblog.wordpress.com. The same would go for the other free sites.
If you can live with this, then you’re good to go. Customising your site is also a fairly simple exercise. If you’re exceptionally technically challenged, then ask a friend to help.
4. GET ORGANISED
So, this is probably where many blogs fall flat.
Blogging cannot just be this random thing that you do sometimes when you feel like it – if you have some spare time.
No! With this approach your blog is doomed to fail.
At this point, you’ll already know what you want to blog about and why. Using this framework, you will need to set up a schedule. Do this before you start writing your first blogpost.
A few points to think about:
How many times a week will you post?
On which days and what times?
Who is your target audience? Age, gender, location, etc.
Consider organising your posts by theme.
You will have to create a blogging calendar. Make it something visual that’s easy to refer to. In each relevant block on the calendar write the theme and title of your blogpost. Try to do this, at the very least, one month in advance.
Also, plan ahead for holidays and big events that you may want to include or make part of a specific blogpost. If you know that Christmas is two months away, start planning now how you can incorporate this theme into your posts.
Also, and this is a big one – try to write ahead of schedule. So with your calendar all sorted, you can easily see when which post is due. We all know that life can be insane, but use those early mornings and late nights to write ahead, so that you’re not always trying to outrun your own deadlines.
5. GET THE WORD OUT
With all the effort you’ve put in so far – creating a website, getting organised and actually writing the posts – it can be a little disheartening to know that no one is reading what you’ve written.
As with all the other pre-planning above, you will also have to figure out how you’ll get the word out there.
Without a doubt, the best way to create some sort of hype and move people in the direction of your blog, is through social media.
Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Pinterest and all those other wonderful platforms are your friend!
Even if you’re not the outgoing social-type, if you’re serious about promoting your blog then you’re going to have to bite the bullet and show up online.
Now, you don’t have to use all the available platforms – although nothing stops you from doing so. Pick two of them and see how it goes. You can always change it up at a later stage, but you will have to start somewhere.
And then, of course, there are newsletters. These are always a great option because they can be delivered directly to your subscribers’ inboxes. Of course, if you’re a brand new blog, you probably won’t have any subscribers, other than your supportive family members. So, you would have to start with social media first and then incorporate a newsletter a little later.
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Hopefully this blogpost hasn’t put you off from starting your own. Having your own blog can be an immensely rewarding experience, especially when someone connects with something you have written. But you have to be prepared to put in the hours, dedication and organisation – or it will all be futile.
Happy blogging!
