Blogging has become a brilliant marketing tool and it seems extremely easy to start a blog with just a few easy steps, especially with all the guides available nowadays. But creating a blog is not that simple, moreover, starting a blog is one thing, and running it successfully is another.
Starting a blog can be an exciting yet intimidating experience for most people. However, a successful blog is pure hard work but it is equally important to work smart.
If you are new to blogging, here’s a list of 7 important things that you should know. These are also said to be the traits of all successful bloggers and coaches.
-
Spend as much time promoting your content as you did creating it
Most bloggers spend most of their time creating amazing content but often forget the importance of promoting it. No matter how great your content is, nobody will read it if they can not find it.
This is why it is recommended to spend at least the same amount of time and resources in promoting your content as you spent while creating it. For example, people often hire a content writer for their blog but don’t invest anything in its promotion which is clearly a mistake.
Now promoting a blog comes in many shapes, it is not merely sharing on social media platforms, it also includes email outreach, guest posting, white hat SEO (things that are allowed by Google), and paid promotions like Facebook, Instagram and google ads. Black hat SEO(things that work but are against Google’s policy) however is an option but not at all recommended by us. You can do all of the above or just one, but you need to find what works for you and do it in the best way possible.
-
Always choose quality over quantity
Nothing can beat high-quality and exceptional content, not even multiple posts every day. There is already a lot of low-quality content available on the internet, please do not add to it. And not to mention, this is going to be your key to success. Yes, Google prefers fresh content but guess what it likes even better? Good quality content. So do what you need to do but never compromise on the quality of your content.
The earlier you realize that publishing multiple posts every day or every week is not a necessity, the better it is for you. Would you prefer having 5 average articles on your blog or 1 amazing article? I would personally go with the latter and so should you. If you are only able to publish one piece of content every month, but you are doing it right, it may be enough and on top of that you would have plenty of time to promote it. No content is better than mediocre content.
-
Use formatting to look professional
Nowadays, nobody has the time to read your blog word to word no matter how exceptional it is. People like to scan an article before they decide to read it just to see if it’s worth their while. So if you really want people to read your blog, make sure to make it easily readable and scannable. Let’s take a look at some of the best formatting practices to make your blog look more professional:
- A powerful and descriptive title.
- Write short paragraphs (ideally somewhere between 3-5 lines)
- Avoid long sentences.
- Use proper headings and subheadings i-e H1, H2, H3, H4, and so on.
- Include numbered and bulleted lists.
- Use Reasonable font and font size.
- Proper use of Bold and Italics.
- Add attention-grabbing images.
- Use white space when and where appropriate.
- Assign proper tags and categories to your articles for better navigation.
A well-formatted blog is always visually appealing and may help to increase readers time on the page.
-
Focus on the email list from day one
Blogging is the best way to build an email list, that too an organic one. But do not forget to work on it from the very start because over time it will become your best source of traffic and sales. When starting a blog, most people don’t understand the need for an email list which is justified as your email list is not going to bring you your first customer or even reader. But what will happen when you launch a new product, publish new content or have something more to offer?
This is when that list will come in handy as these people are genuinely interested in what you have to offer so it can be used for marketing, promoting, or just sharing content. Also, there are very few things on the internet that are solely yours, and an email list is one of those assets. Therefore, building an email list should be a high priority from day one. And continue to send them useful or suggestive emails every now and then, but don’t spam their inboxes.
-
Optimize your blog’s speed
If your blog’s load time is too slow, I doubt anybody is going to wait for something that takes forever to load, what they are going to do instead is simply leave. Whether it’s a website or a blog, the page load time is important for three main reasons:
- Users hate slow websites.
- It will increase the bounce rate.
- Speed is used as a ranking factor by search engines.
The speed of your website may deteriorate for various reasons including bad hosting, too many plugins, unresponsive or outdated plugins, heavy traffic, and so on. But whatever these reasons are, you need to keep an eye on them and fix them as soon as possible to optimize your blog for its best speed. This will improve the user experience of your blog and the chances of getting ranked in search engines.
-
Stay ahead of your calendar
Starting a blog is always exciting and your head will be filled with a million ideas at first, but with time it gets difficult to come up with new and unique ideas. Therefore, instead of posting 30 articles in the first month, create a calendar first and post accordingly. This will save you a lot of time, energy, and ideas. Once you have created a calendar, it is important that you follow it religiously. It is best if you have at least a month’s content created in advance before you practically start blogging, this will give you some confidence and breathing space and will definitely help you out in case of unforeseen circumstances or emergencies.
Also, updating your previous content regularly is almost as important as publishing new one. Things are changing every day and there is always further information coming in, so keep it updated, especially if you have used any statistics in your blog as Google loves fresh content and it will also help you rank better.
-
Include a frequently asked questions section in your blog
The purpose of your blog is no doubt to help people out by writing genuinely useful content, but you can not possibly cover each and every question people may have. So sooner or later you will start receiving a lot of questions and you will find yourself spending more time answering these questions rather than writing new content. An easy way to go about it is to include a frequently asked questions (FAQs) section in your blog right above your contact form. So before anyone contacts you they can check out if their question has already been answered.
Having an FAQs section can be helpful in the following ways:
- Improved user experience.
- Quick information.
- Reduce the workload of your customer support team.
- May help you rank and be visible in organic search results.
Furthermore, when people ask you questions, it can prove to be a great source of content ideas. You will know what people are actually looking for. Always focus on including an FAQ section in your blog so readers can have their queries answered before they even ask, which will help in building the trust and credibility of your brand.
Conclusion
Blogging is challenging and time-consuming but at the same time beneficial and a great idea. You are not supposed to know everything before you even start, and yes you will make mistakes along the way and learn accordingly, but a wise person always learns from the mistakes of others, at least as much as they can.
This is why we have created this article about a few things you need to know before you start blogging because all of these need to be addressed from day one and we don’t want you to regret it later on. It is always useful to be able to understand a few basic concepts before beginning. Start with a proper plan or goal and continue improving it throughout the way and just be patient with your blogging journey, success doesn’t come overnight but it surely awaits you at the end of the tunnel.
