A few months ago, you’ve made that New Year’s resolution - over a glass of punch, no doubt - that you’d start your own blog next year! Winter has come and gone, and spring is nearly there. Yet, there’s still no blog in sight. Usually, when people do this, they make the excuse that the timing is all wrong; but it couldn’t be farther from the truth. Blogging has never been so popular and lucrative as today. So, if you still got the strength and desire to make your dreams come true, then take a look at this guide down below.
1. Get Those Hands Dirty
One of the most common reasons people get deterred from starting their own blogs is due to the technical tinkering required for setting things up. For someone who’s experienced with IT, this is done in a couple of hours. Yet, for those less tech-savvy this looks like an impossible mountain to climb; but looks can be deceiving. Chunk the whole technical aspect of it into smaller bits and pieces and then slowly go about it step by step. That way, you won’t get scared off by the sheer amount of info you need to process. The list should go as follows:
- Choosing a domain name
- Hosting your blog
- Customizing your new blog
- Picking a blog theme
- Adding vital plugins
2. Make Everything Mobile-Friendly
Now, considering the fact that we’re in the year 2019, there’s a whole bunch of people browsing the internet over their smartphones (and not their desktops). According to Statista, mobile has overtaken the lead since 2017, and continues to grow. Hence, when customizing your blog, and creating content for it, you need to have mobile users in mind. Sure, on desktop, (longer) sentences are a breeze to read through, compared to smartphones where these look more like walls of text. To do this, you need to make your content more ‘skimmable’. Add enough headings and subheadings to keep the flow; pull quotes, videos, and infographics to keep it interesting; and add GIFs and memes to spice thing up as well.
3. Choose Your Niche
When blogging, you want to choose a specific niche, or category, to specialize in to attract the right target audience; if you’re all over the place, you won’t ever find a consistent audience for your site. For instance, if you want to write about gaming, you need to have an appropriate set up that will attract other gamers. This includes a power gaming laptop you can take around with you, play the latest (and most popular) games, and then blog about them afterwards; an awesome theme and design for your website; and practical content (in the form of gaming reviews, tutorials, tips and tricks, etc.).
4. Provide Compelling and In-Depth Content
Speaking of content, if you’re not, say, a lifestyle blogger, don’t just write about your thoughts and emotions. Instead, you should provide compelling facts and insights, relevant to your specific niche. For example, always back up your claims with interesting statistics, infographics, and other data your readers will find useful. That way, your blog will not only attract new viewers - and retain your already existing ones - but also become an important reference point and a hub of knowledge for other websites and blogs.
5. Watch Out for SEO
The landscape of SEO is constantly changing, and you need to follow suit if you wish to rank well in SERPs. For instance, voice search is becoming increasingly popular, thanks to smartphones, Amazon’s Alexa, etc. According to some projections, voice queries will take an estimated 50% of all searches by 2020. According to some projections, voice queries will take an estimated 50% of all searches by 2020. Share on X Therefore, you need to work on shifting your SEO efforts from the use of keywords towards a more natural search language (long tail keywords and full sentences). Video is another thing to look out for, as video content ranked higher in SERPs than plain text in 2018.
All in all, now’s a good time as any to start a blog. Keep up with the trends, stay relevant, and you’ll be well on your way to become the next online sensation.
Image credit: pixabay.com.
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Diana Smith is a full time mom of two beautiful girls and a passionate blogger. In her free time she enjoys exercising and preparing healthy meals for her family.
