If you’re reading this and just started your own blog, congratulations on taking the plunge.
If you haven’t yet started a blog and are doing your research in advance, good for you; I’m impressed! Here’s a list of things you should do before you start your blog. If you’re still on the fence and looking for some encouragement to start a blog, here are several reasons why you should.
Blogging is really what you make it. You can blog as little or as much as you want. You can blog specifically to make money or simply for pleasure. You can spend one hour a day or you can spend 40 hours a week. It’s really up to you. The versatility that comes with blogging is why blogging is appealing to so many people.
If you want to make money blogging, you should take the below steps within the first month or so after you start your blog.
These tasks will help guide your blog for the next year and give your new business a proper foundation.
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DOUBLE CHECK ALL THE LINKS ON YOUR BLOG.
I’d like to think this one’s a given, but there are so many things you’re doing simultaneously when you start a blog, that this one can sometimes fall by the wayside. Before you start promoting your content, do your due diligence and check to make sure your links work. This includes every single link on your site. Go to each post and check to make sure the links within your post navigate to the proper place.
The last thing you want is your reader being redirected to an error page. You’ll lose some, if not all, credibility with that reader. So double-check, heck, triple-check all your blog’s links.
You should also periodically check your links as you continue to write new blog posts. You’re going to read over your content so much that your eyes may glaze over and you may not catch that incorrect redirect the first go around.
CREATE SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS & START POSTING.
If you haven’t yet created accompanying social media accounts for your blog, do it within the first month. You’ll want to start posting your content on your social channels as soon as you start creating it. It’s especially important for a blogger to have a strong Pinterest presence, so make sure you have an account set up.
Once all your social media accounts are set up, you’ll want to ensure you’ve linked to them from your blog. You want your readers to easily be able to connect with you on social.
START GROWING YOUR EMAIL DATABASE.
Hopefully you have created an account with an email marketing platform, such as MailChimp. If you haven’t yet done so, make sure to do it!
MailChimp is free and it’s super easy to sign up. I use MailChimp and have found the set-up process user-friendly. After creating your account, you’ll want to start growing your email list, so you’ll need to add a sign up form on your blog that connects to your MailChimp account.
It’s so important to start growing your list as soon as possible.
CREATE AN AUTOMATED EMAIL FOR NEW SUBSCRIBERS.
In addition to having a sign-up form, you’ll want to welcome your new email subscribers with a welcome email. After all, they did just give you access to their personal email – the one place they check consistently for updates.
They must love the content you are offering if they’re giving you access to their personal inbox. Treasure it. Show them some love and send them a welcome email.
FINE-TUNE YOUR BRANDING.
Yay, branding! You’ll want to decide on a color scheme for your blog, create a logo, and determine what fonts you want to use. Do you want your blog to look soft and feminine, bold and fierce, or somewhere in between?
Your blog’s branding will set the tone for your readers and give them an idea of who you are as a person. You’ll help your readers connect with you right away, so show off that personality and start branding your blog. Make sure to maintain consistent branding as you grow your blog.
SET UP GOOGLE ANALYTICS & A MONTHLY TRACKING SPREADSHEET.
Google Analytics is a really awesome, free tool that tracks your blog’s metrics, such as how many visitors are on your site, where they’re coming from, how long they’re staying on your site, and so much more. You’ll want to get your blog set up on Google Analytics so you can start tracking right away.
It’s also important to keep a monthly spreadsheet or custom report, so you can keep track of how your blog is doing over time. Is it growing? How many page views are you getting/month? Where is most of your traffic coming from? What are your most-viewed posts? These questions are ones that you’ll want to know the answers to, especially if you’re planning on monetizing your blog.
START A PHOTO LIBRARY.
If you have a blog, you’re going to need photos. Sure, you can pay for photos if you want. Or, you could take your own photos.
SOME bloggers opt for the latter because 1. It’s free. 2. They enjoy it. 3. There are no copyright issues. 4. The customization is virtually endless.
When you’re out and about on your daily grind, if there are cool shots you envision along the way, and you think you can use them for a future blog post, take the photo. Store the pictures, as you get them, in your computer’s photo library. That way, you’ll have them handy so you can grab them easily when you’re ready to add them to your blog post.
START AN EXPENSE TRACKER.
You’ll want to make sure you track your blogging expenses. How much are your start up costs?
Keep track of what you’re spending and where the money is going. And, keep your receipts. When tax time rolls around, you’ll be glad you did.
GET TO KNOW OTHER BLOGGERS.
If you’re starting your blog without knowing other bloggers, it can be lonely. Make a group of blogger friends who you can collaborate with on new ideas.
If you’re not sure how to go about doing this, it’s easy. Start commenting on your favorite bloggers’ posts. Email them. Say hi! You can always email me at abrickhome@gmail.com if you’re just starting out and looking for support. I’d love to connect.
MAKE A YEARLY PLAN.
You’ll want to create a comprehensive yearly outline of everything blog related. This plan could be in a word document or in a binder, if you prefer to have something tangible, like me.
Your plan should include monthly goals and yearly goals. Your yearly plan will be unique to you, as you’ll have your own distinct set of blog goals.
Some ideas to get your started are to determine and track goals including how many email subscribers you want each month, how much growth (i.e. page views) you want your blog to have each month, and what your target income is each month.
You may also want to include your blogging schedule. How many times are you going to blog each month? Make a checklist and keep your checklist checked and up-to-date every time you complete your goal. When next year rolls around, you’ll be glad you have these files to look at to help you make your next year’s plan.
ORGANIZE YOUR BLOG FILES.
Organization is vital. You may only have a few blog posts and blog-related documents now, but as you grow your blog, you’ll continue to accumulate more and more. Start an organized filing system on your computer so you can easily find a document you need a year from now.
DETERMINE YOUR MONETIZATION PLAN.
There are many ways to monetize your blog, and you should come up with a tactical plan in the early stages. Do you want to add ads to your site, do sponsored posts, become an affiliate, or create your own monetized products?
While your monetization plan could change over the course of your blogging career, it’s good to get an idea up front. Once you have your plan in place, come up with a timeline. If you’re planning to add ads to your site, give yourself a deadline to complete this task.
CREATE A LIST OF RELATED BRANDS/COMPANIES.
Why do this? OK, follow me on this one. You want exposure for your blog, right?
Let’s say you have a fashion blog and you write a blog post that references your favorite designer several times. When it’s time to promote your post on social media, you tag this designer.
Imagine that designer re-tweeting your tweet on Twitter.
AHH! You could gain an entirely new following just from that one re-tweet and your blog traffic could skyrocket. Make the list, just do it!
BRAINSTORM BLOG POST IDEAS TO REFERENCE ANYTIME.
There will be a time when you sit down at your computer and can’t think of anything to write about.
It’s not an ‘if’ but a ‘when’. Get prepared and come up with a list. If you need some help with this list, check out these blog post ideas.
BECOME A CONTRIBUTOR ON GROUP PINTEREST BOARDS.
If it’s not already, Pinterest is going to be your best friend. This is one of the main avenues you can utilize to gain new exposure for your blog.
Take a look at your favorite bloggers’ Pinterest boards. I bet they’re part of several group boards. How can you tell? The boards have a graphic of multiple silhouettes in the bottom left corner. When you click on the board, you’ll see all of the contributors that are part of that board and the (usually) large amount of followers.
Many times group boards come with instructions on how to get added as a contributor. Some group board descriptions will say that they’re not accepting new contributors, so you’ll just have to move on from those and find new ones. If there are no instructions, you can message the first person you see on the list of contributors, as this is the group board owner, and they’ll be the one to give you access to the group board.
Try to get on as many group boards as you can so you can pin your content (and other content) to the boards.
You may also enjoy this post about how to be successful blogging.