What should be done if you want to start a New Blog?
If that was the question that landed you here, I will try not to disappoint you and share few steps that helped me when I started blogging few years back.
You know, even I was pretty clueless when I started few years back and to me going for a new blog was a daunting task. No wonder I didn’t know a thing about platforms or SEO or content strategy or any thing that could constitute a better blog.
So here I am, trying to make things easier for you and come out a winner with your first post.
5 Phenomenal Ways to Start a New Blog
1.Platform
The biggest choice one needs to make is whether to go for paid or free platforms. Few people, including me graduated from a free platform to free+domain to paid platform. If you’re unsure about the audience perception about your blogging topics, you can try starting with a free platform and then move to paid.
The biggest disadvantage of a free platform is, you have limited choice regarding the performance or the look of the site. Whereas, in a paid platform, you have much more control regarding the host, design and plugins, affiliates, etc.
2. Theme
Themes define how you want the blog to look. The free platforms are limited to using few themes, while in the paid platforms, you’re at liberty to choose the themes. Pick up a theme that would suit the subject of your blog.
Themes are also available as free and paid. The free themes are again limited in their functionality and few are less secure too, which can be a major issue. The paid themes come with much better flexibility, security and support.
You can visit Themeforest or Studiopress to pick up paid themes. (Non-affiliate links, feel free to click)
For free themes, visit the WordPress Themes. It has a collection of over 2000 themes and can be implemented easily for a new blog.
3. Brand Name
The next task is, how would you like your blog to be known as. Few like me, would want to leverage personal brand and we often tend to use our firstname, lastname combination or you can pick up a name something you would want to be associated with. Eg Stanford Smith from PushingSocial or Darren Rowse with ProBlogger.
You need to be vary careful about this, since you’ll always be associated with this name. It’ll be etched in the digital stone.
4. Content Strategy
By this time, I would assume that you have decided what topics you’ll be writing the blog on. If not, now is the time to build your content strategy. Create an Editorial Calendar and prepare a list of topics that you can write on, put the publishing schedule in place.
The content strategy should be your ‘unique’ voice, so choose the subjects carefully. Ensure you write on a topic that you would like to be known for and you have an expertise on.
Best thing for a new blog is to – find niche, be original, be creative and be yourself
5. SEO
Finally, what counts is how your new blog gets discovered and how you can reach more people. You’ll need to implement few SEO (Search Engine Optimization) principles in order to get discovered.
At the most basic the new blog should have permalinks and blog title in place and Authorship. For paid platforms, you can use the Yoast SEO Plugin to take care of the basics.
Few posts on SEO:
So, go ahead, write your first blog post and share with me now.
If you’re still finding it difficult to start a new blog, you can always reach me at any of the social platforms listed on the sidebar or in the author box below.
