An amateur-blog is one of your best digital options for winning friends and influencing people.
Blogging has become a popular medium for people to express their ideas and opinions online for years now.
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Whether it's about fashion over 50, veganism, traveling to the UK, or life as a homeschooling mom, blogging allows you to share your experiences and connect with like-minded people all over the world.
However, starting a blog can be a daunting task, especially if it’s your first time. (also check out Blogging Resources and more on creativity: Where Can I Find Food Photography Props and 5 Habits of Strong Writers.
Embarking on the path of amateur blogging holds immense potential for sharing your passions and talents with the world. To kickstart your journey the right way, I offer you practical tips that will set you up for success.
Why You'll Love Blogging
Blogging can be a great way to share your passion or hobby or ideas and experiences with the world.
Here are 20 things amateur bloggers should do starting out. We’ll dig into each action item below the list.
20 things amateur bloggers should do:
We'll dig into each task in depth after the list. Keep reading.
- Find your niche: Choose a specific topic that you are passionate about and focus on creating content that revolves around it.
- Define your audience: Determine who your main audience is and what they are interested in reading about. It can help to develop an avatar or a specific person in mind when you’re creating content.
- Create a content plan: Develop a content plan that outlines your topics and how often you will be posting.
More Blogging Basic Tasks
- Choose a blogging platform: Select a blogging platform such as WordPress, Squarespace, or Wix to host your blog.
- Pick a domain name, also known as your blog name: Choose a unique domain name that reflects your brand and is easy to remember. Say the name out loud to make sure it’s not a name you’ll be tripping over as you speak. Also if you’re choosing a multi word blog name, make sure it doesn’t spell anything inappropriate or word when all the words are together in one line. Are you going to want social media accounts for your amateur-blog? Go to Knowem to check availability of both domains and socials.
Keep Working on Your Site
Invest in good design: Use a professional-looking theme and customize it to suit your needs. A free theme will look free but it’s fine to start.
If you want to start getting sponsored posts or affiliate relationships with your site, you’ll want a paid theme.
I use and love the Feast Design for WordPress, which is popular with food and lifestyle bloggers. It’s a good investment. (affiliate link)
Optimize for search engines: Research and use relevant keywords in your posts to improve your visibility in search results.
More Amateur-Blog Tips
- Write quality content: Create engaging, informative, and well-researched content that resonates with your audience.
- Get Cozy with Your Camera--blogs require lots of images, ideally shot by you. (Where Can I Find Food Photography Props?)
- Use social media: Promote your blog on social media platforms to increase your reach and grow your audience.
- Engage with your readers: Respond to comments and feedback from your readers to build a community around your blog.
- Create a mailing list: Build an email list to keep in touch with your readers and promote your blog posts. I like Mailerlite. It's free for your first 1,000 subscribers and fairly intuitive.
- Monetize your blog: Consider ways to monetize your blog, such as through ads, affiliate marketing, or sponsored posts.
- Use Google Analytics: Track your blog's performance using analytics tools to understand your audience and improve your content strategy.
- Network with other bloggers: Connect with other bloggers in your niche to build relationships and grow your audience.
Your Path to Amateur-Blogging Success
- Learn basic SEO: Understand basic search engine optimization techniques to improve your blog's visibility.
- Stay consistent: Post regularly and maintain a consistent schedule to keep your readers engaged.
- Be patient: Building a successful blog takes time and effort, so be patient and stay committed.
- Learn from others: Read and learn from other successful bloggers in your niche to improve your own skills and knowledge.
- Experiment with different types of content: Try different types of content, such as videos or podcasts, to keep your blog fresh plus every blog’s readers are different and you never know what yours might prefer until you experiment .
- Have fun: blogging should be enjoyable, so have fun with it and let your personality shine through your writing.
Find Your Niche aka What's Your Passion?
Choose a Niche
The first step in creating a successful blog is choosing a niche that you're passionate about.
What do you want to write about, talk about, take photos or shoot video about?
Your niche should be something that you're knowledgeable about and interested in.
As a rookie blogger, it's important to select a topic that you're comfortable writing about on a consistent basis.
This will help you create content that resonates with your audience and keeps them engaged.
Consider your interests and hobbies. Where do your passions lie? What do you know?
Is there a subject you could talk about all day and still have more to say?
Once you've identified your niche, research your competition to see what other bloggers are writing or creating in this niche.
This will help you understand what works and what doesn't, and give you ideas for your own content.
Define Your Audience for Your Amateur-Blog
In other words, who are you going to help?
Remember when you help everyone, you help no one.
Who are you writing for? What are their interests and needs?
Understanding your audience will help you create content that resonates with them and keeps them engaged. This will also help you tailor your writing style to your audience's preferences.
To define your audience, consider their age, gender, location, and interests. You can also do surveys or polls to find out what the people who find you want. This will help you create content that meets their needs and keeps them coming back for more.
Create a Content Plan
Once you've chosen your niche and defined your audience, it's time to create a content plan.
A content plan outlines the topics you'll cover on your blog and how often you'll post. This will help you stay organized and consistent, which is important for building an audience.
To create a content plan, start by brainstorming a list of topics that you'll cover on your blog.
But don't start writing yet.
You need to conduct something called keyword research for your niche. It doesn't make sense to write information no one is searching for--unless you don't care about reaching people and your site is truly just for you or your family.
The best value (and the easiest to use) keyword research tool is called KeySearch. Get a 20 percent discount on Keysearch when you use the promo code KSDISC.
These topics should be relevant to your niche and interesting to your audience. Once you have a list of topics, decide how often you'll post.
Some bloggers post daily, while others post weekly or monthly. It's important to post consistently, so choose a posting schedule that works for you.
Choose a Platform for Your Amateur-Blog
After you've created a content plan, it's time to choose a blogging platform. A blogging platform is the software that you'll use to create and manage your blog.
There are many different platforms to choose from, including WordPress, Squarespace, and Wix.
When choosing a blogging platform, consider the following:
- Ease of use: Is the platform easy to use, even for beginners?
- Customization: Can you customize the design and layout of your blog?
- Cost: How much does the platform cost, and is it within your budget?
- Support: Does the platform offer good customer support?
Really, the best platform for you is going to be WordPress.
Many, many people are interested in earning money from their site.
To do that well and to rank well in the search engines (Google, Bing, etcetera) your best bet is WordPress. Be sure you choose a .com for your site name--instead of a .net or something similar.
- Pick a Domain Name
Once you've chosen a blogging platform, it's time to pick a domain name.
A domain name is the address of your blog on the internet. It's important to choose a domain name that's easy to remember and reflects your brand. Make the name flexible if you can so as you grow your amateur-blog, it can grow with you.
When choosing a domain name, consider the following:
- Relevance: Does the domain name reflect your niche?
- Branding: Does the domain name reflect your brand?
- Memorability: Is the domain name easy to remember?
- Availability: Is the domain name available?
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