Helpful Guide to Beginner Blogging From Simply Sunni
As I am sure you have heard by now, blogging has become a valuable, accessible, and rewarding platform. It is a great way for companies and individuals to share their thoughts, expertise, and passions with the world. Whether you’re looking to start a personal blog, share your knowledge on a specific topic, or even monetize your content, embarking on a blogging journey can be exciting! Welcome to The Ultimate Guide to Beginner Blogging!
The idea of starting a blog can seem impossible at first for beginners – trust me, I have been there. Fear not! This guide is here to walk you through the steps to kickstart your blogging journey confidently. With the team at Simply Sunni on your side, you’ll be up and running in no time!
Here are a few of the topics we will cover in this guide for new bloggers:
- Defining Your Purpose
- Choosing a Blog Platform
- Setting Up Your Blog
- Create Compelling Content
- and more!
The list goes on and on. This powerful comprehensive guide will help you figure out your unique perspective, identify a checklist of things to accomplish, and help you create your first blog post in easy steps. Furthermore, please be sure to click the links where you’d like to know more information. After all, that is what makes this guide “ultimate.” If I did not break this up, the blog would be a book, not a post! (haha)
Ready to get started? For a printable PDF of this blog post, download the FREE abbreviated version Ultimate Guide to Blogging here.
Now, if you are interested in the entire guide, I do not blame you one bit! Just click the button at the bottom of this post and you will be directed to AMAZON where you can pick up your ebook. It has everything the blog and print out have and more, icluding BONUS items I have created for you!
Step-by-Step Guide to Beginner Blogging (Like a Boss!)
Start by Defining Your Purpose
Before diving into the process of blogging, it is a good idea to take some time to clarify your purpose and niche. You may have an idea of what you want to share with the world, but it’s important to hone in on the goals you want to achieve to keep the valuable content precise and effective. This is where you define your particular topic, unique perspective, and audience demographics. All of this is imperative to the process.
What do you want to achieve with your blog? Identify your target audience and the topics you’re passionate about.
For example:
Suppose you are knowledgeable and passionate about mental health. This topic is broad, and it can be easy to lose your direction if you don’t decide what matters most to you. So, after determining you’d like to focus on stress management, consider the audience you want to attract.
- Is it college students juggling a job while trying to ace classes?
- How about female entrepreneurs who are also moms with active children?
- It can be both!
Find your target audience by listing who you think your content would benefit from and find the commonalities.
Whether it’s travel, food, fashion, technology, or personal development, choosing a niche that aligns with your interests will make the blogging journey more enjoyable and sustainable.
Choose a Blogging Platform
Selecting the right platform is crucial for your blogging success. Consider factors like ease of use, customization options, and scalability when choosing your blogging platform.
Some sites allow for more customization, catering to creative individuals who want more control over their aesthetics and style. On the other hand, there are platforms ideal for those with little knowledge about building a blog or website, guiding you through the process with templates and automatic functions.
What are the top blogging platforms?
This is a highly customizable and powerful platform that many professional bloggers and businesses prefer. With a wide range of themes and plugins, users can create almost any type of website or blog. Many successful bloggers use a self-hosted WordPress blog, but there are others who have hosted sites as they gain more traffic. There, you will find free themes and premium themes, too.
Blogger is a user-friendly platform owned by Google. It’s best known for being excellent for beginner blogging with its easy-to-use templates and customization options.
Medium is a popular platform known for its sleek design and focus on writing. It’s ideal for those who want to reach a broader audience, as Medium has a built-in community of readers and offers features like tags and recommendations to help your posts get discovered. It’s great if you want to soly focus on the blog content and skip the website branding and other details of managing a site.
Wix is a versatile website builder that also includes blogging capabilities. It offers a drag-and-drop editor and a wide range of templates, making it easy to create a professional-looking blog without any coding knowledge. Compared to more commonly used platforms, Wix is more customizable, allowing you to alter each detail of the site to make it your own.
Squarespace is a popular all-in-one platform that offers blogging, website building, and e-commerce capabilities. It features stunning templates and a user-friendly drag-and-drop editor, making it easy to create a beautiful blog or website. Squarespace handles hosting and includes built-in analytics and SEO tools.
Set Up Your Blog
Once you’ve chosen a platform, it’s time to set up your blog. Select a domain name that reflects your blog’s identity and is easy to remember. Choose a clean and visually appealing design for your blog name, blog logo, and site layout.
Customize your blog’s theme, colors, and fonts to create a cohesive brand identity. Remember to optimize your blog for mobile devices, as a significant portion of internet traffic comes from smartphones and tablets.
For more on branding, please refer to my post on Branding Your Blog.
Create Compelling Content
First things first, you are going to need to brush up on those writing skills. Content is king in the blogging world. However, blogging is not the same as academic writing! That is so important to know. A conversational tone that is easy to understand and relatable is better than reading a textbook. Leave the textbook lingo in the big heavy books and write like you are speaking to a friend.
Want to know where to start? Every blogger should define a target audience. Here is an article to help you start on the journey to Identifying Your Audience.
Now that I have that out of the way let’s go to the next steps.
To attract and retain readers, focus on creating high-quality content that is engaging and helpful, providing value to your audience. Develop a content calendar or develop a content management system to plan your blog posts and maintain consistency. Experiment with different types of content, such as articles, tutorials, reviews, and interviews, to keep your blog fresh and diverse.
For example:
Suppose you want to start a blog all about your local community, Tampa. Here are some excellent topic ideas to make your blog interesting and dynamic:
-
How to Become More Involved in Tampa
-
Tampa’s March Events 2024
-
The Best Places and Activities for Kids in Tampa
-
Discover the Fascinating History of Tampa
If you are not keen on creating all the content you need for your blog, but you have great ideas that just must get out, here is a suggestion. Take a look at my post called 9 Reasons to Hire Professional Writers for Content Creation.
Master SEO Basics
Arguably, the most important element of any blog is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO is crucial in driving traffic to your blog; after all, it is how you show up in the search results! Good news, there are free and paid-for online courses available online to help you grasp the concept and know how to use it like a pro! Now, this is not a concept easily taught in one blog. I dare say this might be the part of your blogging adventure that takes the longest to grasp. But, hang in there! It is a huge learning process, but one you cannot live without in the blogging universe.
To be a successful blogger you need to access and gain rank with the Google search engines. Learn SEO basics, including keyword research, on-page optimization, and link building. Incorporate relevant keywords naturally into your content to improve your blog’s visibility in search engine results. The easiest way to accomplish this task is to use a keyword research tool. Here are just a few with my favorite, first.
Most of these platforms have a free plan or free trial and they all have videos for learning how to use the platforms. See which one fits your skill level and ensure those posts will rank on Google! The next step in SEO would be to install an SEO tool such as Yoast SEO. There, you can check your progress as you enter the post into your site.
Engage with Your Audience
Any business, especially one primarily online, needs to engage on a regular basis with its audience to build trust, credibility, and a loyal community of followers. Building a community around your blog is essential for long-term success.
Here are some ways to engage with your audience:
-
Respond to comments in a timely manner.
-
Ask for honest feedback and be ready to respond in a graceful manner.
-
Incorporate social media sharing buttons into your blog posts.
-
Engage with your audience on those social media platforms to expand your reach.
-
Aim for meaningful connections with your followers to build true relationships.
-
Utilize email marketing to further connect.
Eventually, Monetize Your Blog
While monetization shouldn’t be your primary focus when starting a blog, there are various ways to generate income from your content once you’ve established a loyal readership.
Explore monetization options such as display advertising, affiliate marketing, sponsored content, and selling digital products or services. Choose monetization strategies that align with your audience and provide value without compromising the integrity of your blog. Google Adsense is the go-to for beginner bloggers.
Learn, Adapt, and Learn again!
The blogging trends are constantly evolving! So, staying updated on industry trends and best practices is essential for beginner bloggers. Invest time in learning new skills, such as content writing, graphic design, and digital marketing, to enhance your blogging proficiency.
Then, you are not done! Monitor your blog’s analytics to track performance metrics such as traffic, engagement, and conversion rates. A great place to get this information is by installing Google Analytics on your site. Use this data to identify areas for improvement and refine your blogging strategy accordingly.
A weekly assessment of your own blog analytics is one of the best ways to identify what your readers like and what they skip over.
Stay Consistent and Patient
Building a successful blog takes time, dedication, and patience. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t see immediate results! A slow start is common for most beginner bloggers. In reality, it often takes a few years for a blog to begin generating substantial returns.
The key to overcoming these initial hurdles is maintaining a consistent blogging schedule. Prioritize the creation of high-quality, engaging content that resonates with your audience. And as I stated in the paragraphs above, make it a point to interact with your readers through comments or social media, fostering a vibrant community around your blog.
By sticking to these practices, you’ll not only see your blog’s traffic and engagement levels rise over time but also build a loyal readership. Your perseverance and hard work will eventually bear fruit, turning your blogging dream into a rewarding reality.
Enjoy the Ride, baby!
Above all, remember to enjoy the blogging journey! Perhaps I should have listed this as the first step along the path. Embrace the opportunity to share your voice, connect with like-minded people, and make a difference through your content.
One of the best tips a professional blogger could share with you is to stay true to yourself, be authentic, and have fun along the way! Your passion and enthusiasm will shine through in your writing and resonate with your audience, leading to a successful and satisfying blog career.
Follow The Ultimate Guide For Success
Beginner blogging is an exciting and rewarding endeavor that offers endless possibilities for creativity, expression, and connection. By following this ultimate guide and practicing the tips outlined above, you’ll be ready to embark on your blogging journey with confidence and success! Then get ready to learn, create, get those email addresses, engage with your audience, and create some more!
So, what are you waiting for? Start writing, start sharing, and start blogging today!
True Stories from Beginner Bloggers:
Just for fun, I decided to include some stories I have heard over the years from fellow bloggers. Here are their accounts; enjoy!
Story 1 | This is Not Proper Polly
Polly was a beginner blogger who was told by friends she had a knack for blogging and sharing her experiences. What she did not understand in the beginning, is that blogging is conversational! She wanted to write in formats she learned in high school. But the world has changed, and so has the algorithm! She learned to relate to the reader a bit more without compromising on the quality of her writing.
Story 2 | Always Academic Adam
Adam was a writer with a Masters degree. He was taught to write textbooks full of academic language with highly informative and impressive language. His skill level was beyond anything I have seen – but not so much for blogging. He had to tone down and break up his writing! Adam learned to break up his paragraphs so as to not wear out the eyes of the reader, add images and graphs to his educational works, and speak a bit more to the people he was writing for. Once Adam began writing for medical staff and awareness campaigns, he found his niche and his flow!
Story 3 | Direct Donna
Donna was a beginning blogger I knew years ago. She had a heart of gold and a very direct approach. Her sentences were to the point with no transition, flow, or pause for the reader. They were, in essence, lists of commands. As she learned the art of blogging for the reader, she learned the people she was writing for were hurting individuals who needed understanding and compassion. So, although Donna did not feel she could grasp the concept of conversational writing, she solved the problem! Donna hired an editor who would help her with transitions, paragraph breaks, and a kind word or two to help the reader heal as they learned. Beautiful, right?
Story 4 | Stuck Stan
Stan was a hopeful blogger with a knack for writing – that is when he could get out of his own way! You see, Stan was the kind of guy that would write, rewrite, edit more, and write again. He always felt his writing needed to be better.
Stan’s countless hours writing and perfecting one blog crippled his ability to convey a message and deliver a relatable message. Stan stayed stuck and decided to give up writing. It is a sad story, but he knew he could not break the cycle at the time. I say, good for Stan for knowing what was best for his mental health!
Story 5 | Informed Isha
My final story is of a lady named Isha. Sweet Isha wanted to know everything, and I mean everything, about her niche before beginning her blog. She researched, wrote lists, filled out charts, and more – all good things.
But she continued this process for months and months until I finally told her just to try! She broke the cycle and began writing. What I saw of her writing was really, really good! I hope she continued and learned more along the way.
My Final Thoughts for Beginner Blogging
Wrapping up this post on beginner blogging, it’s clear that starting out on this path is both an adventure and a commitment. From selecting the perfect platform to mastering the art of content creation and SEO, each step you take gets you closer to your blogging success.
The true stories I’ve shared illustrate not just the challenges but also the triumphs waiting on the other side of perseverance. Remember, every great blogger started as a beginner with a passion for sharing their voice and the courage to begin. Let their stories inspire you, but let your own story be the one that you are passionate about sharing. Keep learning, keep growing, and most importantly, keep blogging. Good luck!
Get Your Full Copy of the Book Here!
