6 Essential Tips to Read before Starting a New Blog
New blogs are popping up by the thousands it seems, but very few seem to stand the test of time. Many of these new bloggers jump right into blogging without reading a single article on the profession and without fully understanding the requirements needed to create a successful blog.
In one of my previous posts “Do you have what it takes to blog?” I outlined a few characteristics that make someone a capable blogger. Hopefully you are able to answer yes to most if not all of those questions. If you are now serious about creating a blog and serious about making it successful, then here are a number of tips designed to help you create a worthwhile blog.
1. Buy Your Own Domain – With the price of a .com domain name around $7 to $8 it makes perfect sense to start your new blog with a new domain. Just make sure to put some thought into your domain name. While starting a blog on a free service such as Blogger or Wordpress is acceptable, you will only find yourself outgrowing your space and being limited by your service.
Instead consider buying the domain name and signing up for web hosting. I currently use ASmallOrange (aff) and find their service to be excellent; not to mention it only runs me $5/mo. By having your own domain and own hosting you will appear more professional and have the freedom to make your blog look and operate however you want.
2. Setup Before Launch – Before launching your blog to the public make sure your blog is fully operational. Make sure all the links work, all the plugins work and that your blog is optimized for search engines. Also make sure to have at least 10 posts already written and posted to create content for new visitors to read. If they show up day one and see 1 post they are likely to go away because of the lack of content.
3. Post Consistently – Consistency in making blog posts is important to your new blogs success because it shows that you are committed and knowledgeable in your field. If you want to blog once per week, once per month or once per day, that’s fine, but stick to that schedule! Sticking to a schedule lets your users know when to expect content and how often to check your blog.
However one thing to note is, don’t make a habit out of writing filler/fluff type posts when you have nothing to say. Creating quality content on a frequent basis is what you’re after.
4. Interact with Your Readers – While you may not see a large number of comments from readers during your first few weeks of operation, make sure to respond to those readers who do leave comments. Interacting with your readers is important because it helps to build relationships and shows that you care about your readers’ views.
5. Don’t Monetize Too Early - This is one that a lot of bloggers end up breaking. A lot of people get into blogging because they think its easy money. Start a blog, write a few posts and plaster the blog with ads from head to toe. But this isn’t the case. Placing ads on a newly formed blog detracts from the users experience, draws there attention away from your content and make it seem like you are only in it for the money. Instead wait until you’ve built a solid reader base; then slowly start to introduce revenue streams.
6. Lower Your Expectations – Starting a new blog is a lot of work and you have a LOT of competition. Starting off you can’t expect to have 1000 RSS readers and 1500 unique visitors on your blog everyday. Don’t get discouraged when it seems that nobody is reading your content. Keep at it. Even though it may not seem like you are making progress, you are. Blogging takes persistence and passion; make you have both.
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1
July 17, 2007
#2 Is very important, your blog must be fully functional with all of your desired plugins working and as well as having your 10 posts saved before you start.
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2
July 18, 2007
My blog was not fully functional when I started blogging - and still sort of is not. But Wordpress is really new to me and I don’t really know how it works - I guess I just expect my readers to help me because they all know more than me about all this.
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3
July 18, 2007
Great tips! Probably could have used some of this before launching my blog. Live and learn…!
I’m probably guitly of trying to monetize too early. I’ve refined my strategy now. Thanks for bringing this to light!
A 7th tip could be to pick a niche. You’re not likely to get your readership beyond your personal friends if you don’t focus your writing on a particular topic. Breaking into a niche isn’t easy though - that’s where lowering your expectations come into play!
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4
July 18, 2007
Tips number 8,
If you are looking into became professional blogger, please…. I said please, do make your post longer than 50 words. The less your post is, the less people think you’re committed to you blogs. But, don’t write a post with more than 300 words. People tend to get boring easily.
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5
July 19, 2007
I always tell noobs that if you are thinking of starting a net venture let it be a forum, blog affiliate site etc… To start reading yesterday to spend at least two months of setting time every day to read blogs forums and where ever you can find some free information on the model you want.
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6
July 20, 2007
I suggest before starting a blog. it is much better if you already have for about 100 posts and add consistently after that. It will make your blog have fast growth.
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7
July 24, 2007
These are all great tips! I have a lot of friends who have blogs and want more traffic for it, so I’m going to make sure to tell them about this post.
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8
July 24, 2007
Great tips.. Really useful to me coz I just started my blog a week before….
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9
July 24, 2007
Good tips. Also blog about something which you are interested in as this will come across to your readers.
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10
July 27, 2007
I couldn’t agree more!
My blog was monetized early because that was part of “my goal”. But I would normally agree that new blogs focus entirely too much on advertisements and forget to write quality content.
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11
July 28, 2007
From my point of view, creating a new blog has to be taken as a place where to write about you, your ideas, your thoughts, etc. It is a mistake thinking of a blog as a way to run a business initially. If you create a blog as medium to express your feelings, you are already reaching the last two points: Don’t Monetize Too Early and Lower Your Expectations. Money will come to you if your blog is created just for pleasure to communicate with other people.
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12
July 30, 2007
Great tips, you have some good ideas about blogging, but I can’t agree that when starting new blog you shouldn’t monetize it.
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13
July 31, 2007
I have mixed feelings about monetizing a site too early. I think people expect to see AdSense ads and a few banners here and there, and will accept them as “normal” as long as they are not overwhelming.
I think if you go easy on the ads in the beginning, your readers will already be accustomed to them as your blog ramps up.
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14
August 1, 2007
i don’t like tomonetize a blog early, as people don’t like to me asked for money when u only been blogging for a few days or weeks, gain readership first, btw fav ur technorati too
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15
August 1, 2007
Thanks everyone for your comments, I appreciate them and like to see so much reader interaction!
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16
August 5, 2007
As a new blogger, I agree with all of your points, especially #4 and #6.
Also, leave lots of relevant comments on other people’s blogs. This has been my biggest traffic spinner so far.
Blogging takes time - make sure you allow yourself plenty of time, not just to write, but to read what others are saying and leave comments on other people’s sites etc. Not enough time is my number one problem.
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17
November 2, 2007
[...] or more months away from the blog and ultimately both consisted of noticeable drops in traffic. In past posts, I’ve preached that posting consistency is one of the big keys to successful blogging, yet I’ve [...]
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18
February 29, 2008
Nice post for beginner bloggers. Definitely agree with number #6, newbies shouldn’t expect to become rich overnight from blogging, it takes time and persistence.
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