Preparing to do some blogging

Preparing to do some blogging before you start is the secret to building a successful online presence that could lead to an online business.

Most entrepreneurs will reach a stage in their life where they realize that the only reward for creativity is Blogging. Starting a blog can be a very rewarding hobby that can turn into something serious later on.

How to prepare yourself to start blogging
How do I get some unique blogging ideas?
Preparing to do some blogging - Conclusion

How to prepare yourself to start blogging

If you are planning to start blogging then you have to do your homework first. That is if you are serious about it and are planning to turn it into a business at a later stage or if you have a business and want to get some exposure.

Most bloggers jump into blogging without doing the necessary groundwork first. Excitement overrides logic and will it will create a lot of work for you later on. Time spent now will be time saved later on.

Here are 7 steps of the Blogging process you can observe to make life easier for yourself.

Gain knowledge about Blogging
Plan your process
Set up a functional Blog
Collect content to publish
Gain more knowledge
Post, post, and post some more
Be patient and don't give up

Gain knowledge about Blogging

It is important to gain as much knowledge about blogging and the process of building it into something worthwhile.

There are so many factors that can influence the success of your efforts and be more aware of finer details will prevent you from giving up early on in your new venture.

Today it is very easy to teach yourself blogging with all the material available in the form of courses, articles, videos, and eBooks. Just be aware of information overload wasting some of your valuable time.

Plan your process

As you become more familiar with the process it is important to create and follow a step-by-step plan or you will get lost quickly. Missing a step can cost you some more time and trying to catch up can become overwhelming.

Ask the questions before you start and you will do the right thing at the right time.

Why am I starting the blog?
Who will I be targeting?
Why do I want people to visit my blog?
What value will I provide them with?
What must my blog look like?
Is there room for expansion if I grow?
What are my brand colours?
What will be the format of my blog content?

There are hundreds of questions you can ask yourself which is why building up the knowledge before you start will be essential if you want to answer these questions.

Set up a functional blog

By now you should have an idea of what you will be doing with your blog and you have to make sure it is user-friendly enough to serve that purpose.

The quickest way to lose potential customers is to make them work for it so it is essential that you make sure they can find what they are looking for immediately. You've sent them there for something specific so put it where they will see it on entry.

Collect content to publish

My advice is to create some content before you go live with your blog or your audience will land an empty site thinking that it is the only content on there. They won't come back easily.

Create at least 10 high-quality content pieces that will give them good value and a reason to follow you or come back.

By doing this you will take off the pressure to quickly follow up with your next article. Remember creating more content doesn't mean your 10 visitors will now suddenly be 20 visitors and the next article will bring 30 visitors.

Most of the time the same 10 will come back followed by 1 or 2 new visitors. It might take months for you to be noticed and build up a decent size audience. That is unless you are very lucky or already have a following you bring with you.

Gain more knowledge

In the beginning, it is necessary to observe what you are doing, when you are doing it, and how you were doing it. This will help you identify strong points and weak points in your process which you can adjust.

You can never have enough knowledge about blogging as things online can change overnight and you must be ready to change with it or soon you will find you are redoing everything.

Post, post, and post some more

Once you start the process of blogging you have to maintain it and that is where your pre-planning comes in. Don't get distracted and stick to the plan. If you decided you will post one good article every week or bi-weekly then stick to it.

This will give you sufficient time to do your SEO, Social Media Marketing, or keyword research that will fine-tune your blog.

Another thing to remember is that audiences prefer consistent good quality content instead of daily low-quality junk.

Be patient and don't give up

In the first posts, you have either felt the pain of rejection when there is no action on your posts. Don't worry it is all part of the learning curve and you can write it off as experience.

I am by no means an expert on blogging and will probably never be as it takes a lot of time and endurance and I have neither of the two.

I do however find writing relaxing and a very enjoyable hobby. Do I mind that very few people read my blogs? Not at all as I am doing it because I like it.

Yes, it is possible to dive in and wing it but will you enjoy it as much as real storytellers and writers do? Before you start blogging ask yourself the following questions.

Success through your blog is built over a long period of time and that is why patience is the key.

Read More: Find your own domain here

How do I get unique blogging ideas?

If you are planning to stand out from the crowd with your blog content it is important to come up with unique blog content related to your niche.

By doing the same as everyone else you are creating a lot of competition for yourself against big players. Making it unique and focusing on the smaller part of your niche might attract fewer visitors in the short term but can explode over the long term as you build authority.

When you did your research in the beginning you would've already developed a good idea of where the best content is coming from. If you are looking at your specific niche you can see that there are some questions or articles about the niche coming up that you don't see in the normal top search results.

Here are my three favourite hangouts to look for unique content and it is all free

Quora
Pinterest
Google Trends

From here I generate my own set of topics and questions and then I visit the first 3 pages to see if they can answer or resolve my problem.

If not I use my keyword research tools to find low-competition keywords that will identify with my blog topic.

Know the audience that you are targeting

Another crucial part of preparation is to know exactly who you are writing for and what their needs are. Remember their needs are not always what you think they should be so a bit more effort must go into your identification process.

If you are writing for the wrong crowd you will learn about the terms "visitor retention" and "bounce rate" very soon.

That is why it is better to go slow and steady in the beginning so your foundation is strong. It is easier and also more relaxing to grow your blog or website if it is aligned well with your future plans. Making changes later can be very time-consuming.

When it comes to building your blog or website into an authoritative space intended for monetization customers it is important to pay attention to detail.

It does help to have a spelling and grammar checker that will make the readability of your content so much easier for your audience.