I used to dream of putting my thoughts into a blog, but had absolutely no idea where to start or whether people would care about what I wrote about. In a world with so many options, it’s often a daunting task to just get started and carve out a place that is your own. A simple Google search will pull you in a million different direction on “how to start a blog”. So how do you compete when competition is everywhere?
I remember that feeling well…
When I first started blogging in 2009 and then later started posting videos on YouTube, I hadn’t thought about goals or direction I wanted to take. I was just doing it for fun. I jumped in with no plan and no expectations.
While it was great that I overcame the hardest part by just getting started, there are a lot of lessons I learned along the way which I would now like to share with you.
Note: While these tips are labeled “blogging tips for beginners”, these are the lessons and exact practices I still follow today when creating blogs, recording videos, and writing my social media posts so I hope they help!
Blogging Tip #1: Blog For Yourself First
The first and most important blogging tip is to blog for yourself.
You may be thinking, “Of course I’m blogging for myself! Who else would blog for me?”
Here is what I mean by “blog for yourself first“.
I have found that most people focus on external goals i.e. the end goal and the benefits a blog will bring to them or their business. They start by considering what topics their currently non-existent readers will want to read.
What usually happens is they begin blogging for this imaginary audience, see no results in the first month or two and decide that the time and effort is not worth it and give up.
I would like to suggest that you instead focus on internal goals i.e. what would make blogging fun for YOU.
Stop reading for a moment right now and think to yourself, “What could I write about once a month or once a week that would be 100% fun for me?”.
Seriously…think about that for a few moments…
So…what do you want to write about? Did any major thoughts or ideas immediately pop into your mind? How much time do you feel you could invest without it feeling like work?
It might be just a half hour a week jotting down a quick thought in 300 words. Maybe you prefer to write more in-depth blogs that cover lots of details that you know will help people in the future. Decide what type of blog would be 100% fun for you and keep that as the goal for your blog.
If blogging becomes something you do for yourself rather than for others, it will stay fun, you will be more creative, and the readers will feel how much you care and enjoy writing.
Once you do start gaining readers and building an audience, you can then start expanding your goals and start working on growing your blog, but to start…blog for yourself first.
So on to tip #2…the second most important!
Blogging Tip #2: Get Started
Why are you starting your blog?
- Do you want to create a blog to help others learn?
- Do you just want to share your interests and hobbies?
- Do you want to blog to grow your business/attract more clients and customers?
- Do you want to grow your brand on social media?
- Do you want your website to rank better in Google using SEO?
The secret is that all of these can be accomplished with a blog and I’m going to show you some steps you can take today toward getting started.
One of the most difficult parts about starting a blog is deciding what topics to write about. I have struggled with this and know that it is very easy to get wrapped up in deciding what “your audience will like” or even who your audience is. This often leads to what I like to call “analysis paralysis“.
Analysis Paralysis – you consider all the options, plan out how you’ll do everything, worry about all the little details, then an hour later realize you haven’t even gotten started and have nothing done. You then give up and move on to something else and it turns into a wasted effort.
So how do you avoid analysis paralysis?
I have found that my biggest cause of analysis paralysis is that I get caught up on determining topics I “think” people will like. So to avoid this, rather than coming up with topics myself, I implement the following topic creation strategies that help guarantee my efforts will benefit my readers.
Blogging Tip #3: Create Blogs For Specific People
The “Personal Advice Blog”
The strategy behind the “Personal Advice” blog is to offer personal advice to someone who has already asked you a question about a topic or something you know a specific person needs help with. For example, this blog is a Personal Advice Blog of my own designed to help a friend understand some of the basics of creating a blog and decide what direction they may want to take theirs.
I like Personal Advice Blogs because if I know a person who has already asked me the question, I know the topic is relevant and important to write about. If the person who asked about the topic can benefit from the content, I know there are also a lot of others who will appreciate it, too.
Side Note: if you choose, you can mention the person, business, or group who requested the advice. I usually do this with a link to their website or social media profile and send the blog directly to them with a personal message. I typically share my blogs with the people who inspired me to write them without asking for anything in return, but you’ll be surprised how often pieces of content can take off when people unexpectedly share them.
Blogging Tip #4: Create a Catalog of Useful Resources
The “Frequently Asked Questions Blog”
The frequently asked questions blog is one of my favorites to write. In my business, I am often talking with business owners who do not know a lot about SEO or social media but want to learn more and start getting their websites ranking better. Many of them ask the same questions and the answers are often more complex than can be answered in a few sentences. I use these opportunities to create a “Frequently Asked Question” blog that I can use as a reference any time someone asks me the same question.
Not only does this save me a ton of time answering the same questions over and over (in person, on the phone, via email, etc.), but it actually allows me to provide the person who asked the question with a solution that is above and beyond what I would normally be able to provide them. And since you’re sending them the advice for free as a blog, it can often help build your business relationship with them since you are adding value rather than just trying to rush a quick explanation for them on the phone.
If you are a business, I highly recommend creating a lot of “Frequently Asked Question” blogs.
The “Popular Topic Blog”
Another strategy I use is the “Popular Topic” blog. This is a blog based on a popular topic you know is relevant to your industry or niche. If you are a business owner and know that many people in your industry are talking about a particular topic, this is a great way to create content that you can share that you will know your audience has an interest in.
Effective ways to determine these “popular topics” are to pay attention to what your target audience talks about a lot. This could be found by paying attention to the types of articles they share on their social media profiles, paying attention to what hashtags your audience are using in their own posts, exploring which posts are getting a ton of likes and comments on LinkedIn, and just paying attention to what people are talking about around the office.
It sounds simple, but once you start paying attention, you will start finding topics to write about all around you!
Advanced Version of the “Popular Topic Blog”
Since I work in SEO and data analytics, rather than coming up with topics I “think” people will like, I often research the top searched keywords in Google when deciding which topics to write about. Not only does this help find popular topics people are searching for, but using the specific keywords in your content also helps you rank well in Google to attract new visitors to your site. This is a very effective strategy for businesses, but it also works for growing social media and hobby websites.
These three blog types make up the bulk of the content I create. They help ensure my content is helping others and will hopefully help you find your own voice when writing your blogs.
Blogging Tip #5: Blog With Purpose
Regardless of what your purpose may be for blogging, I highly suggest being sure that you do have a purpose.
I wish someone would have told me the opportunities that were available to me when I first started out because I learned later that even though I eventually found a lot of success on social media, it took me years or trial and error learning what works and what doesn’t.
Determine what kind of impact you want your blog to have. You may want to provide business advice to attract potential clients. Or you may want to just build a community around your favorite hobby. No matter your goal, decide what purpose you would like to have early and it will save you a lot of time choosing the direction you want to take.
If you have questions or want to share ideas with me about what direction to take with your blog, feel free to reach out to me on social media or message me directly through the site. I am always interested in helping and supporting people who are looking to share their messages and ideas with the world.
Blogging Tip #6: Optimize Your Blogs
For my final tip (and I cannot emphasize this enough), when you write your blogs, be sure to optimize them using some basic SEO tips: writing a title tag, meta description, and including keywords in the content you write. I cover all the details on how to do this in my free guide on How To Write SEO Optimized Content. Basically, you can spend 5 extra minutes when writing your blogs to make sure they rank well in Google. If you’re doing 95% of the hard work, you might as well spend the extra few minutes to make sure you’re getting the benefits of the additional traffic coming from Google.
I hope some of these blogging tips for beginners help you get started creating your own content and gives you some good examples on how to start your own blog. Feel free to send me your blogs or tag me on social media for feedback or want me to look over them for SEO optimization!
If you’re a gamer, I also have blogs to help you learn how to start streaming on Twitch.