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| Blogging needs 5 things before you start |
When I teach people how to start blogging, I usually go straight to registering a domain and hosting to get you going. That, of course, is what all newcomers want to achieve immediately after resolving to blog.
But there is more to do before starting in the first place.
Any newbie who jumps into blogging without taking some stuff into account may likely jump out.
You might have read that there are about a billion blogs in the world or that at least a blog is launched every 5 minutes. That’s true!
What they didn’t tell you was that more than half of those blogs were never visited by other people than their owners.
Very many starters get frustrated along the way. They take blogging as a diary they can keep in their pockets and document their daily experiences.
Blogging is more complex than that.
You can easily throw your blogging ideas away if you don’t start with a few things in mind. If you should take these things seriously, I guarantee you a stress-free blogging experience.
Therefore, consider looking into the following before you start blogging or posting a single alphabet to the internet.
What To Do Before You Launch Your Blogging Project
Certain activities and preparations must come ahead. You don't start before mending up (that may be time-consuming and frustrating). You should commit to the following before your blog is started.
1. Determination to Succeed
First, be determined to succeed in blogging. Blogging can be so frustrating. I shared how I got hooked and did the unspeakable with my first project.
You’re not going to feel any different.
Every blogger that is proud of his success today has some ugly stories to tell.
As for you, welcome on board.
You’ll face some challenges with every move. Your story may be different from mine but one way or the other, expect discouragement, disappointments, and frustrations.
I presume you should be on the lookout for challenges from families and friends, jobs, countries, laws, and so on.
Yet, I want to assure you that the only thing you need when challenges arise is your dogged determination to run the blog and succeed at it.
When I didn’t make a penny in the first year of my first blog, I nearly let go. Reading other publishers' testimonies kept me going. I decided to see the end of the tunnel as there was a promise of light. If those people could make it, I could do it too.
Then, bingo I made it!
2. Financial Back-Up Plan
One of the apparent issues you will face while starting out is in finance. You need money to start blogging.
I don’t mean money for designing a blog. You can, of course, do that yourself with little computer skills. Luckily, there are free platforms to use for your blog. Blogger.com and Wordpress.com are open-source platforms you may use right away without spending a cent.
But there is more to that.
Just like any other business, while you’re waiting for your first check, you’ll be surviving. Then, how?
You need money to support yourself before you start to be taking a few bucks from your AdSense earnings or see anything big from affiliate marketing or any other sources you create to make money with your content.
Where will this money come from?
You need to ponder on this as much as possible.
This is why I recommend working part-time or full-time, elsewhere, while you start your blogging project part-time.
Take up a teaching job. You can work at a computer firm or shop to gain more experience. You can also work with a company in your chosen niche to equip yourself with practical experiences.
And if you’re a student, be sure you’re supported by parents or guardians. And of course, school days may be the best time to start your blogging adventure. You can use your off-lectures hours for your writing.
3. Determine Your Niche
Niche is an area or field of your discourse. It’s the area of specialty for your blog and its posts.
With very many niches available to you, you have to be choosy. You don’t take a niche for the beauty of the field; you do it for the end goal. If a niche won’t earn you money, you’re signing up to waste your precious time and efforts.
Be careful with the niche you dance with. A few areas are no-go niches for you as Google has warned you not to write about them. You won’t be ranked if you do. I covered this in my post, “11 Types of Blogs You Shouldn’t Start Now or Never”.
In that post, 6 niches should be avoided according to Big G. I also discouraged you from taking to 5 others that seem already over-crowded. Some are hot cake, yet, highly crowded that you may not make it to the top in a decade.
Some with very high earning potentials might not look very friendly but they pay you in the end. I listed those in my post, “Types of Less Crowded Blogs (Niches) to Start Now”.
You may need to check what you’re more interested in and see if it has good earning potential. This may be your best take.
You can also check what you’re not "that interested in" but you’re sure you can develop the will, even passion for, with time, if that will be potentially viable.
Blogging shouldn’t be a problem if you can follow my guide, “4 Super Approaches to Create, Build and Run Authority Blogs”. You’re given 4 approaches to uncover what is more suitable for you in that post.
4. Basic Blogging Training is Needed
Obviously, to start blogging, typing skills (which you can develop with time) and the essentials of computers are all you need.
Just master typing, copying and pasting, editing, and formatting. And with basic internet knowledge, you’re good to go.
Using images, charts, illustrators, etc. may come into place as time goes by. There are non-copyrighted images and graphics you can use with your content that are readily available to you on Google images for free.
More than just that, you have to understand the basics of blogging. Blogging is about quality content, link building, laws you should follow, audience engagement, and so on.
I’ve written scores of beginners' guides to blog on this blog. Take time to check for what will be of help when you dabble into things. My posts are usually step-by-step guides - opening your eyes to what you should understand up-front before embarking on this journey and how to keep things going.
5. Have a Few Posts Handy (if Possible)
After acquiring basic blogging know-how, you should try to have a few posts typed on your phone or computer, or exercise book.
Even though you’re yet to launch the project, it’s good if you can test the knowledge you’ve acquired with a few posts. If you find writing or typing difficult, you'll love the bail-out tactics shared in "Blogging Without Writing Yourself: Writer's Block Ways-out" or "Long-Form Content: How to Easily Write Many Topics".
Interestingly, you can check for the same topics you’ve just written about with other publishers. Use Google to search and see what they’ve written on the topics and compare them with yours.
Are you able to do it as well or better?
The answer to this question will give you the strength to push forward your work to the world. If you’d written better, you’re welcome to our world. If otherwise, don’t panic. You can start notwithstanding. Then, you should continue to edit, add more, and write more posts.
We all get better with time!
Conclusion
When you read testimonies of people making 6-figure incomes from blogging, the next thought will be “I should be able to do the same". And you’re right as anyone can make that or more.
However, this reported success had come at a price. The starting point of such a price is covered in this post.
You have to be dogged in your determination, find means for in-the-meantime financial support, acquire the right basic blogging skills, and be choosy with a niche before you come online.
Wishing you luck!
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