More and more people are taking the plunge and starting their very own blog online. It has never been easier to do so, yet still, many are reluctant as they feel that it is too complicated or they don’t have enough time to do so.
Well, I’m writing this to let you know that you CAN start your own blog online on WHATEVER subject you want.
All you need is a little direction to get you going and an interest in what you want to write about.
Decide On What You Want To Blog About
This is by no means an easy thing to do. Many people can struggle with this initial decision as it ultimately has a huge effect on whether your site will be a success or not.
To start with, forget about all that and just think about what interests you. Forget about anyone else for now and just work out what you find interesting. Which subjects and topics would you enjoy writing about?
It is crucial that you enjoy whatever it is that you choose to write about.
You will need to write a lot of content for your blog in order to attract traffic, so if you enjoy what you are doing then it becomes less of a chore.
Trying to run a blog on a subject that you don’t enjoy will just cause you to lose interest in it in the long run.
Who Is Your Target Audience?
Once you have a list of potential subjects to blog about that you enjoy, you need to whittle that list down and decide upon your main subject. This is the time when you need to start to think about your target audience.
- Who are the people that your site is aimed at?
- What sort of age group are these people?
- How big is this potential target market?
- What other interests does this target market have?
Only by understanding who you are aiming your site at can you truly begin to flesh out what your site is going to be like.
Let’s say that I wanted to start a blog about cooking, or more specifically, a blog about cooking good, nutritious, healthy food for my family because that is what I am interested in.
OK, so that is my initial idea, but who are the type of people that will likely visit a site like that?
Well, generally speaking, parents of young children will probably be more interested in this than say a typical student or single person living alone.
Women are probably more likely to be interested in this type of subject (as sexist as that may sound), and you could also make the assumption that they will already be health conscious.
So… taking all that into consideration, my target audience (or key demographic) would be young parents (let’s say 20-35yrs old), probably female, who are health conscious.
Now obviously this is very generalized as I’m sure plenty of single blokes over the age of 50 (or whoever) would want to learn about cooking healthier food, but this way we have an idea of my target market.
What does this mean?
Well, it helps me to flesh out my idea. Instead of just writing about food/recipes that interest just me, I can tailor future content to better suit my target audience. So, I could potentially write about;
- Healthy snacks for kids,
- Healthy family meals on a budget,
- Romantic meals when the kids are away,
- How to trick kids into eating healthy (adding peas to their mash potatoes always works)
- Foods to help you concentrate,
- …and so on.
You can get a lot more ideas on what to write about when you know who you are writing for. As you grow your site, your audience will get bigger and you will get more feedback on what people are actually after.
Think Of A Name For Your Blog
Ok, we have a decent idea, we know roughly who we are aiming our site at, and next, we need a name. This part is tricky so don’t go rushing in willy-nilly.
You want to pick a name that reflects what your site is about.
Don’t just pick something because it is available and the first one you come across. A name says a lot about what you and your “brand” will be about.
Let’s stick with the healthy family food example from above (coz that’s how I roll).
HealthyFamilyFoods.com would be a great blog name (if available) as that sums up perfectly what it would be about.
CatherineCooks.com on the other hand probably wouldn’t work. Yes, it may have ‘Cooks’ in the title, but people won’t know “what” I’m cooking, never mind if it is healthy or not. They may just think ‘Cooks’ is my surname and that I’m some sort of author or musician, which can just cause confusion.
Always try to go with a ‘.com’ version of your domain name rather than ‘.net’, ‘.biz’, or a country-specific domain like ‘.au’ or ‘.co.uk’.
People always tend to go to ‘.com’ first, so you could end up losing a LOT of traffic, especially if there is already a ‘.com’ version that uses your name.
Avoid dashes ( – ), abbreviations (lol), slang (boyz), and shortened words (hlthy instead of healthy) as that just make things infinitely more complicated.
You want people to easily remember the name of your site so that they revisit it in the future. Making it difficult to spell or just type into a search engine just loses your traffic.
Set Up Your Site Online
You’ll need two things to get online;
- Web Host
- WordPress
A web host is a space on the internet where all your website files will be stored in order for people to access your site 24 hours a day. Think of it as the land where you intend to build your house (or blog in our case).
WordPress is a CMS (Content Management System) that helps you manage and maintain your blog easily. This makes uploading blog posts, adding images, video, logos, etc. really simple to do and is used by millions of websites around the world. We have a whole guide that you can follow on How To Install WordPress CMS.
Alternatively, you can connect with our services that offer website set up, hosting, email marketing, AND tutorials with one on one support to help you get the most out of your blogging journey.
Get Blogging
Now comes the fun part!
Once your site is all up and running you can get to the important task of blogging.
Start writing regular posts and building up your readership. Get on social media and start sharing your content with other, like-minded individuals to help spread the word about your site.
Your blogging life is just beginning and there is a lot to learn along the way.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, we all do that, instead, just learn from them and have fun along the way.
Your Turn:
If you would like more in-depth information and coaching to learn how to blog successfully then sign up for our 12 module coaching program.
Are you struggling with an idea of what to blog about?
Do you just have a blogging-related question? We are here for you so please leave a comment below.