Are you thinking of starting a blog but don’t know how to go about it?
Maybe you are looking for a side hustle that can make you atleast $1000 per month and you decided to give blogging ago but you now feel stuck?
Or you have stumbled across the numerous blogging income reports online, got inspired to start your own profitable but you have no clue where to start?
Whichever category you fall in, I understand how it feels to be stuck. That was me awhile ago. In the same position you are today.
For a very long time I had been searching for different ways to make extra money online until I read an income report where bloggers were making decent amount of money online. Infact most of them had been able to quit their 9 to 5 job and they were now blogging full time.
I got interested and decided I decided to launch my own blog. The income report didn’t document how to launch a profitable blog. I felt lost and confused. I do understand and know how it feels to want to do something but don’t know how to go about it, or you are just scared you might end up doing it the wrong way.
I have been there.
That’s why today am sharing with you the 9 things you should do before you launch your blog. Well I did more than 9 things but not all of them are worth sharing because some were a waste of time and resources. Follow these 9 things and you will surely launch a successful blog.
Like I did.
Launching a new blog is both exciting and terrifying at the same time. Exciting because you are about to embark on a new journey that can completely change your life and terrifying because you don’t want to make any mistakes. We all know that building a house requires a strong foundation so is a blog or any other business.
Why Start A Blog?
1. Earn Money
Blogging is one of the best side hustles and is a perfect way to make money.There are so many bloggers who have turned their blogs from hobbies to successful online business. They have been able to quit from their day jobs and are now blogging fulltime. Don’t believe it? Check out this income report.
2. A Perfect Platform To Share Knowledge
Blogging provides you with the perfect platform to share your knowledge with other people. For example if you are a mom, you can share hacks and tips of been an efficient mommy. Whatever you are knowledgable in could be gardening ideas, bullet journalling, recipes, you can impact other people’s lives through your blog.
3. Build A Network
Blogging will provide you with an opportunity to intereact with other bloggers online who eventually become friends and you are able to help each other. Am always amaze at how most bloggers are willing to help and they share their knowledge so generously.
9 Things To Do Before You Launch Your Blog
1. Determine your niche
2. Choosing a web hosting and domain name
3. Create content
4. Develop a plan
5. Research widely
6. Email service
7. Be active on your social media platforms
8. Set up your blog
9. Promote your blog launch
1. Determine Your Niche
In other words know what you want to blog about. This is a very important step but don’t get discouraged if you can’t decide on one topic. Niche is the topic you want to write about in your blog.
When deciding on a niche you need to stop thinking about yourself. For example, I have two cats if all I wrote about is my two lovely cats day in day out, the truth is that no one really cares how awesome my relationship with my cats is. Put other people in mind first and how you can help them.
There are different approaches you can take such as you can choose to blog about what you are passionate about, document a joureny you are on or focus on a trendy topic. You can decide to go with one topic or one main demographic. Which means you will be blogging on different topics which one group of people can identify with.
These questions should help you brainstorm:
What am I passionate about?
What can I talk about for hours and hours?
What am I interested in?
Can I write about this topic for the next 2 years?
Can the topic be monetized?
The general advice out there is you have to niche down. That might not be realist especially to new bloggers because you are still trying to figure out which direction your blog should take. For you be run a successful blog, you don’t need to niche down. Definetly not right away.
My advice is when you are starting it’s ok to go broader. As time passes reevalute and see which posts are out performing others. Then write more of what is working. With time you will also have a clear understanding who your audience is. Simply start a blog that people want to read and keep coming back for more.
I have to mention that if you really want to make money blogging you need to pick a niche that has proven to do well (see below). You could be passionate about a certain topic but if it’s not profitable then I would rethink. It’s easy to monetize some tops and other are super hard.
Some of the blog niches that have proven to make money and drive traffic are :
Personal Finance
Health and Fitness
Personal Development
Beauty and Fashion
Lifestyle
Sewing
Parenting Blog
Home Decor
Frugal Living
How to Make Money
Travel
Those are just some of the topics you can think about. Picking a niche shouldn’t stress you because you can always change later.
You might be thinking, but am not an expert in any of these topics? You don’t have to know everything you will learn as you go along.
Are you still stuck at choosing your niche? Look at other successful bloggers, their niche could also work for you.
Related post: Secrets to choosing a profitable niche
2. Choose A Web Hosting Site And Domain Name
The second thing you should do before you launch your blog and after you have an idea on what you will write about is deciding on a web hosting company and the domain name to go by. Web hosting company allows you to host your website on their servers while domain name is the name you want know by. My domain name is JuelzJohn.
When choosing a web hosting site you need to keep off from free platforms like blogger. Your work isn’t 100% secure, you can wake up one day only to find that it’s completely lost. It’s hard to monetize when using a free platform. I assume one of the main reasons you are thinking of starting a blog is to make money.
From the word go your blog should be self-hosted. Not only will you be considered serious in the blogging world but also your work will be secure. For the hosting company, I highly recommend Bluehost. Their customer service is top notch, 24/7 live chat, you get a free domain name for a while year and if you decide to cancel your subscription they will refund you back the amount of money you have used.
To get started with launching your blog, check out my how to start a profitable blog tutorial and sign up for my free 8-day course below.
3. Before You Launch Your Blog Create Content
Before you launch your blog, you should have at least 5 posts ready. The number of posts to start with is not set to a certain number. I have read bloggers who launched with about 40 posts, others 10 and some with 5 posts. The reason why you should have some posts published is to keep your readers longer and to impress so they can return.
Another reason why you should have some post ready before you launch is traffic. You will have enough content to circulate on socia media platforms and moreso on Pinterest which is mostly is the biggest source of traffic.
The third reason is, it creates credibility you won’t look like a total newbie which will make it easy for you join advertising companies like google AdSense, media.net and Sorvn.
Writing up as you begin will help you have some time to focus on other aspects of the blog as we all know with a new blog there is a lot to be done.
For every category you have, have some posts ready to go and make sure you are linking to the most relevant one. For example, if your post is a step by step guide on how to get started with bluehost then it will be weird link it to a post like 10 ways to style a denim pants. The more realistic post to link to would be for example ways in which a new blogger can monetize their blog.
AdSense is another good reason why you should have posts up on your new blog(That is,if you want to have adsense ads on your blog). As a newbie one of the main ways to monetize is through AdSense which requires you to have solid content up.
To start with, think of pillar posts you can work on. Pillar posts are long, indepth and they focus on the mainmessage of your blog. For example, if you are in the blogging niche that could be The ultimate guide to starting a profitable blog. For health niche, your pillar posts can be A beginners guide to the keto diet and Beginner’s guide to Intermittent fasting.
This doesn’t mean you relax after the blog is up you will need to promote your posts. It doesn’t make sense having killer content and no one is reading it, then it will be a waste of time.
Related post: How to write a good blog post that will attract readers
Download the blog launch checklist below. This checklist will help you to a successfully launch your blog..
4. Develop A Plan
Having a solid plan before you launch your blog will make everything easier. From the beginning you should treat your blog as a business. That is one of the main mistakes that most bloggers do when are starting out, they don’t treat their blogs as hobbies.
Your plan should be able to answer questions like:
What do I want to achieve with my blog maybe in two years’ time?
How do you plan to monetize your blog?
Where will you promote your content once the blog is launched.
You should clearly outline your goals and how you intend to achieve. Have an editorial calendar which will keep you in check. In the editorial calendar include things like how many posts you want to publish in the next two months.
You won’t know everything as you start which is still ok. Blogging is a journey and everyday you learn something new. Make a list of the thing you need to do before, during and after the launch.
5. Research Widely
Research is one of the most important things you should do before you launch your blog.
Some of the things that you should research on are:
- Different ways to monetize your blog as a newbie,
- How to drive traffic to your posts,
- Which social media platform suits me best and so on.
Keep an eye on what some of the successful bloggers in your niche are doing, the type of posts they are writing, it doesn’t hurt to follow them on their social media platform or even to join their email lists. The idea is not to copy what they are doing but to learn as much from them and to get inspired.
Also find out where people who would be interested in your niche hang out then be active on those those forums.
6. Email Service
One of the biggest mistakes that bloggers make is failing to build and grow an email list from the word go. Most even regret saying if they knew they would have started one even before launching their blogs.
Getting started is not hard. All you need is a welcome email, an opt in form, a freebie and a sequence. A freebie is an incentive that you offer to your reader and entice them to subscribe to your email list. The freebie also known as an otin or a lead magnet should be something valuable to your audience.
One of the biggest reason why you should consider growing your email list from day 1 is that it’s the best way to have a passive income blogging. You must have read the common phrase that money is in the list. So many bloggers are making thousands and thousands from their email list. See for yourself in this income report.
The good thing with email list is that you own your it compared to the social platforms where the algorithm can change overnight or they can just disappear leaving you with totally nothing to show for it.
Here’s how to get started.
I use and love Convertkit as my email service provider. A literally am obessed with them. It’s the best email marketing service for bloggers who want to make money from their blogs. They have everything a blogger would want in an email service.
Step one: Sign up for convertkit
Step two: Create a freebie
Step three: Write a welcome email for the freebie
Step Four: Create an optin form or a landing page for your freebie.
You can have an opt-in form on your coming soon page so that you can officially alert people when you launch. After you have launched your blog you can do a content upgrade on some of your posts which will help you to get some more subscribers.
I strongly believe it’s that convertkit is best email service provider for bloggers out there. Sign up for a free trial and start growing your elmail list today. Starting an email should be a priority and you should do it from day one.
Sign up for convertkit and get a free trial
Learn more about email marketing from the posts below.
5 reasons why every blogger needs to build an email list asap
The easiest way to start an email list as a beginner
5 Amazing hacks to grow your email list with Pinterest
9 Simple tricks to grow an email list fast
7. Secure Your Social Media Accounts
For any blogger socia media is a must. Social media provides the perfect opportuntiy to connect with your audience and brand or companies that might want to collaborate later.
Check out social media platforms whether your name is available. If it is, secure it. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. It’s nice to have consistency with your name in all your accounts. For example my Juelz John which aligns so well with my domain name.
Having the same name allows people to find you easily. Even though you still don’t have content to post just reserve the name. A tip on social media platform, you should focus on at least two so that you can give yourself enough time to learn everything about them.
For some platforms like Pinterest, if you already have an account under the same name you can simply convert it into a business account.
Social media platforms is the best place to have the word out. Once you figure out which social platform your audience hang out most focus on it (them). For example, If you are in the fashion niche then instagram is huge.
Download the blog launch checklist below. This checklist will guide you to a successful blog launch.
8. Promote Your Blog Launch
You need people aware of your blog launch date. It’s pointeless putting all this work on your blog launch process and not have a promotion strategy.
Simply add a coming soon page to your blog, with an email sign up and links to your social networks. Clearly highlight what the reader can expect from you. In like two weeks’ time to the launch date, you can do a little promo on your social media platforms.
Now stop wasting so much time and launch the blog already.
9. Set Up Your Blog
Launching a blog can be exciting don’t be in a rush to do so. Spend some time to set up your blog nicely so that by launch date it will be presentable. I recommend working on a one item per day so as to avoid being overwhelmed.
Some of the things you need to work on are you’re about me page, hire me (if you will be offering any services), contact form and your blog layout. Work on your logo and the colors too.
Related post: How to create an epic about me page.
Are you ready to start your blog? Why wait another day. Start today and change your life for the best.
Check out my step by step tutorial guide on how to start a successful blog in less than 30 minutes.
How to start a profitable blog in less than 30 minutes
As a bonus when you start a blog via any bluehost links in the post above I will send you a copy of my ebook The Beginner’s whisper guide for free.
When I started I wished all the information in one plan or even someone to walk with me for the first month at least, that’s why I want to help you to start your blog with confidence.
I will show you how to set up your blog professional, write your first post and one that attracts readers, how to drive traffic to your brand new blog, how to monetize and much more.
Once you have purchased your bluehost hosting email me juelz@juelzjohn.com and I will send the book asap.
10. Invest In A Blogging Course
I can’t sign off this post without mentioning a course that helped me so much when I launched this blog. Blog by Number is a course by Suzi who is the blogger behind startamomblog. Blog by number course is for anyone who is serious about blogging professionally. I love how thorough the course is. Suzi was able to take her blog from $0 to 9000$ in a year and she teaches the exact steps she took. It was one of the best investment I have made for my blog. The course is very detailed and very easy to follow.
Going through the Blog by Number course it was like having a blogging mentor. That’s what you get. A successful blogger with lots of blogging experience sharing her best tips. It’s a step by step to successfully launching your blog, growing your blog and finally turning it into a profitable online business.
Some of the things you will learn are :
- How to set up your blog professionally. She also covers the technical side of setting up a blog.
- How to make money with a new blog
- How to choose a perfect blog name
- How to make the best and most eyecatching graphics for pinterest
- Access to more than 480 pinterest group boards
- The basics of SEO
- How to make money blogging from day 1
For me the course was worth every penny. I can’t stop recommending it because it helped me set a solid foundation for my blog and in less than 3 month I made my first affiliate sale. The blog by number course includes detailed video tutorials, worksheets, ebook and stock images.
Conclusion
I hope that this post on things to do before you launch your blog was helpful. These tips with no dobt will help you launch a successful blog from the word go. With the right mindset and strategy you can make your blog into a successful online business. It takes time and dedication, so don’t give up when you feel like things aren’t working anymore.
RESOURCES I LOVE
Blog By Number Course
I love Blog By Number course and I honestly can’t stop recommending it to anyone who wantsto create a successful blog. It’s the first course I invested in before I started blogging and it’s beyond amazing. It will teach you how to build and launch your website succesfully, how to write your first post, how to get traffic, how to monetize from day 1 and much more. Blog by number course gives you a road map to blogging. Read all about my blog by number journey here.
Dare to Conquer
Dare to Conquer is more than a blogging course. It’s a community. It’s by far the best investment I have made for my blog and for me. I recommend it to anyone who wants to take their blog to the next level. Want to run a profitable online business? Dare to Conquer is your answer.
It’s comprehensive and has in-depth information on all aspects of running a successful online business. Everything you need to know about SEO, Affiliate marketing, Building a brand , Pinterest, email marketing and much more all in one place. All this information helps you to set a solid foundation with your online business and takes it to the next level. With Dare To Conquer you are set, you will never need to purchase any blogging course or Ebook again.
What I love most about Dare To Conquer are the challenges like how to reach $1000+a month with ads, how to gain your first 1000 email subscribers, launching your blog and getting 10k pageviews and how to create your first paid product.
Still hesistant about diving in? Join the free 12 Day Blogging Bootcamp and get a little taste of what Dare To conquer is all about.
Ebates
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I started my personal blog, just about a month ago. So this plan is really helpful. Thanks for sharing!