What You Need to Know Before Starting a Blog – 7 Things That You Should Know 

Hey, you! Have you been thinking about starting a blog? I know it can be hard to take the first steps when all of this is new.

The good news is there are plenty of easy-to-follow resources out here that will help show you how to start your own site and get on board without coding skills.

Here are the things that I am going to share with you what you need to know before starting a blog, and I will tell you exactly what we need in order for our journey into creating one ourselves not only to be successful but also fun too!

A blog is a great way to express yourself and share your thoughts, but there are some things you need for it.

For starters, the right concept can make all of this easier; don't worry about what other blogs do as long as they're yours!

1. Blogging is a long-term investment - it takes time and effort

Starting a blog is exciting and creative, but it can also be tough. It takes time to get everything set up right before you dive in.

So many people have the goal of becoming famous and rich from their blogs. I know that it can be done because these bloggers are proof!

However, don't get your hopes up too quickly as you will need to work hard for years before reaching this point in time.

When you write blogs, you need to spend time on it. You need to edit and rewrite it. You also have to research and find images for your blog.

Before you start a blog, you should know that it may not be the fastest way to earn money. But if you do it for the right reasons, then earnings will come.

Once the blog is published, you will also need to promote it by sharing it with friends or on social media networks like Facebook or Twitter.

Face it, if you are not willing to work hard on your blog then you're better off with a 9-5 job. It's time and energy-intensive but the end result is worth every ounce of effort!

The time and work you put into your blog are worth it. You are rewarded with a sense of accomplishment, the ability to promote yourself in various ways online through connections made, as well as an increased skill set in areas that can certainly help outside of blogging.

2. What is your long term goal for your blog?

It's important to think about the long term goal of your website and what you want it to accomplish. You need an open mind, creativity and dedication. It takes a lot more work than you might think for this part of web design.

If you start a blog about Mexican foods, your goal could be to find people who also love Mexican foods. It is easy when you have the same interests. Do not forget about how search engines work when writing posts. Try to make them more visible for people looking at your blog.

If you are starting a service-based company, your website needs to show people what you offer. People will only want to hire someone if they know the person can do the job. You can use tools on your website like video testimonials and FAQ pages so people know that they are hiring someone who knows their stuff.

3. Time management

As a successful blogger, you need to know how important it is for you to manage your time. It's not easy juggling work, blogging and taking care of family at the same time but you must do what needs doing- or else risk losing everything that matters to you!

4. Be ready to learn new things

Is it hard to become a blogger? You might think that you have to get started by knowing how to code, or html and CSS before anything else. Fortunately for us the answer is no!

The good news is that blogging does not require any coding skill whatsoever - it's more about your voice than what software you use.

You're about to start a journey of self-discovery. You'll be able to develop skills like web design and content creation as your blog takes off!

Learning for choosing a niche and domain name

Niche
Pick a niche that has a market and is related to what your blog will be about. Remember not every topic can move products so find one with demand in the industry or interest from people online.

For example, if I was going to start this article on how someone could blog for profit as their career, then my target audience would primarily consist of those who wanted more information on starting blogs themselves or were interested in making an income through them but had no idea where they should begin first.

My tone would take into consideration being professional while still maintaining humorous flare so it continues reading like best advice instead of feeling robotic when giving.

If you want to know more, read my article on "How to Find a Niche for a Blog – The Ultimate Guide for Beginners".

Domain Name
This is a hard step to take for many people. It doesn't require much hard work, but it does require making a tough decision about creativity, and it's easy to get stuck at this step without moving forward.

When you start a business, one of the first steps to take is choosing your domain name. You’ll want something that reflects what it does and stands out among competitors on search engines. Keep in mind - not every available domain name will sound good with all words!

You’ll find that making a name for yourself is hard, but just know it can be done. Give yourself an end date and get started!

You might not have the perfect one right now, but there are plenty of names out there to choose from and having any on at all will make you better than those who don't even try.

Learning for choosing a hosting and basic settings

You usually do not need to buy web hosting and a domain name separately. Most hosting plans include a domain name as part of the package. This can be confusing, but if you know the differences between web hosting plans, it will be easier to decide on what you want to go with.

If you are just starting out and your website might be smaller without a lot of followers, then one of the cheaper plans will probably work well. You can get one for just a few dollars each month.

If you want to know more, read my article on "How to Create a WordPress Website or Blog With BlueHost".

Learning for website design and branding

Don't worry about design and branding when you're just starting out, at least not right away.
It is easy to look at other experienced bloggers and want your own design and branding to be the same level.

You might think this is an obstacle to launching a blog and creating content. If this is happening to you, don't worry about it - just start doing what you want without worrying about the design or branding.

Design and branding are important. You don't need to worry about them, but as a beginner you should focus on the most important things- launching your blog quickly with content that is engaging for readers.

Design is a life-long and iterative process. The idea is that you improve your blog bit by bit, and allow the details to fall into place as they come up naturally over time.

Done really should be better than perfect because perfection will never exist in reality; it’s always something left for later on down the line when there are more resources available or another person who can help out with areas of weakness.

By the way, if you have enough budget then think about hiring someone that is experienced in web design to build something unique for your needs and save some time.

Learning for SEO

As an aspiring blogger it's important that you know about S-E-O (Search Engine Optimization) so when writing content on your blog it can be easily found by users online looking specifically for information like yours!

The more popular the topic or idea of your article becomes, the higher up on Google's rankings list it goes so that even those who don't search for something like "seo" might come across an informative page with everything they are looking for.

To build and maintain a successful blog, one of the most integral aspects is knowing what SEO means. By understanding how to optimize your posts for search engines you are guaranteed success in attracting readers who will visit your site repeatedly.

Blogging is a 24-hour job. You can't just blog for 15 minutes and expect to have success. Bloggers need to read about SEO, analytics, and pay attention when there are changes in those areas of the internet world so that they don't get left behind or lose their competitive advantage out on the web space!

Learning for Content Writing - Giving Value, Not Selling

Giving good information and explaining how you can help people on your website will cause more people to come to your site. It will also make them stay there longer and interact with your brand more.

You are going to be on your way to a successful website, but the key is understanding how you can help people. You need clear content about what you do and why it matters that will bring visitors back time after time as they get more invested in your brand.

You know those websites where there's nothing wrong with them...but at some point, even if out of curiosity or boredom, we just don't go again? It happens all too often these days thanks to our increasing attention span and information overload.

So learning how best not only retain existing customers who have already made contact with us through social media channels like Facebook or Instagram but also attract new ones by giving value content has never been more important!

This is very important. If you provide good content, then people will like your site more and it will help your site rank better in search engines like Google too. Creating good content for your site will help you stand out and be an authority in your market.

Again, it is really important to pay attention to the type of content that one would want in order for them to be entertained. You need a mixture of written, visual and video content most times but it can also depend on who your user is as well.

If you want to know more, read my article on "How To Write SEO Articles For Beginners – Simple SEO Guide".

5. Plan your monetization strategy before it gets too late

This is a great time to start thinking about monetizing your blog. You might be surprised by how many options are available, even in the trickiest niches!

Be sure you have thought it through before launch or early on when starting out - it can make all the difference later down the line.

Whether you want to monetize your blog through affiliate marketing, sponsored posts, or advertisements (or all three!), it will make life easier if you have a plan in place before the launch. This way you won’t be scrambling for ideas when they matter most!

There are a lot of ways to monetize your blog; it might just take some time and experimentation. I like the idea of affiliate marketing, since you can offer products in partnership with companies that most people would find useful or interesting without having to do much work on their own part.

If this sounds intriguing but too daunting at first glance, consider doing something simple-yet-effective such as placing ads on your site for either free products (as long as they’re relevant) or paid services which could provide an income stream while providing value for readers who may be interested in purchasing these items themselves!

If you want to know more, read my article on "How Can I Make Money With a Blog? – The Proven Ways for Beginners".

6. Use Google Analytics to monitor your site

One of the best tools for a website owner is Google Analytics. Setting up Google Analytics is easy and it will help you know how many people come to your site and who they are. The tool is free and it can be used as soon as you finish making your website.

Google Analytics is the best way to measure your company's marketing performance. You'll be able to find out which tactics are working and which aren't, as well as how engaged (or unengaged) each visitor has been with your website!

Google analytics will let you know who visits often enough for their visit history not only on our site but also across all other sites that they're connected to Google accounts

7. Use an email marketing platform to build an email list and nurture it

The importance of an email list is unquestionable. Every successful blogger needs an email list. It doesn't matter if you're writing a recipe blog or running the premier political website of your country.

It is crucial to stay connected with readers and subscribers alike. One way to do this is by using tools like Getresponse or Aweber that makes creating newsletters easy and will grow your subscriber base in no time!

As much as you may not plan to send any emails right away, it's worth starting one because most visitors won't return unless you give them a good reason.

If you want to know more, read my article on how to "How to Start Email Marketing For Beginners – A Simple Guide to Successful Email Marketing".

Wrapping it up

Building a website may seem like an overwhelming task at first, but once you learn the basic steps it becomes easier to get started.

Once your site is up and running, there will be new challenges that come with it-but if people visit often then all of those hours spent building was worth every second!

Instead of expecting perfection from the get-go, accept that it will take time for things to be perfect.

So don't worry if your blog isn’t perfect right now--improve as you go and soon enough everything will start shaping up nicely! 

Enjoy your blogging journey!

I hope this article has been helpful. Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments, and I'll do my best to get back to you quickly!