5 Things Bloggers Need to Start
We’ve all heard the useless advice: “Just start!” It comes from a kind place, but is less than helpful in terms of guiding the prospective blogger to the actual start line…let alone the finish line of any goals. However, I will say, there is some truth to the statement. After all, you have expertise, ideas, and advice to share – get it written down – just start! But, to actually get you from scribbler to blogger, there are a few things you’ll need, especially if you want to make this your full-time gig. As your friendly neighborhood blog manager and writer, here is my best advice on the 5 things bloggers need to start.
Why Should You Start a Blog?
Years and years ago I published my first official blog post entitled: I Should Totally Start a Blog! It was cheeky and fun and published on a blog that is more than deleted from the internet (sorry, it’s for my eyes only now). The sentiment still stands, though. I totally should have started a blog…and you should too.
Blogs have a number of benefits for the individual, brand, and business. Beyond being a great way to make some money from home, the first major benefit is online presence. As an individual “influencer” you’ll want as many people as possible to see your links, read your advice, and buy what you’re selling. As a business, same deal. You want as many eyes as possible on your business. And if you’re building a brand, it needs roots to spread far and wide to gain traction and become established.
Your blog is a great place to establish some credibility, share your expertise and experience, plant your affiliate links, create some SEO, yap about what you love, and deepen your relationship with your readers which will ultimately deepen their trust and prompt them to buy what you’re selling, try your recipe, or join your community.
Though I’m a blog manager and it’s what I do, I will be the first to admit that blogs are not the end-all-be-all. Instead, blogs are a valuable tool in your broader arsenal. By all means start a blog, but start a newsletter as well, and stay consistent with other content as well. These are things we can talk about when we start working together, so don’t sweat them right this moment.
Instead, take a quick look at what you need to start your blog, and then we’ll move on to the other things.
5 Things Bloggers Need to Start
Five is not a lot of things making the possibility of starting a blog even more approachable. This is great news for everyone! These five things are simple, but effective because nobody needs to complicate life even more.
1) Platform
This totally makes sense, right? You can write to your heart’s content, but if you don’t have a place to publish those thoughts then you’re just shouting into the void. There are tons of platforms out there for bloggers. It can be as simple as putting together a simple SquareSpace website, opening up Wordpress, or signing up for Substack.
Some things to consider:
Audience. Take into consideration your audience. Are they willing to pay to subscribe to your Substack? Are they on Substack to begin with? How will they find your content?
Content. Does your content need recipe cards? Is it short form, long form, educational, list articles, journal form?
Complications. Platforms like Wordpress can get complicated quickly with plugins, forms, updates, and hosting. Squarespace and Wix tend to be more user friendly with drag-and-drop set up and hosting included. Substack is a similar story; simpler set up and easy use.
Ultimately, it’s important to find the platform that works best for your needs, content, audience, and time allowances. If this is your side gig, especially at first, your platform could make or break the probability of you staying consistent and having a successful launch.
2) Content
Take some time to carefully plan your content. My best advice is twofold: plan well in advance and work well in advance. Not only do you want content that is relevant, on brand, interesting, helpful, and fun to read, but you want it to be consistent enough to appease the Google gods and become a regular part of your readers’ lives.
Sit down with a pen and paper for two hours and brain dump all the ideas you have. Everything from list articles to op-eds, product recommendations, to laying out your experiences and adventures can be included – nothing is off limits. From there, pick out the ideas that most align with your brand, blog theme, focus content, and the experience you want to create for your readers.
Then decide how often you want to post. Twice a month is a great place to start; it’s easy enough to keep up with and easy enough to plan out with some rhyme and reason. You can always increase the frequency of your posts once you hit your stride.
Lay out your plan. Set up a calendar in Asana, Trello, or on a spreadsheet. Or get yourself an old-fashioned paper calendar and write out which content goes on which day, the time it will publish, thoughts on the topic to help you outline your ideas, and more.
3) Legalese
It’s boring but necessary. You do not want to be sued. I’ve heard it said that suing people and businesses is an American pastime, and I believe it. Protect yourself against any complaint anyone may ever dream of by ensuring your site is secured with a little legalese.
I recently revisited all the “disclaimers” and other policies I had on my sites. I knew it when I initially set them up, but they were not sufficient at all and never were. Templates were my first thought and FREE was my second. However, I realized that when it comes to things like this I was going to get what I paid for…so free wasn’t going to cut it. Especially since paying for a lawyer would be so much more expensive than the few hundred I’d spend on real terms and services, disclaimers, and privacy policies.
I found the A Self Guru blogger and freelance legal bundles and knew they were the right decision. A little bit of pain up front could save me a lot down the line. These templates were easy to fill out and thorough, so I sleep much better at night.
4) Affiliates
This may not be an immediate step because affiliate programs often need proof of readership. However, there are a number of programs out there that do not require bit stats. Find some products you genuinely love and use and keep track of their affiliate programs and qualification requirements. As you qualify, apply!
While influencers often have companies send them free products and pay them a chunk of cash to promote it, the average blogger, brand, and business more commonly operates off of affiliate programs. It’s a great way to monetize your blog without pop up ads and an even better way to generate content ideas.
Start slow with consistent content, then build up your affiliate catalog, maybe even graduating to an influencer status eventually and getting products in the mail to share with your readers.
5) A Blog Manager or Writer
Yes, in every way, I am biased in this area. But I genuinely believe that anyone hoping to make a blog a regular part of their business or their full-time gig benefits from a blog manager and writer. As part of the team, a blog manager is your second set of eyes, editor, planner, formatter, photo sourcer, publisher, newsletter creator, social media helper, and so much more. There are so many ways we can support you as a blogger or business owner.
Those legal documents? I can set them up and get them on your site. That content that needs to be brainstormed and planned? I can do both! The publishing platform? I’ll help manage it and keep it updated. Your audience? I can help communicate with them and create newsletter flows that keep them involved. All those potential and active affiliates? I’ll track, manage, and find them.
The bottom line? You do not need to be on blogger island alone.
Just Start Your Blog
There it is again, the unhelpful advice. It’s true, though, and I hope this list helps point you in the right direction and find that foundation for just starting your blog!
If you want more information about how I can help, get in touch! I’d love to help make your blogging dreams come true.
Other posts you’ll like: A Month with a Blog Manager | Hourglass Blog Structure: How to Write a Blog 101