10 blogging tips for absolute beginners

There is a Chinese proverb that says that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. I find that this is true about most things in life, blogging included. If you are thinking about starting a blog or have recently entered the blogging world, then this post is for you.

I have been blogging for a little over a year now, so I'm by no means an expert. However, these past months have been filled with lots of new experiences, new on-line friends and when I look at my first posts I realize that I have learned a lot since then.

Other than reading other people's blogs along the years, I started from absolute zero, so I have been on a huge learning curve. Here is a list of the main lessons I have learned so far.

 

Write about something you like, something you do in your non-digital life. Don't create topics on themes you know little of or have no interest in just because you think they will generate traffic. 

If you are blogging with a long term perspective (which you should), you will either get stuck with nothing else to say after a while, or lose interest before your blog even takes off. And readers are not easily fooled: sooner or later they will realize your heart is not into it and, because their time is limited too, they will stop visiting.

Most people will tell you to use SEO tools and keywords. Read about this, as it is one of many resources you have available, and then decide what you want to do. To be honest, I write my posts as the text flows in my head, so I don't exactly check to see if I included the right amount of keywords, but that's just me. I'm blogging because I want to, because it brings me pleasure and makes my life a bit better.

 

Before you pick your blog design or start writing a post, stop for a few seconds and think about what you would like to see if you were a reader. Would you like to see a black background with white letters? How many columns do you need? What is the best way to organize your content on the layout your are working with? Putting yourself in the place of your readers will help you make these decisions.

This was something I found out for myself after I started blogging and if you compare my first posts with the more recent ones you will see the difference. Hum, better not. Those first posts are really bad and I just don't delete them because I need them as a reminder of what I should not do ever again.

Oh, and please run your posts through whatever spelling check tool you have available and re-read them to make sure the text is consistent and there are no typos. English is not my first language and I still don't like to see typos when I'm reading.

 

Think about what you want to write over the next few weeks/months, even if you don't write the actual posts. Use a blog planner (check Pinterest for free printables) if that works for you. I confess I have tried several over the past few months and have never sticked with one. I kind of write the posts in my head as I go about my daily tasks and then type them when I have a free moment to sit in front of the computer. Since free moments don't come that often, I write as much as I can and then schedule posts or leave them as a draft to publish in due course. As I'm writing this, I have two posts scheduled already, one for this week and one for Easter, so I don't have to worry about them until then.

If you're blogging about your crafts, you need to give yourself time to complete projects before you post about them, so planning is even more important.

Planning ahead will also help you be organized. Like anything else in life, blogs can get cluttered too. Use labels, create pages to catalog your posts, include a search box and anything else that may help readers find what they are looking for. A messy or too complicated to navigate blog will scare readers off.

A post with just text, especially if it is long, with just be too hard to read, so add pictures, diagrams, charts or even just separators, like in this post, whatever may help to keep readers interested and focused on the message you are trying to convey. 

I blog about crafts, so I try to take as many pictures as possible when I'm making something I want to post about. And I assume publicly not all my pictures are good quality, so this is the area where I want to improve the most in the future. Unfortunately, taking pictures does not come easily for me, but recognizing you have a problem is the first step towards solving it, right? Give me some time and I'll master picture taking too.

There are millions and millions of new blog posts every day, so writing about something and putting in online is no guarantee that anyone will read it any time soon.

Include and "about me" section in your blog. People want to interact with other people, not with machines, so they like to know who is on the other end. Include your photo if you have no problems with that (I do, so there are no photos of me or my family in the blog, only our house, what we do and the places we visit, but that is a personal choice).

Use social media. If you're already on Facebook, create a page for your blog. Use G+, Bloglovin, Stumbleupon (not so great, in my opinion), Pinterest (awesome) and whatever else there is (I'm not on Twitter or Instagram yet, but I'm sure I'll get to those some day too). Be consistent, using the same name/photo in each of your social media profiles. Include links to your social media in your blog, so people can follow you easily.

Follow as many blogs and groups as you can within your areas of interest. And because you're not the only one trying to increase the number of followers, it's polite to follow back those that follow you.

Use link parties to spread the word about your posts, but read carefully the rules before linking up. Visit other links and leave comments. Everyone likes to feel supported. 

Other than social media, there are lots of resources and tools to help you design your blog, touch up your pictures, create interesting graphics, etc. Some are paid, but a lot of them have free (even if a bit more limited) versions. Check Google and Pinterest for free backgrounds, fonts, designs, photos. When using something not made by you, just make sure the authors intended it for free use and give them the appropriate credit.

When I started blogging I used no graphics in the blog, just pictures. Then I started using Powerpoint and over time I have familiarized myself with Canva, which I find much easier to work with than Picmonkey, at least in the free versions.

When in doubt, Google it.

I had zero HTML knowledge when I started, so I Googled everything, from how to add a widget to how to create a blog button. I still do.There are sites and other blogs that give you detailed explanations on how to do whatever you need, down to the point of having the appropriate HTML code for you to copy and letting you know the exact place where you should add the code for it to work.

Since the advent of Internet, not knowing about something is no longer an excuse. When you want to change or add something to your blog, just go online, ask all the questions you need and then sort though the answers until you have the tools to solve your problem.

Personally, I don't like when a blog I follow has no new posts after several weeks. Of course lots of things can happen, and it's difficult to keep up with everything (don't I know it!). But if you want a steady stream of readers, you need to give them something to read about.

My advice would be to try to post at least once a week, planning ahead and scheduling posts, to make sure you have at least some backup to keep the blog going when the rest of your life gets in the way. Once you get the gist of it, it will become easier and you will be able to post more often.

Nothing in life is static, and a blog is probably easier to change than a lot of other things. Do your research and use all the tools you have available to improve your blog over time.

If I could have creates a 100% perfect blog the first time it would have been great. Unfortunately, I started with just a basic Blogger layout and not much else. Then I learned to add links, create pages, add photos and widgets to the side bar. It took me almost forever to find out why I had overlapping content in some of the pages but I've solved it by now. My first media buttons were nice but recently I decided they were not matching the rest of the layout, so I now have new ones.

Am I finished? No. Not now and probably never. Like I said before, I want to improve the quality of the pictures I include in my posts. I also keep a list of the other changes and improvements I want to make in my blog and whenever I have a bit of time I sit down, do some research and get down to work.

Okay, maybe I should've put this in the beginning. However, if you've lasted almost to the end of this post, it is probably a good sign and you are not ready to give up on your blog any time soon.

The idea of having a blog lived in the back of my mind for years, but it took me a while to make the leap and now I'm totally committed to it. But it is not always easy.

There are days when sitting down to write is difficult, when words don't want to flow into your screen. There are those awesome posts you went to a lot of trouble for and then almost no-one reads or comments on. And then, suddenly, someone picks them up on Pinterest or somewhere else and they become almost viral. Any victory, even if small, is still a victory.

If blogging brings you pleasure, if it makes you happy, if it makes you feel like you are contributing to society in any way, stick with it. Hang in there. Good things will come your way.

Like Master Yoda said, “Do. Or do not. There is no try.”

And for more tips and an updated view on the world of blogging, here´s a great article:

"You’re Doing it Wrong! How to Blog in 2018"

Disclaimer: The link to the article "You’re Doing it Wrong! How to Blog in 2018" is used in this post with the consent of its respective owner. All content within that link is also the responsibility of its respective owner.