Wondering what to do in your first month of blogging? Here are 9 blogging tips for beginners to help you know where to start.

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Failing Forward

First off let me say that I am a huge believer in failing forward.  As an entrepreneur you can’t be afraid to fail, because it is inevitable, it’s gonna happen- A lot.

Since I started blogging back in 2014, I have made a TON of mistakes – I pretty much feel like I have made them all.

Each of those missteps has helped me learn some really important lessons though and gain knowledge that I needed to grow my blogging businesses to where they are today.

If you look at your failures as learning opportunities to move you forward then your success is inevitable. 

Your first month blogging is going to be challenging as you start to figure everything out. You will make mistakes. Keep going, focus on one thing at a time and give yourself grace.

Alright now that you understand that it’s not going to be perfect, let’s get into what you want to be doing your first month blogging.

9 Blogging Tips for Beginners

Blogging Tips for Beginners: Tip #1 – Get very clear on your niche and narrow it down until it hurts.

It’s gonna feel uncomfortable. You’ll likely feel like narrowing down means limiting your reach and ultimately success, but it’s actually the complete opposite! 

When you speak to everyone, you speak to no one.  The more niche you are, the faster you will grow.

I have created posts on narrowing down your niche that go into more detail on how to do this. There is also one that gives you 175+ blogging niche ideas.

Blogging Tips for Beginners: Tip #2 – Conduct market research

I know you probably don’t want to hear this.  I did not want to listen to this advice when I first started. 

The thought of market research always seemed so boring to me. I thought it was a waste of time.

I didn’t do market research at all the first time around, so my content wasn’t fully resonating with my target audience. No surprise! I even ended up creating a course that no one wanted. 

So I decided to go back and do a little market research. I started asking questions and reading a few comments and I thought that was good enough, but nope.  It wasn’t until I finally put up my hands and said “Okay I surrender market research.  You were right!” that things started to change.

I sucked it up and spent a good amount of time after that talking to people interested in my blog niche. Noting what they were asking in Facebook groups, on Quora, and analyzing the competition

I reached out to people, told them what I was doing and asked if I could do a quick 15 minute Zoom call with them. 

On these calls, I would ask them what their biggest struggles were when it came to my niche. For instance with my first blogging business in the parenting space, I asked what their biggest struggle was regarding parenting anxious, sensitive kids. With my second blogging business, the Creative Impact, I asked them about their biggest struggle with starting a blog and online business)

I got to know their pain points, what they wanted help with the most, what their goals were. Was their pain point significant enough for them to want to spend money to solve it?  I really got to know my ideal target person.  You want to be doing this your first month as well.

Even after you do all this, you won’t have every single thing figured out.  You will likely need to do a bit of pivoting or tweaking as you get more feedback and gain experience over time, but it will help you get much clearer on:

• #1 – Is there a demand for this topic?  Is it significant enough for people to spend money on their problem?

If there is competition in your niche area then that is a good indication that it is.  Do not be afraid of competition.  This is a good thing.  Be afraid of no competition, because then it’s probably not something people will spend money on.

• #2 – What  your demographic looks like and what do they specifically want more information and help with? 

I totally get that market research may seem like a boulder you have to scale before getting started on your blogging journey and you just want to go around it. 

I want to be real and tell you that this is how it felt to me but I know now from past experience that if you want to build a profitable blogging business you can’t skip this step!

Blogging Tips for Beginners: Tip #3 – Create a clear statement

The first thing you need to do is create a clear statement on who you help, how you help them, and what their transformation will be. 

This messaging should be what will hit people in the face when they visit your blog.  You want to make it crystal clear when someone lands on your page how you can help them.  

For this business, my statement is – I help new and growing female entrepreneurs build a profitable blogging business on WordPress without stress so they can turn their passion into profits and make a massive impact on the world.  

I help ___(Who)_______ with  (specific struggle you solve) so that they can  (transformation)  

This is key and something I dive into with coaching clients.  People will relate to the transformation you are offering. 

Blogging Tips for Beginners: Tip #4 – Create a blogging business plan.  

Sit down and write out a business plan for your blog – A goal without a plan is just a wish. 

You need to be crystal clear on what you are building or else you will lose focus and stay stuck. 

• Get clear on what your narrowed-down niche is, your business statement (as we just discussed with step 3)  and who your ideal reader is. 

• Write down your Why. Why are you 100% committed to making this happen? Life is going to get in the way and your why has to be really strong to keep you committed and moving forward. 

• What’s your vision? What are your top 3 goals for the month?  The quarter?  The year?  

Make sure to be realistic with your schedule and your goals as you plan this out.  Everyone’s life looks different. If you are currently working full-time or in the phase of life where you are a mom to young children who aren’t in school yet then your goals are going to look different from someone who works part-time. 

If you want to make a blogging business work, you need to make sure to take these things into consideration. This way your business does not end up running you and burning you out.  

This doesn’t mean that you don’t want to stretch yourself a bit and aim high when creating your goals, but you need to make sure that they fit into the current stage of your life.

Blogging Tips for Beginners: Tip #5 – Create your blog- Purchase your hosting and domain 

 

If you want to build a profitable blogging business then WordPress.org is hands-down where you want to be!

When you see those posts or pins saying start a blog for free, they are talking about starting on the free version of Squarespace, Wix or Weebly which is a big no, if you want to have a blogging business, not just a hobby.  

When you self-host your own website with WordPress.org, you have total control over your online presence, customization options, and how you monetize your blog. You have the final say on how your blog looks and what the user experience is like. No one else gets to decide what happens on your blog or with your business.  The cost is also very minimal. Typically less than $80 per year!

You do not want to be on WP.com which is so confusing to beginning bloggers. Check out the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org.

Be sure to also click here to learn more about the pros and cons of the most popular blogging platforms and get access to my free step-by-step video tutorial for setting up your WordPress.org blog.

You will also want to pick your domain name for your site.  Check out my video on tips for picking your domain name.

When you sign up with Bluehost, the hosting provider I use and recommend you will also get a free domain for your first year!

Blogging Tips for Beginners: Tip #6 – Start brainstorming product & freebie ideas

Okay if you are saying hold on a minute, I am just starting out, I am not ready to create a product.  I know, I know. I get that.   You are not CREATING anything to sell yet (and there is a whole strategy when you are ready for that), BUT based on your market research, you want to start thinking about what would really help your audience and make their lives easier & solve their biggest pain point from day 1. 

Then you want to reverse engineer it. 

If you want to create a digital product based on solving this specific pain point then what is a freebie/free gift that you can give them to get them one step closer to solving this problem? 

Once you start publishing your blog posts and getting traffic to your site, you want to make sure that you have a way to keep in touch with your reader after they leave your blog post. 

This is done by offering a freebie–  a free gift you give your reader in exchange for their email address. 

Blogging Tips for Beginners: Tip #7 – Make a list of blog post ideas that you could create that are related in some way to your freebie.

This will help your customer on their journey. You will get them closer to being ready for your service or the product you will ultimately offer. 

Come up with as many blog post ideas as possible and record them in a notebook or something like Google sheets. You will have quick access to them when you are ready to write.  

Blogging for Beginners: Tip #8 – Start writing blog content in your first month

This sounds like a no-brainer, but a lot of new bloggers get caught up in busywork-checking emails, continually tweaking their website, focusing on social media, seeing if they got any new followers on social media- #allthedistractions.

The main thing you need to be doing is actually sitting down and writing your blog posts! That is what is going to start growing your blogging business.   I suggest writing and publishing about 4 blog posts on your site before you officially launch your blog so that there is content for people to read when you send them to your site.  

These posts should ideally be evergreen blog posts that will be relevant for months and years to come.    

Blogging Tips for Beginners: Tip #9 – Have the right mindset

Blogging is a long game.  It’s not a get-rich-quick scheme.  It takes time, work, and consistency to succeed, but it is 100% worth it.  Take it one step at a time and you’ll slowly start to build really good momentum.

If you are feeling overwhelmed, tell yourself that you are learning something new and have grace with yourself as you work on creating this new business.