Blogging for beginners

This is chapter 3 in my series about blogging. So far, I’ve covered why it’s such a good idea to start a blog, and my personal reasons for hogging this tiny little corner of the internet.

Let’s say you have ideas for your first few articles, but don’t know what to do next? You don’t know any bloggers personally and don’t have a technical bone in your body. 

Don’t worry, you have me now. I’m in your corner and I’m here to help.

If you’ve read any of my personal development blogs, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of ‘just start’. The best way to figure out how to do something is to work it out as you go along, which is how I started blogging.

My first foray into the blogging world was a wordpress.com blog (different from wordpress.org - I'll explain shortly). It was a series of restaurant reviews written by my (then) seven year old son. I set up the site and he dictated his reviews, which I published for him.

It was just a bit of lighthearted fun, but he was so excited to see his writing being viewed by subscribers all over the world.

The wordpress.com interface is easy to use. And if a seven year old and his luddite mum can do it, then you can do it, right?

Blogging platforms like wordpress.com, or blogger.com are a good place to start if you want to dip your toe in the water. Here you can start to figure out what subject(s) you’re going to focus on, what expertise you’re going to share and the people you want to reach. Establish your own personal tone of voice, then publish a few articles and see if people like your stuff.

Find your niche

First find your niche. This means being really clear about your blogs’ main topic and what you’re going to write about. So within the foodie community, there are bloggers whose niche is paleo, or sugar free. In the world of fashion, some will focus on high-end luxury, others will stick to the high street.

Your niche needs to relate to your passion and expertise. What are you famous for amongst your friends and family, or what do you love to do in your spare time? Perhaps you’re an expert in your field at work and want to start a blog where you can share that experience. 

Be warned: choose too narrow a focus and you’ll run out of material. If you have no apparent focus, your blog will be confusing and readers will not return.

What’s your niche going to be?

My blog is very broad in its subject matter, but more specific in terms of its audience, which leads me onto this:

Find your tribe

Start by defining your people. Who do you want to appeal to? This is key as it will lead to your writing being interesting and appropriate for your audience, which will have them coming back for more and lead to your tribe expanding.

If you’re unsure who you want to appeal to, you’re going to struggle. 

Imagine you were asked to give a presentation about, umm, let’s say family cooking. You do your research, source beautiful images of healthy, hearty casseroles and roast dinners for your Powerpoint slides, rehearse your speech so that it flows naturally and you sound knowledgeable and authentic. 

And then you arrive on the big day and realise you’re at a conference for vegans. Yeah, you didn’t see that coming did you?

You can have the best content but if you’re targeting the wrong tribe, your blog will be a stinker. 

I decided right from the get-go that I wanted to appeal to an audience of women in their 40s and beyond and it’s pretty clear from my website that’s my target market. So all my writing is appropriate for this age group. And that’s my lifestyle niche (if you can call it that).

I would recommend thinking really clearly about who you want your number one fan to be. Create a fictional character who encapsulates everything about the person you want to target - age, gender, profession, demographic etc. And then write every article specifically for him/her.

This really focuses the mind and stops you veering from the path. If your writing doesn’t entertain your number one fan, or address a problem he or she might be facing - then it’s probably not worth publishing. Harsh, but true.

So you’ve figured out your why, your niche and your tribe. You’ve already started putting your writing out there on one of the blogging platforms. What now?

Go self-hosted

I would recommend you move onto a self-hosted website as soon as possible. The longer you stay on a hosted platform (wordpress.com or blogger.com), the harder it will be to move, as you’ll have a following you won’t want to lose. 

Moving to a self-hosted site means you will have to pay for a domain name and for a company to provide web hosting. The benefit is that you now have total control over your content, can accept advertising and optimise your site in many ways that the hosting platforms don’t allow. 

Bloggers with their own domain name and associated email address look more professional and are perceived to be in it for the longer term.

There are loads of web hosting companies which help you set up your own website, or you can learn how to create your own site using a resource like Skillshare. If you want something a bit more bespoke, and with some human interaction, then find yourself a good, reliable web designer. 

My website uses web software by wordpress.org, which is the most popular website creator, with thousands of templates to choose from, and some incredible tools and widgets to turn your website into anything you can imagine.

You can work out how to do so much on your own through YouTube videos and Skillshare courses. I found Pinterest and Facebook groups really helpful during my first few blogging months, where I found articles and free courses to enroll in.

But if you’re stuck, you can pay other people to help you and it’s not as expensive as you think. Sites like peopleperhour.com and fiverr.com are full of talented experts who can help.

Now you’re ready to start telling people about the blog. But that’s a whole other chapter, which will follow soon.

Just start

It’s not too late to start blogging. There is space for everyone. Don’t be afraid to start. Websites are living, evolving beasts so if it’s not quite right, change it. Don’t wait for perfection, you’ll never get it.

We Blog, You Blog

We Blog, You Blog is a mentoring group, where bloggers of all levels come together to share advice and help each other. I’m still looking for a sponsor for my first event, but I will build it and they will come (Field of Dreams anyone, or is that reference just too old now?). Please sign up here to receive your invitation.

Was this helpful? Are there specific questions you’d like me to answer in the next chapter in this blogging series? Let me know in the comments below, I always reply.