What to focus on during your first month of blogging when you have no clue what to do
Introduction to your first month blogging guide
Your first month of blogging is going to be the most challenging. It’s the month that you have to figure ‘everything’ out. The only problem is you don’t know anything.
You will make a lot of mistakes. But if you keep your focus on doing one thing at a time you will not only survive the month but thrive.
By following this blogging guide you will have a clear picture of what to do and focus on.
If you are starting a blog and don’t have much time, because let’s face it most moms don’t, you have to do the most important tasks first. Be smart with your time and work on what will grow your blog instead of doing everything you’re told to do.
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Let’s face it, blogging is a lot of hard work. You are bombarded with so much advice about what you have to do.
How you should do 101 things immediately.
The truth is you don’t have to get it all done in one month or even three. You have time.
Burning yourself out will only exhaust you and make you quit.
When it comes to this blogging guide, slow and steady wins the race.
Here is where you have to be smart and work on only what is essential to move your blog forward.
Let’s take a look at the essential blogging tasks you have to get done in this first month blogging guide.
1. Work on your mindset
Blogging is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s a long game, it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme. It takes hard work, dedication, and consistency to succeed. You have to take it one step at a time. It’s a slow process. And you won’t see results immediately.
I’m not going to lie to you. Sometimes you will feel overwhelmed.
You’ll feel like quitting and giving up. But you have to keep going.
That’s why you need a strong mindset. To get you out of the difficult days. And put one foot in front of the other. Every single day. Even if it looks like you’re not moving forward. Keep going. Quitting is not an option.
Another thing you have to do is to give yourself grace. Some days you will mess up and fall off the wagon. But you have to get back up and keep going. Just because you had a bad day doesn’t mean you should give up. Acknowledge that you messed up, forgive yourself and do better the next day.
2. Choose a Niche / Audience
Who is your audience? What is their biggest problem?
How do you plan on helping them? Can you relate to them?
Find their problem and provide a solution. It will always have a monetization strategy. It will also narrow down your niche. Helping a very specific type of people.
I help stay-at-home moms who are ambitious, want to start an online business, and make money blogging to help provide for their families. I teach them how to be independent, chase their goals and dreams, while still raising their babies.
Very specific. Still an evergreen niche though.
With lots of ways to make money, which is the end goal.
Just keeping it real.
When using this method of choosing a niche, you won’t get stuck on how to pick what to write about.
Most people struggle with it because they make it more complicated than it has to be. It doesn’t. Find a problem and solve it. Give your audience what they want. But make sure that you at least like to write about the topic. You are going to create content about it for years.
Related Posts:
How to choose the Perfect Niche
3. Choose a Name
Don’t overthink this step either. People spend way too much time on their blog names instead of what’s important. It’s not about the name, not really. It’s about great content.
But do brainstorm names that are easy to spell and remember, that tell people immediately what your blog is about or something unique and eye-catching.
Don’t use a long name that is difficult to spell or pronounce. You want to make it as easy as possible for people to find and remember your blog.
If you can’t come up with anything, you can always use your name. Also make sure you use the top-level extension, meaning .com. It’s the most popular extension and what people usually type in after what they search for.
Your blog name is important, but not the be-all and end-all. Choose something simple but good and move on to the next step.
4. Set up your blog the right way
The most important thing is to own your blog. You want to set up your blog on WordPress.org, not WordPress.com. WordPress is the software you use to build your blog. It’s also where you write and publish your posts. And it’s free when you buy your hosting and domain name.
Get a domain name
Namecheap is one of the best and cheapest in the business. Choose a domain name that fits your niche.
Get hosting
I recommend Bluehost. They are very beginner-friendly and you get help getting set up. Purchasing your domain name and hosting are the only investments you need in the beginning. They are super important because it means that you own your website.
Choose a Theme
You don’t have to buy a theme in the beginning. Unless you want to of course. I still use a free theme, the Astra theme. But a paid theme allows you to do more customization to your blog. It also makes your blog faster.
So, if your budget is bigger, invest in a theme. But you don’t have to until you make an income with your blog.
Related Posts:
How to Launch your Blog Successfully in 15 simple steps
How to Write your First Blog Post
5. Create quality content
Content creation is the most important part of the process. Without content, you don’t have a blog.
Create content that is helpful to your audience and solves their problems. Focus on your audience. On their needs and how you can best serve them.
Create interesting and engaging content. Helpful no-fluff content. Quality content of 1000+ words is what we should be aiming for.
You also need to decide how often you will be posting. If you decide on once a week, commit to it and show up consistently. A problem bloggers have is not publishing content consistently.
Then we wonder why we don’t grow as fast as we want.
Whatever you decide on, commit to it consistently. It will bring you the most growth.
Consistency and good quality content will grow your blog fast.
6. Learn SEO
Search engine optimization t helps search engines find and rank your posts. You have to learn how to optimize your posts so Google can find and rank your blog posts in search results.
You have to start using SEO from your very first post. Trust me it’s worth the learning curve. Because once the work is done, search engines will do the rest and you will get traffic organically.
SEO can seem somewhat daunting at the beginning. But it doesn’t have to be. Just learn the basics and write to please your audience. As time goes on you will learn more and write better SEO-optimized blog posts.
Related Posts:
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7. Get on Pinterest
Pinterest is very finicky lately. We don’t know what the algorithm wants anymore.
But it’s still one of the best traffic generators.
Learning how to use Pinterest is important.
It’s not as much a social media tool as it is a search engine.
What you do on Pinterest is create pin images that take people to your blog and bring traffic to your blog. Get a Pinterest business account, create and build your profile and boards.
Then get started by pinning content to your boards.
Learning the basics of Pinterest is a must for new bloggers. Get on sooner rather than later.
8. Create a blog strategy
A blog strategy includes:
Setting goals
Developing a vision for your blog. Where do you see your blog in 6 months? A year? Five years?
Setting goals will keep you focused and motivated when the tough times roll around.
Set small, bite-sized goals. Then go after them with everything you got.
Think long-term when it comes to setting goals for your blogging business.
Planning your editorial calendar
Find and brainstorm topics to write about. Learn keyword research and decide on topics for a month or two in advance. Make a list of what your audience’s problems are, then tackle those issues. Find solutions, products, and services for their problems.
Research blogs in your niche
Who are your competitors and how can you learn from them?
Don’t copy them.
Find their weak spots and over-deliver in that area. Go above and beyond for your customer and they will come back every time.
Related Posts:
How to Create a Blog Schedule that works for you
10 Critical reasons to consider before starting a blog
Conclusion to your first month blogging guide
Your first month of blogging can be very overwhelming and frustrating. But it doesn’t have to be. Remember you don’t have to get it all done now. Take it one step at a time.
Do a little every day. One step in front of the other. And when you feel like quitting, take a break and rest. Your blog will still be there when you get back.
Whatever you do, just don’t quit. You will succeed if you don’t give up.
Before you know it you will be over this learning phase and know exactly what to do.
Just know that blogging is a forever learning experience. The more you learn, the more you have to learn. You will never know everything. Which keeps it interesting.
Most importantly just have fun blogging. Don’t sweat the small stuff. You will make mistakes. But you will also win. And that is what makes it worthwhile.
The main takeaway from this post is to set up the foundation correctly. With a good foundation, the house will keep standing when the storm comes.
Create good, quality content by serving your audience and SEO-optimize your posts for search engines.
These are the most basic but important steps to focus on in your first-month blogging guide.