If you are really keen to get started on your blog but baffled by the number of articles and help out there, it can be very frustrating. I spent months reading and reading and getting nowhere. This post contains a list of tasks you should complete before you start to set up your blog. It will help you focus on your subject area and speed up the process of getting your blog up and running.
I am a complete beginner and am not claiming any kind of expertise. The material I am sharing here relates only to my experiences and my limited knowledge. I recommend reading widely and taking any useful advice you can find out there. Hopefully you will this helpful.
In my post New to Blogging I lay out the choices I made and the tools I used to get my blog set up and running.
However, once I found my ideal set up and the magic free course that helped me get off the ground I was held up by a few basics that I could have prepared in advance.
Tasks to complete before you start your blog
- Take some photos! At the very least you need a portrait of yourself or something that you will use as your picture to represent your personality. (see note below)
- Write your ‘About Me’. I made bullet point notes about the elements I wanted to cover. Next I built the notes into sentences and paragraphs. Finally I cut out a lot of material and left in only the elements that I hoped would resonate with my target audience.
- Start a collection of images that represent the feel and style you want to put across. A tool like Canva is great fun to play with and can be free depending on the choices you make. Alternatively as with my first bullet point, take some photos. (see note below)
- Draft a list of subject areas your blog will be about.
- Sketch ideas for your first three blog posts in each of your areas. If you cannot easily come up with three posts then consider whether that is the subject area in which you can realistically expect to generate consistent regular posts.
(Note) – Be careful with the file sizes of any photos you take yourself. Large files will slow down your blog, increasing the time it takes to load. I am working on this area myself so will share any information I uncover!
The key thing is to make a start. If you really want to start blogging just make a start. Pick one small item in the list above and make a start. I spent months thinking about it rather than taking action….. JUST MAKE A START!!
I would love to hear from anyone at the same stage as me or at any other stage in the process. It feels so good to be making progress!! Please share your experiences with me….
Happy Blogging!
Annie 🙂