After almost a year and a half of blogging, I think I can finally say that I’ve got this whole gig down!
Therefore, I thought I’d share some honest tips on blogging!
And look, I DO mean honest! I’ve seen so many blog posts out there about how to start a blog and let me tell you, most are complete garbage! The bloggers spam the site with ads and affiliate links without offering any real meaning.
I’ve found that they often repeat themselves and copy other posts without adding any sort of value or new perspectives! I don’t want to be like that.
Disclaimer: All of the views and opinions in this post are solely my own and are not sponsored. This post includes affiliate links, meaning I earn a commission through links at no cost to you.
Before we begin, I want you to know my goal for this post. I don’t want it to be too spammy, or bland of proper information.
I’m going to keep it real.
Here’s what you can expect from this post:
- Picking a blogging platform
- Buying a domain, Is it worth it?
- Writing your first post.
- Learning how to maintain a blogging schedule
- Using Pinterest to market your work.
- Finding benefits in Tailwind
- Other Social Platforms
- Monetizing your blog (what people don’t tell you)
- Why you need an email list
- Final thoughts
Alright, now that you know what to expect, feel free to either read this post in its entirety or scroll down to whichever section is of most value to you!
Want to watch this Video instead?
Picking a blogging platform
If you’ve been around on the internet and have looked into a few of the thousands upon thousands of blog posts about starting a blog, you’ve probably heard every single blogger recommend self-hosting, and using a platform like Wix, Squarespace, or WordPress.
There are dozens of reasons for this, but I think it has to do with a cyclical blogging nature. Someone uses one of these sites, discovers they can earn commission for advertising it, blogs about the site, another blogger sees this and believes the site is the best thing for them, uses the platform, discovers they can make commission from referring it, blogs about the platform, another blogger sees this…etc. It’s a loop.
Let me tell you something, you DON’T have to immediately jump into a paid platform for your blog. I started my blog on blogger/blogspot by Google. The main reason I did that was because I had used it in the past (so I already had some knowledge of it) and it was free to use.
I read so many posts about a number of other platforms, but I was too broke to spend my money. Also, I started my blog as a hobby and a way to build a portfolio for my writing. I didn’t really intend to grow the audience or make money from it in the first place.
Now, I have a lot of thoughts on blogger. To sum up my experience however, I found that it was a really simple platform and perfect for a blogger who is just starting out. There was a BIG downside to blogger, though. If I wanted anything “fancy” outside of what the theme I had offered, I had to code that stuff on my OWN! And that was hard!
You can read a really old post of mine called “How I coded my Blog to Look How I Want” so you can gather a better understanding of how much html work goes into blogger.
Inevitably, I moved my site to WordPress. I now host on Bluehost and use WordPress as my blogging platform. If I’m being honest, it really is worth the money. It’s been so refreshing to not have to code everything that I want in a post.
The additional plugins are so helpful and I honestly haven’t had any complaints (yet) since moving my site here. If you want to read more about this, you can read my post “Why I moved my Blog to WordPress.”
To move the blog, I used WPBeginner’s post on how to make the transition.
Final Thoughts:
Free blogging platforms like Blogger are great to start out, especially if you’re nervous about commitment or aren’t sure if a blog is something you’ll keep at for a long time. Paid platforms, on the other hand, offer more opportunity to curate the site you envision and save a lot of time.
Buying a Domain. Is it Worth it?
This is a tough question because when I was first starting out as a blogger, I saw so many posts saying that you should pay for a domain. Therefore, I bought one early on.
What is the difference between a paid domain and an unpaid one, you ask? An unpaid domain looks something like: www.yoursite@blogspot.com. Or www.yoursite@wordpress.com. A paid for domain eliminates the @blogspot or @wordpress portion. Mine, for example, is www.amelia-j-wilson.com.
I bought my domain about three or so months after I began blogging. Some of my earlier posts (because I’m too lazy to go back and update them) might even include my old blogspot url on the blog image! I spent $12 on a domain from Google (note: this is a recurring payment so I’ll pay $12 every year). Blogger had a pretty easy set-up to purchase and re-route my new domain. It was super simple.
Do I think a paid domain is necessary?
I don’t think it’s necessary, but I do think it’s a good thing to invest in. If you just want your blog for personal reasons, then there is no need to pay for a domain. However, if you plan to monetize and promote your blog, or buy a domain later on, it might be a good thing to invest in at the start.
Also note: domain prices can vary depending on what you want the name to be. Some are free, some are not. Some cost $6 a year and some cost hundreds.
If you are planning on purchasing a domain, you can use Google (like I did), your website platform, your paid host (bluehost, hostgator, etc.), or services like GoDaddy.
Writing your first blog post
Honestly, you can start cranking out posts as soon as you have your web host and domain figured out. Once you’re set up, whether all for free or paid, I would argue that you don’t really need any more bells and whistles to begin posting. The sooner you start, the better!
Some people will tell you not to post until you have your email list set up, your social channels figured out, and your affiliates in place. I’m here to tell you that those things aren’t necessary.
I will tell you that you can’t post until you’ve decided on your web host, domain, and theme (how you want the site to look). But those things are super easy to get going once you’ve decided.
Now, maybe you’re wondering how to structure your post or the best way to write it.
I can’t answer that for you! Everybody does their thing differently. I can only tell you how I do it.
I write all of my posts in google docs because it automatically saves my writing, so should my computer die all of a sudden, I don’t lose much progress if any. After writing my post there, I copy and paste the text into wordpress.
I spend a lot of time formatting my text in wordpress, adding headings, changing font, adding links, etc. I will add an opt in form halfway through with my cta. I will add photos if necessary, add in some links to my store or other posts, and finish off with a nice graphic for the top of the post.
In reality, you can do whatever you want when it comes to writing your first few posts. If they suck or you’re dissatisfied with them, then at least you can rest knowing that not a whole lot of people will see them anyways!
I would advocate that you at least spend time making the posts look as you envision them!
Learning how to maintain a blogging schedule
Maintaining a blogging schedule, in my opinion, is more important than marketing and spending money on ads, your blog, etc. If you can maintain a schedule for yourself, then you’ll be set for everything else that comes with blogging.
When I first started, I DID NOT have a blogging schedule. I did manage to post about six times a month (I had a lot of free time). But the posts were very inconsistent. As with anything, the more consistent you are the better. Not only will you be able to hold yourself to a standard, but you also prevent yourself from slacking off too much and from losing out on loyal viewers/readers!
My consistency flopped when I went off to college. I was barely active on my blog for my first semester. This hurt my blog…a lot. I lost readers, had hardly any views, and I lost my passion. I decided afterwards to post every friday. And that’s what I’ve been doing since! It’s going so well that I can write posts months out!
I’m considering writing twice a week. But we’ll see.
Using Pinterest to market your blog
I used Pinterest from the very beginning. Albeit, my pins were trash and my web domain had @blogspot at the end, but hey! At least I tried!
My advice for beginner bloggers is to hop into pinterest ASAP! It’s okay if your pins don’t look good, with practice you’ll create better things. I encourage you to use Canva to create stunning images. Their free version is amazing and their paid version is even more so! I use canva almost religiously now!
Pinterest is my main marketing platform for my blog. I create pins for my blog posts and post them to pinterest. It’s really driven traffic to my blog and made me feel good about people finding my posts useful.
I’ll admit, I used to only post pins from my blog manually and I only did so when the post was published. To make things even more cringey, I only posted the image once and then never again!
There are dozens of posts, ecourses, workbooks, and webinars on proper pinterest marketing. I think, as a beginner blogger (especially for those of us who are broke!), it might be best to manually pin until we can afford something more glamorous.
Tips on manually pinning:
- Pin multiple pins for one blog post (utilize different graphics)
- Repin old content
- Pin to relevant boards
- Use group boards
- Use keywords in your descriptions and hashtags!
The Benefits of Tailwind
Oh, I KNOW for a FACT that you’ve heard of Tailwind. Every blogger and post on how to start a blog or how to market your blog include Tailwind as a must have.
Want to know something hilarious?
I avoided Tailwind for the longest time.
In all honesty, it wasn’t super useful or necessary when I was just starting out because I didn’t have enough content to pin. And even though I have it now, sometimes I STILL feel this way!
Tailwind, for those who don’t know, is a pinterest and instagram scheduler. You pay $15 a month for the service to post your content at the best possible times for engagement.
I used to think this service was just sucking up bloggers money! But no! It’s a really great service!
One great thing about tailwind is that you can get a free trial of it. You can schedule up to 100 pins and let Tailwind do the rest. I took part in this trial period and was blown away! My pinterest analytics surprised me. I doubled and sometimes tripled my engagement and audience. My numbers skyrocketed!
After my trail, I gave in and subscribed to their $15/mo plan. I’m glad I did. I really do think it’s worth it.
The best part about Tailwind is that I can spend two-three hours scheduling content (picking images, copy and pasting links, writing descriptions, adding to queue) and then I can sit back for a week or two and let Tailwind do it’s thing.
I mostly pin my own content and then pin some from tribes I’m a part of (I have yet to see the benefits of tribes so I won’t be discussing that here).
I also continue to repin content from others manually on pinterest as well as manually pin my own stuff. I’ve found that it really helps!
Final Thoughts:
All in all, Tailwind is great! It has made a world of a difference for my blog! However, I wouldn’t recommend using it until you have at least 50 blog posts published. Tailwind is almost impossible to use if you don’t have enough content.
Other Social Platforms
When it comes to other social media platforms that I use for blogging, I don’t have much to show. I focus mostly on SEO and showing up in direct search, followed with pinterest engagement.
I also use Instagram, but I don’t have a very big following there and often don’t receive many link clicks as a result.
I’ve heard from other bloggers that facebook (particularly facebook groups) is a fantastic way to promote your blog, products, and services. I have never really been a fan of facebook and am unsure if I’m ready to dedicate more time to it. I do think it is a platform to look into though.
Twitter, Youtube, and TikTok are other platforms I’ve seen bloggers dip into. Again, I’m not sure of the benefits of any of them.
In summary:
I think dedicating your time to at least two or three social channels is best. Find what works for you and go where your audience is. I would argue that this is something that should be started early on. As soon as your blog is up and running, start sharing and promoting it.
Monetizing your blog (what people don’t tell you)
I didn’t know people could make an income from blogging, when I first started out. I thought blogs were just little hobbies that people partook in. However, after doing research and entering the blogging world, I realized that blog monetization was more common than I initially thought.
Is monetization necessary? No. But pretty much every blogger I come across takes part in it!
I started trying to monetize my blog back when I had Blogger. And for the entire first year that my blog ran, I didn’t make a single penny. I had read that free blogs (ones that are not self-hosted) can prevent you from monetizing. Plus, there was a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo that could “harm your blog,” or at least that’s what I was told.
I made the jump to self-hosting and began reworking my entire monetization process. As far as I could tell, all of those bloggers out there writing out income reports and sharing success stories were complete LIARS!
And then…I made money…
My first few coins came from google adsense (after I gave in and decided to put ads on my blog). Then I got affiliate sales, and then product sales. Now, I have just begun to make money on my blog and I promise you, I’ve put more money into this baby than I’ve earned from it.
But the thing is, I don’t mind so much. I just enjoy writing!
Here’s the thing though, if you’re going into blogging to make money. It is a super slow burn. You won’t make a ton of money at first. If anything, you’ll be putting in more money than you make. Those success stories about making six figures in their first year blogging are either lies to get you to their site to see their ads and click their links. Or, the blogger had enough money to pour into marketing and advertising from the get-go.
Something else people don’t really think about when starting a blog is that when tax season comes around, filing taxes will become a pain. I haven’t filed taxes yet because I only started making money THIS MONTH! But I did file the income from my book sales…that wasn’t as hard as I thought it’d be, but I had to pay $45 extra dollars. Bummer.
What about affiliates? What are those? How does it work?
For the longest time, I didn’t know the answers to any of these questions! I joined Amazon Associates when I first started blogging, and guess what? I got kicked out after my first 180 days for not making any sales!
I joined Shareasale later on and have seen more promising results (due to having more knowledge and experience).
Affiliate programs (more or less) give you links to include in your blog in order to make a small commission off of a readers purchase at no extra cost to them! (Note: when including affiliates in pinterest or a blog, you must announce that it is an ad. On pinterest, you use #ad to signify this. On a blog, you need a short disclaimer like the one below!)
Disclaimer: All of the views and opinions in this post are solely my own and are not sponsored. This post includes affiliate links, meaning I earn a commission through links at no cost to you
Why you need an email list
Every where I looked, bloggers were telling me to get an email list growing as soon as possible. I want to be real with you. I only started (recently) to put effort into my mailing list. I started to put opt ins on every post. I made a freebie (CTA), and I began marketing my posts more.
Still, my list is not very large and I haven’t really seen benefits from it yet…Not to say that I find the list useless, but I guess I’m not as knowledgeable about what to do with it once it starts growing.
I send biweekly emails. And I update my “subscribers” on new product launches, blog posts, gifts, etc. However, I have by no means mastered the email list (let alone email marketing!).
As of right now, I’m still under the impression that an email list is an important thing to focus on from the moment your blog goes live.
Final thoughts
Starting a blog is certainly not all of the bells and whistles that other bloggers may make it out to be. Unless you have a lot of money saved up for hosting, advertising, email marketing, etc. it’s going to take quite some time to get your blog growing and earning income.
Also, you don’t have to buy into all of the other bloggers recommendations (including mine). You don’t HAVE to purchase a domain right away or jump right into self-hosting. It’s possible to wait until you are sure this is what you want to do.
All in all, I’ve found blogging to be great! I haven’t actually received any income from my blog yet (aside from a product purchase). But that doesn’t matter to me as much as the activity of blogging itself does! I love to write. But now, I also love digital marketing, graphic design, and coding!
I think starting a blog requires a ton of commitment and thought. But I will always promote that it is one of the best things that I ever did for myself.
If you like this post, check out some similar posts of mine below:
Feel free to leave a comment below and let me know what your experience blogging has been like.
You can also email me with questions or concerns you may have at info.amelia.wilson@gmail.com
Also, check out my poetry book, The Lights are on but Nobody’s Home, available now on amazon for $6.99!
Disclaimer: All of the views and opinions in this post are solely my own and are not sponsored. This post includes affiliate links, meaning I earn a commission through links at no cost to you.
Thanks again