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5 Things You Need To Know Before Starting A Blog

October 28, 2019      itsamandaburnett      23 Comments

Starting a blog is going to be a process and there is a lot to learn. Before starting a blog, there are a few things that you definitely should know and consider. This post is going to help you through 5 main areas of the planning phase of starting a blog.

There are certain things I wish I understood better before launching my own blog about two years ago. I pretty much dove right into it blindly and I want to make sure you don’t have to do the same. I’ve made many mistakes along the way and I now have more wisdom to share and guide you along your journey!

What’s Your Niche?

You may hear this a lot when it comes to blogging but the first thing you should think about is your niche. What’s a niche? It’s a funny-sounding word for your blog topic!

The question you should ask yourself is, “what do I want to blog about?” Let me give you a list of ideas.

  • Beauty
  • Fashion
  • Food
  • Parenting
  • Student life
  • Lifestyle (A little bit of everything)

When I was thinking about my own niche I was a little overwhelmed because there are just so many topics you could choose to write about, right? Let me give you this piece of advice, blog what you’re passionate about. Your blog should be based on something or multiple things you could write about all day and not get bored. This ensures that you are less likely to give up on it!

Creating Your Domain

The next important thing you’re going to need to think about is your domain name. A domain name is your blog’s identity so it’s something you’re going want to think carefully about. It shouldn’t be something you can just whip up in a few seconds because there are multiple factors to consider.

You’ll want your domain to be simple and rememberable. You want people to hear about your website and be able to easily find it when they search for it. So don’t get too creative with spelling because it’s likely they’ll misspell it and have a hard time being able to find you.

My domain name is literally just my name because I want my name to be my brand. But if you were to blog only about beauty, your domain could be “beauty with _____.com” for example.

Free or Paid Platform?

The next thing you will need to consider when starting your blog is if you want to blog on a free or paid platform.

Free

If you’re totally new to blogging, you may want to start out on a free blogging platform to find your footing. I personally started on wordpress.com and highly recommend it! The whole platform is very easy to navigate and use. They even have an awesome “reader” section so other bloggers who use WordPress can find your posts and follow you on the platform. It’s a great way to gain an audience when you’re still a newbie!

Although, one thing I encourage you not to do is put money towards their “upgrades” if you ever realize you want more for your blog. I spent over $100 on a yearly upgrade and was still pretty limited! If you ever realize you want to take complete control over your blog, read on.

Paid

If you want 100% control over personalization and monetization to finally make some money on what you love doing, you’ll want to self-host.

Web Hosting

What do I mean by 100% control?

  • Ability to upload plugins
  • You can monetize with Google Adsense
  • You can download themes
  • Completely customizable to your liking
  • Your site is 100% yours
StartUp Plan for Siteground Hosting

When I realized that was the route I wanted to go, I wanted to stay with WordPress because it was a platform I trusted. Although, I learned that you still need to find a web hosting platform for wordpress.org.

The hosting platform that I use is Siteground and they’re amazing! They made switching from wordpress.com to wordpress.org so easy and I’ve received great support. Their StartUp plan is only $3.95/month! That’s well under $100. My blog is also very fast and responsive, and that’s what you want when searching for a hosting platform. I highly recommend them.

Branding

Branding your blog can be so much fun if you let it be. You want to choose your main colors, pick your fonts, and create your logo! I’m going to let you in on a little secret though, I’ve rebranded twice now so it’s okay if you change your mind down the road. Don’t stress it too much.

Colors

What colors/tones speak to you? While you want to make your blog visually appealing to your viewers, you want to make it something you love too because you’ll be looking at it every day!

When I first started my blog, my brand colors were dark and light purple. Although, I’m now really into light and pastel colors. My brand colors are now light pink and gold.

To further understand and discover different color schemes, Canva has a post listing 50 color schemes from different websites!

Fonts

There are thousands of different font styles out there so the only way to figure out which ones you would like on your blog is to play around with them! I quickly realized that I really like fancy fonts and that is what I like including in all of my blog banners and social media posts.

Logo

Now it’s time to start creating your logo. A logo is just a graphic that resembles your blog. When somebody sees your logo, they’ll think of you. For example, when you think of Nike, you think of the checkmark right? I know a lot of people hire people to create their logo but if you’re on a budget and want to do it yourself, Canva is a great tool to use. They even have many free logo templates ready to use!

Where to Build Your Audience

Even if it’s your blog’s first day of being live, you need to go out there and start building your audience. Social media is a huge reason for my growing success today. So let me give you a few ideas of where to look for your audience!

  • Facebook. Facebook has many blogging groups you can join that are filled with other bloggers just like you. The groups are there to help build relationships, ask and answer questions, and share your blog posts!
  • Twitter. Twitter is probably my favorite social media platform right now. The blogger community on Twitter is not only huge as well but they’re so helpful and kind. There are hundreds of pages dedicated to sharing your blog posts!
  • Pinterest. Pinterest is a visual search engine. Many bloggers claim that most of their audience comes from Pinterest! All you have to do is create a pin for your blog post, create a catchy title and description, then link your blog post. 250 million people are on Pinterest so it’s more than likely you’ll get your blog post to be seen! If you want to schedule your Pinterest pins, I highly recommend using Tailwind.

Like it? Pin it!

Before starting a blog, I highly recommend you take these 5 tips into consideration as they are vital to understand before leaping into the blogging world. As these are only 5 tips, there are many more tools and guides that I am working on to help you through your blogging journey so stay tuned!

Already created a website but stuck on your first blog post? Check out my blog post that gives you 7 tools you need to create a successful blog post!

I hope this post was helpful. If you have any questions or topics you’d wish to further understand, leave me a comment down below so I can answer and/or create another post on it!

Amanda Burnett blog signature

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Teresa says

    October 28, 2019 at 11:25 am

    Great post, this really covers pretty much all of it! I’ve recently heard about SiteGround all over the place, which is great because the time is fast approaching for me to change my hosting. That could well be my next choice. 🙂

    Reply
    • itsamandaburnett says

      October 29, 2019 at 6:54 am

      I truly believe you won’t regret switching to Siteground. 🙂

      Reply
    • Rachel says

      October 29, 2019 at 7:51 am

      I use Site Ground and it is on one of the best hosting companies I’ve used. I’ve also used Host Gator and Blue Host.

      Reply
    • Jenny-Leigh-Hodgins says

      November 12, 2019 at 7:09 am

      Great coverage of the basics for starting a blog. Now do a blog about how to actually monetize it successfully!

      Which of the social media is where you primarily focus? Facebook Twitter or Pinterest? How do you feel you’re gaining the most traction with that audience?

      Enjoyed your blog. More please. 👀

      Reply
  2. Emma says

    October 29, 2019 at 5:40 am

    Really good post for starters! Gave me loads to think about particularly about building an audience which is such hard work but so rewarding!

    Reply
    • itsamandaburnett says

      October 29, 2019 at 6:53 am

      I’m so glad you found this helpful! xx

      Reply
  3. Fadima Mooneira says

    October 29, 2019 at 6:02 am

    Good tips. Thank you for sharing this. I am planning to re-brand my blog in 2020. I will use this as my guide. Tq.

    Reply
  4. Virginia says

    October 29, 2019 at 8:49 am

    I’ve heard about Tailwind but haven’t tried it. I’m still figuring out how to use Pinterest to promote my blog. I’m still a newbie though.

    Reply
    • itsamandaburnett says

      October 30, 2019 at 9:56 am

      You should definitely try Tailwind! You get a free trial before you decide if you want to invest in it. xx

      Reply
  5. Jenni says

    October 29, 2019 at 10:10 am

    Great tips! I wish I knew some of them when I started from scratch in 2015… would have saved me a lot of time 😃

    Reply
  6. Perri says

    October 29, 2019 at 10:48 am

    Really good advice, my domain renewal is coming up shortly and I might look into siteground!

    Reply
  7. Ashley says

    October 29, 2019 at 12:25 pm

    Great Post. I wish I had thought about branding before I started.

    Reply
  8. Cheryl Flounders says

    October 29, 2019 at 2:14 pm

    Fab and informative post. Wish I’d read something like this before starting mine!

    Reply
  9. Elizabeth says

    October 30, 2019 at 11:36 am

    Great info! Self hosting is harder to set up but so worth it!

    Reply
  10. accidental blogger says

    November 1, 2019 at 7:52 am

    This is perfect step by step guide for new bloggers. Great one! 💯

    Reply
  11. Ana says

    November 1, 2019 at 8:27 am

    Very helpful post! Simple, detailed guidance for new bloggers. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  12. Nicole says

    November 1, 2019 at 10:20 am

    Great article so helpful!

    Reply
  13. Melissa Kacar says

    November 1, 2019 at 11:45 am

    These are all great tips for bloggers! Thanks for sharing, this was so helpful! 🙂

    melissakacar.blogspot.com

    Reply
  14. Julie Shapiro says

    November 1, 2019 at 6:37 pm

    These are great tips. I especially wish I had known about the self hosting when I was first starting out. It was not until later that I realized that this would be a much better way to go in terms of flexibility, and growth potential!

    Reply
  15. Heather McMaster says

    November 1, 2019 at 6:44 pm

    I wish I had this post before I started my blog. Most people that start a blog don’t realize what all goes into creating and maintaining a profitable blog. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  16. Jo says

    November 1, 2019 at 7:45 pm

    Great tips! It wasn’t until I started my 5th blog- the rest had failed- that I realized that you have to take your blog seriously! Once I implemented the things on the list I saw growth and my blog felt and looked more professional.

    Reply
  17. Mike says

    November 1, 2019 at 9:19 pm

    I enjoyed reading your blog and wish I had read this before building my blog. Thanks.

    Reply
  18. Kat T says

    November 17, 2019 at 7:29 am

    I wish i had read this before I started blogging!! But definitely something I will be taking on board now!!

    Thanks for the tips xx

    Reply

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