Hey, hey! Happy Monday! One of the things I love most about my space here at Coffee With Summer is the diversity in readership that I have. Many of you are bloggers who read my blog, but there are also many of you who are not bloggers who participate in the community here, as well. Then there are some of you who are not bloggers at the moment, but are really interested in starting a blog.
If you’re in the latter category, you might have reached out to me about tips about starting a blog or getting connected in the blogging community. I try my best to give one-on-one advice, but it does take a lot to explain to each and every person who asks me. If I’m speaking to you right here, be sure to keep your eyes peeled for something exciting at the end of this post. 😉
Today, I’m starting a series for those of you out there who want to start a blog! This is something I have been wanting to start up for a while, so I’m glad I’m finally able to get this thing started. Today’s post is about setting you up for reality, and I hope you’ll appreciate that. If you’re an aspiring blogger and have searched through Pinterest about how to start a blog, I’m sure you’ve stumbled across many articles titled something along the lines of…
- How To Start A Blog In 10 Minutes
- How To Start A Blog From Scratch In 15 Minutes Or Less
- How To Launch A Blog In 1 Day
Friends, I’m going to be straight-up blunt with you here. Those articles are misleading and completely, completely inaccurate. You can’t start a blog in 15 minutes or less. You can’t start a blog in just 1 day. If you want to set yourself up to have a successful blog, you need to realize that blogging is just like anything else you’d like to be successful in. If you want to be successful in something, you have to prepare well. Launching a blog takes a ton of time to brainstorm a ton of specifics before you can even get into writing.
[bctt tweet=”Why You CAN’T Start A Blog In Just Minutes” username=”SummerTelban”]
WHY YOU CAN’T START A BLOG IN JUST MINUTES:
1. You Have Many Things To Decide On // Brainstorming and decision making are the greatest and most important aspects of starting a blog. Blogging isn’t something that you can just wing. You have to brainstorm about so much, from your mission to your branding. These are not things you can just figure out overnight or even in a few days. These things take time.
What You Need To Decide On Before Starting A Blog:
- Your Niche/Focus: Your niche is essentially the focus of your blog. There’s a lot of grumble over if you should have a niche or not, so what I encourage others to do is to choose the main focus for your blog. For example, I’m a life & style blogger, but the main focus of my blog is to encourage others to lead a lifestyle of authenticity and intentionality. Underneath my main focus, I have 3 main sub-focuses: self-care, style, and social (blogging/social media tips). You don’t have to break down your blog’s niche/focus on how I do, but it’s been extremely helpful to me doing it this way. Are you a mom who wants to blog about how you raise your kids? Are you a college student who wants to give tips to other college students on how to achieve their career goals?
- When choosing your niche/focus, make sure that you choose one that you’re truly, genuinely passionate about. You want to choose a focus that will be natural for you to write about, not something that’s forced.
- Your Mission: Similar to your niche/focus, you need to spend time creating your mission for your blog. Your mission is what goes deeper than your niche. Your mission is the “why” behind why you felt stirred to start a blog in the first place. For me, it was to share my heart and to teach and equip others with tools they need to grow in the main topics of my blog. Dig down deep. What are you passionate about? How do you want to use your voice? Don’t overthink it and don’t rush it either. Wait for it, and let it come to you naturally.
- Your Blog’s Name: Taking time to figure out what you want to name your blog is super fun, but it can be exhausting. It’s important that you write all of your ideas down when you’re brainstorming possible blog names. Yes, even the ones that might sound silly to you at first. Write it all down. When you go to find a domain name later, you’ll be happy you wrote all of your ideas down.
- Your Branding: Branding is very complex and it’s not something that just clicks with you right away. Branding is something you’re constantly going to be learning through your blogging journey, but it’s key to start that knowledge before you launch your blog. Branding is different than what your brand is. I know that might sound confusing at first. Your branding is everything from your logo all the way to the colors and fonts you use. Your branding is all about how you express your voice in a visual way to draw others in.
- When you’re just starting out, I’d encourage you to just focus on the basics of branding, as it can all be very overwhelming. What you should focus on:
- Your colors. I highly recommend going with three colors. Go with two primary colors and one accent color. But honestly, this can range depending on what your ideal colors are. I have a more calm & collected neutral color scheme going on, so technically, I have 4-5 colors that I used throughout my brand. If you’re someone drawn to bright, flashy, and bold colors, you most definitely should stick to the recommended three colors. If you have too many bright colors flying around, it can be overwhelming.
- Your main fonts. Again, I recommend choosing two key fonts. One that the majority of your graphics will be in, and one that’ll be your accent font. Again, this can vary.
- Your style. For example, I love clean and crisp. That’s what I try to aim for in all of my branding. I don’t like big, flashy elements. When considering your style, think about your voice. If you’re someone who is extroverted, you might want to be bolder in your branding. If you’re more reserved, it wouldn’t make sense for you to go loud and bold with your branding. Stay true to yourself.
- When you’re just starting out, I’d encourage you to just focus on the basics of branding, as it can all be very overwhelming. What you should focus on:
[bctt tweet=”From your mission to your branding, it all takes time. Don’t rush it!” username=”SummerTelban”]
[bctt tweet=”What To Do Before You Launch A Blog” username=”SummerTelban”]
2. The Logistics Aren’t Simple // After you’ve done your brainstorming, you’re going to start looking into all of the logistics, like hosting and your domain name. These logistics aren’t simple, because you really want to do your research before deciding and putting money in.
The Logistics You Have To Choose:
- What Platform You’re Going To Use // WordPress.com, WordPress.org (self-hosted), Blogger, and Squarespace are the popular blogging platforms that most bloggers use. I use WordPress.org, which is the self-hosted WordPress. I recommend it 100%. Self-hosted WordPress is simple to use and figure out, and you can do extremely more with it than WordPress.com.
- Where Are You Going To Purchase Your Domain Name // There are many sites out there that you can purchase your domain name from. I got my domain name from GoDaddy, simply because that’s where my husband buys all of the domain names he has. Plus, they have great perks like subdomains and professional email aliases.
- Where Are You Going To Host Your Blog // After deciding on where to purchase your domain name, you need to decide on hosting for your blog. I host my blog through GoDaddy. Once again, my husband always uses them and is always impressed with their service. We have never had an issue with them! I definitely recommend them.
- Your Blog’s Theme/Design // After you’ve taken care of all of the logistics, now it’s time for some fun again. Once you’re all up and running on your site, it’s time to choose a blog theme or design. I highly suggest that you do not go with any free themes, as they’re overused and very limiting to what you can do with their design. Some places you can find some great, yet affordable themes for your blog are on Etsy or Creative Market.
- Claim Social Media Handles // This isn’t applicable to everyone. For example, I use my name for all of my social media handles, even though my blog is Coffee With Summer. I choose to do this because I’m more than just a blogger and it’s easier for me to handle one account for myself as a whole. BUT, if you do want to claim social media handles with your blog name, this is the time to do it.
Related Reading: 7 Investments Worth Making For Your Blog
3. Prepare Your Content // I know when I first started this blog that I didn’t have much content prepared, nor did I completely follow this entire post. I learned the hard way about some things, so that’s why I’m sharing all of this with you. I want things to go seamless for you.
The Kinds Of Content You Need To Prepare:
- Blog Posts // This is the very obvious answer, haha. Have some content already written and ready to go to get up when you start promoting your site. There’s no right or wrong way to do this, but I encourage you to get a few posts up before promoting your site. This way you have content ready for potential ideal readers ready from the start.
- Stock Photography // Whether you’re going to shoot your own photos or not, you need to use photos on your blog. People are visual, therefore, you need visual aspects to help draw others in. There are tons of stock photography options out there for free and bundle you can buy if you want some that are less used.
- Social Media Graphics // Not everyone will need social media graphics to post all of the time, but you need to design the header images for every social media platform that has one (Twitter & Facebook).
I know this has been long, so if you’ve hung in there until the end… You rock! If you’re someone who wants to start a blog, I really hope this has been helpful to you! Blogging is a lot of work, but it’s also a ton of fun. It’s an awesome journey, and I hope you choose to embark on it.
If you’re someone who wants to start a blog, what are some questions that you have? Tell me all about them in the comments below or reach out to me on social media. I’m excited to start up this series, and I want to cover as many questions as I can. Let’s chat!
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