What to Know Before Starting a Blogger Career

Are you hoping to start a life-changing blog that will provide a sustainable income while letting you wax poetic about your lifelong interests? Anyone can start a blog, but not going in blind will drastically improve your chances.

Here’s what to consider before you begin.

Passion and Value are Key to a Blog’s Success

The chances of your blog rising above the rest instead of fizzling out start forming long before you publish your first post. You’ll potentially be at this for years, so picking a subject you’re both knowledgeable about and can bring new information on is essential.

Knowledge alone isn’t enough, especially in fields like tech, where hardware, software, and best practices become obsolete. You’ll only pull it off if you have a genuine passion for the field translated into a willingness to stick with it and constantly learn new things.

Passion will get you through growing pains & hurdles, but your content also needs to stand out. You’ll want to research the best blogs in your field and figure out what they’re not offering, but you could.

Cultivate a Brand from Day One

Your content might be useful, but few people will bother engaging with it if your brand isn’t on point. Your brand is the identity people associate with your blog and online persona. It comprises everything from your blog’s name through a logo, the theme you use, and your recognizable writing style.

Nailing these from the get-go will save you from confusion and user disengagement in the long term. Think of a catchy blog name & an address that’s easy to remember. Pick a tasteful color scheme that helps readers feel welcome and stick with it to foster familiarity.

Do the Technical Stuff Right

Before a blog can take off, it needs a place to live. Hobbyists may find blog hosting websites convenient. However, you’ll want to self-host to make money with the blog. Do some research before choosing a hosting provider, and steer clear of free ones.

The right provider should have impeccable references from actual users and a proven uptime track record.

Speed is equally, if not more, important. People can’t be bothered with loading times and will abandon your blog within seconds if everything isn’t ready to go. Make sure the host is fast and supplement it with caching plugins & a firewall. This will make content load faster while minimizing harmful traffic’s impact on the hosting server.

Create a Content Strategy

Writing only when you feel like it and when an idea pops into your mind won’t get your blogging career off the ground. You don’t have to write three months’ worth of posts in advance, but you do want to plan at least that far ahead.

It helps to split the blog into several categories and go from there. Let’s say you’re a PC enthusiast. You could devote segments to product reviews, PC building advice, commentary on industry news, etc. You can then brainstorm several ideas for each category and feed them into a content calendar. It will help you set deadlines and choose appropriate release dates for special or time-sensitive posts.

Most importantly, developing and maintaining a content strategy will keep your blog consistent. You might not be able to post daily while the blog is still a one-person operation. Still, knowing they can expect new content every Thursday without fail will keep loyal readers coming back.

Engage Your Audience

Blogging isn’t shouting into the void – you’ll have an audience, and they’ll want to interact. Enabling and addressing comments under each post is the first step. However, do yourself a favor and use a spam blocker because you will get spam eventually. Don’t engage with the haters unprofessionally but take any valid criticism to heart.

Once the blog picks up steam, you’ll want to start engaging with readers on social media, too.

Don’t Neglect Account Security

Running a blog comes with lots of supporting software & services, all of which need an account. The blog itself, social media you tie to it, email, your content management platform… The list goes on, and the chances of disaster go up the more flimsy or similar passwords you use. It might be convenient, but so is using a password manager while being a lot safer.

Password managers store, autofill, and protect login details with unbreakable encryption. Better yet, you can easily exchange QWERTY or any other security hazard with a complex and unique password that will actually stand up to brute-force attacks. Two-factor authentication is likely also built in, providing extra protection and a second chance even if someone compromises a password.

But don’t forget other security measures. Take a VPN for secure browsing and antimalware that can block suspicious activity on your phone and computer. Also, please make your updates automatic so that any bugs or security gaps would get fixed on your devices.

Explore Different Revenue Streams

Be passionate enough, and the money will come, but from where? The logical way to start is to incorporate ad space into the blog’s design. Google’s ads generate a small passive income, so they won’t be a serious money maker until your blog gains traction.

Affiliate links offer a more immediate return. Following one of these leads readers to an online store. You get a commission on anything they buy, while the customer doesn’t pay extra.

Another method is to create something your readers will want to buy. It can be a helpful resource like a course or a service like private music lessons. Sites like Patreon are another popular way of supplementing your income with exclusive tiered access for paying fans.

Sponsors may eventually approach you and offer enticing deals. Taking the cash may be tempting, but make sure the products or services you’d be promoting align with your blog’s values & mission.

Conclusion

While meaningful and captivating prose should be at the core of every blog, it’s far from the only requirement for one to reach its potential. Consider our advice and embark on your blogging journey with confidence!