Things I wish I would have done BEFORE creating my Blog
For me, this Blog is undoubtedly a learning experience! Dating myself here, back in the day, I played with HTML code when everything had to be coded by hand, with no drop and drag! So I have very little knowledge of how the websites work now.
There are some basic things that I wish I had done better BEFORE starting my Blog. I want to share this insight with you if you are considering starting your own Blog. You can change some of these things after you start, but some items can not change; you will be stuck with them. You will be really busy writing excellent content, and you will not want to repeat steps over and over.
What do you want to say?
I knew I wanted to talk about Mental Health and my story. I am still working on direction, which I feel is very late in the game! Once you have the initial idea, you need to know what you want to write about in that niche. For example, if you’re going to talk about gardens, you should know WHAT about gardens you wish to write about, like different soil types, flowers, or sprays you can use. It would be best if you had a direction. I am still not on my path yet.
Who is your audience?
Look at who is going to be your audience. Are your readers’ young people or an older crowd? Who is going to be searching for what you want to say? You need to know this because you will want to advertise your Blog to these people. If your audience is young people, you might want to think about TikTok or focus more on Instagram. Look at where young people are online.
Why do you want to blog?
Seriously, this is important! To make money from blogging, you must set it up precisely for that purpose. If you want to write as a hobby, you can be relaxed about how soon you subscribe to different programs and plugins for your Blog—some things you need to buy need to be done immediately for setting up to monetize. You might as well get everything rolling at the same time.
What is your Blogs Name?
I know this sounds too primary, but it isn’t because you can pick the perfect name that you love, and it could be in use already! You need to Google search your name and see who is using it or something close to it. I chose Butterflies and Tulips because of what it means to me. I lucked out because it wasn’t taken as a domain, but there are a lot of personal sites with “Butterfly” and “Tulips.” Think about what you want to write about, then pick something that means something to you but also goes with what you want to say.
What kind of Logo would you want?
Again, I threw something up there because I didn’t plan this out, and I’m not too fond of it now, and I paid for something I don’t use. Look at designs based on your name or maybe the initials you want to use. Make sure you follow the steps to verify your name is not taken first before you fall in love with a design.
Your Blog Email
Set up a blog email BEFORE you start the Blog! I did not do this either! I signed up for my hosting with my personal email and a bunch of other things, and now I have stuff going to my personal and my Blog email. It isn’t very clear and unorganized! Besides, you want your email to look professional for the Blog. You will be signing up for products and workshops and emailing your list with it. It is essential to set it up based on your Blog’s name so people know who you are.
How do you plan to Blog?
You need to look at your schedule and think about when and how you want to Blog. If you already have a full-time job, then you might want only to write content once or twice every week; you want to be consistent. I do not have a full-time job and want to post every day, but I have not gotten a set schedule down yet. You need to look at your life and set up a time to work on your blog content.
Join a Facebook help group BEFORE starting your Blog
I am in two different Facebook groups that are about blogging. There are way too many things to learn yourself, and many people are willing to help if you have questions. I did a blogging beginners course and learned some incredibly valuable information!
The Facebook group I joined is Blogging for New Bloggers with Lucrezia and Marina, and the free course I took is here. This information is so important! I plan to share this post with them, but I highly recommend the group and the course even if they don’t link back to me. I have purchased quite a few products from them. I have asked questions where I was totally baffled, and they helped me! You will want to communicate with other bloggers; this is a great way to do that!
Start your social media
I highly advise setting up social media after your name is verified but before starting your Blog. You will want to start pushing traffic to your Blog as soon as possible. No one can visit if they do not know it is there! You will want to use other means to get the word out about your Blog, but that is another post! Explore all means of social media. I currently use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Tumblr.
Write a few posts
Please write a few posts, and I did not do this! I have seen many folks say launch your Blog right away, but how long would you stay there if you went to a blog with one post on it? I feel like I am rushing now to get a few posts up. I have seen other people recommend that you have at least ten posts written BEFORE starting your Blog. I wish I had done that!
Conclusion
There is so much more to go over, but I wish I had done these things first! I am here to help people, so if you have a question about any of these steps, please get in touch with me, comment here or email me at
daniellemaxwell@butterfliesandtulips.com (Blog email there!) I wish you all the luck! Research each step before you jump in!
