You have set up your blog and now don’t know where to go from here? Starting a blog can become very overwhelming. You do one thing and then you are hit with a thousand other things that need to be done.
Don’t worry we have all been there, and while it might not always be easy, once you figure out what works best for your blog, everything starts to fall into place.
How I Started And My Regrets
I started blogging in 2019. Although, I only started taking it seriously and putting all my energy and all my free time into it in December 2021.
I regret not taking my blog seriously from day one and not doing these things (that I will mention below). I would be so much further along and probably would have reached some of my goals by now.
Anyways, no point stressing about this now right?
Here’s why didn’t take my website seriously. I just didn’t know where to start. I would publish some posts and then have no idea where to go from there.
That’s when I decided I was going to learn everything there is to learn about the world of blogging and once I was ready I would come back and work my hardest to become a success.
And that’s exactly what I did.
Since late 2021 I have put all my knowledge into my website and nearly a year later, I have started seeing results.
Don’t get me wrong, I am nowhere near where I want to be, but I definitely feel that I’m on my way there. And it is the best feeling.
There are many things that need to be done in order for your blog to grow. If you want to make a business out of it then you need to treat it as a business from the beginning.
Now, let’s talk about the top helpful blogging tips for new bloggers.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read the full disclosure for more information.
Learn SEO
SEO is the best and most important thing you will ever do for your blog. Especially if you are wanting to monetize.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. This will bring organic traffic directly to your website; the more traffic you get, the more sales you will get.
So why is this important? Because it will help google find your website and bring readers to your page. These readers can convert to sales. The ultimate goal with SEO is for your blog post to rank on the first page of google.
I know it can sound scary hearing about SEO for the first time. But honestly, it’s not as bad as it sounds and if you give it a chance, you will be so glad you did.
There is quite a lot that goes into good SEO for example, keyword research, optimising pictures and backlinks and more. I would recommend doing a paid SEO course if you can. This is one of the best things you can invest in for your blog.
There are many courses out there but I recommend this SEO course with One Education. I took this course and found it extremely helpful. It taught me everything I need to know about writing a great SEO blog post. The course is through videos which makes it easier to learn.
Don’t forget to go back to your old posts already published and update them once you have learned SEO.
Hosting
If you want to make money from your blog then you will need to self host. Unfortunately there is no other way around this. It is an investment you MUST make if you want to take blogging seriously and earn income from it.
Self hosting on places like WordPress.org, means you own the website, you can do whatever you want with it and make any change you want. There are no limits.
However, if you opt for a free version like wordpress.com, then your options on what you can do with the blog are limited and you will not be able to monetize either. You will not own the blog therefore you will have no control with what happens to your website.
With self-hosting, your website will also look professional. This is a great advantage if you are hoping to work with brands as they will see that if you have invested in your blog, then you are serious about working with them.
I use Bluehost as my host provider and I totally recommend them. I have never had any issues with my blog since starting and when I have needed help their customer service has been great over on their 24 hour webchat.
Bluehost also offers affordable price plans starting from £2.20 per month. Click here to start self-hosting now.
Affiliate marketing
A great way to make money from blogging is with affiliate marketing. This is when you promote something for a brand (or something another blogger is selling) on your blog and if your readers buy the product through the link provided then you will earn a commission.
If you are planning on earning through affiliate marketing then I would recommend applying to affiliate programs once you have started your blog. There is no reason why you shouldn’t start from the beginning.
It can take 6-12 months before you start making any money from your website so you will want to have blog posts with affiliate links ready for when you start to get a decent amount of views onto your page.
Some affiliates I recommend joining as a beginner are:
- CJ Affiliate
ShareASale and CJ Affiliate are quite similar. Both have thousands of affiliate programmes you can join in any niche. Both are user friendly and offer support if you need help.
If you are in the travel niche, I also recommend joining the Sky Scanner affiliate programme. You can earn up to 30% if someone books a flight or hotel through your affiliate link.
Legal pages
This one is very IMPORTANT. After self hosting, having legal pages on your website is the second biggest investment you will need to make.
When I launched my blog, I didn’t realise how important this was. I really didn’t want to spend money on legal templates and thought they wouldn’t be necessary. So instead, I decided to get a free template and add it onto my website.
It wasn’t until 2 months into blogging I decided to do some research and see if there was any point in paying for legal templates.
Honestly, the stuff I came across was quite scary. It definitely opened my eyes to see how vital it is to have these legal pages on your website. Especially if you are going to monetize your blog with sponsored posts, affiliate links and guest posts.
Legal pages will protect you from being sued or fined, and from what I have read online, this happens more often then you think.
While there are free templates out there you can use, unfortunately, they won’t help you if you are ever faced with a lawsuit.
Luckily, I came across a blogger – Amira, the owner of aselfguru.com. Amira, not only is a blogger entrepreneur, but she is also a lawyer. She has created legal page templates with all the information you need and easy to customise at affordable prices.
There are 3 bundles you can choose from, the starter legal bundle, premium legal bundle and the VIP legal bundle.
The starter bundle is essential, it includes the 3 most important templates:
- Privacy Policy
- Disclaimer
- Terms & conditions
The Premium and the VIP bundle offer extra templates, such as a sponsored post contract, guest blogger agreement, and lots more. You can check them out and purchase the essential legal templates here.
Pinterest is a great way to get organic traffic to your blog. For many bloggers, Pinterest is the main place they get most of their audience from so you can see how important Pinterest can be for your website.
During my first month of blogging, I took Pinterest very seriously. I learnt how to use it, how to create pins and posted at least 2-3 pins per day. I started seeing results and many of my page views on my website were coming from Pinterest.
Unfortunately after the first month I started to neglect Pinterest, but instantly regretted it. My page views went down and I could see my blog wasn’t doing as well as it was in the first month.
Pinterest can be hard work and time consuming, but I promise you, if you put in some time and energy into it, you will see results.
I would advise taking some time to learn Pinterest, learn how to create beautiful pins, how to do keyword research for the titles & descriptions and how to pin daily.
Join Groups on Facebook
There are a few reasons why you should join Facebook groups. You can meet other bloggers, engage with them and even ask questions if you need any help.
You will find a lot of people that are in the same boat as you or have been through the process of being a new blogger and are always happy to help you if you ever need any advice.
Search on Facebook for blogging groups and try to join a few.
My favourite ones are:
- Becoming a Blogger
- The Smart Blogging Approach
- Bloggers Camp
Be consistent
If your goal is to have thousands of page views and make money from your blog then you need to show up every day.
This doesn’t mean you need to publish a blog post every day, but it is important to be consistent with it. Stick to a schedule. Some bloggers will post once a week, others might post 3 or 4 times a week.
It doesn’t matter how much you publish each week, as long as you are posting at least once then that’s perfect. Find out what works for you, and how often you can realistically publish on your website.
Now, here is where you need to show up every day. SOCIAL MEDIA. Yep, whether you love it or you hate it, social media is where you will need to promote your blog, especially if you are not getting any organic traffic from SEO yet.
I recommend picking 2 social media platforms to concentrate on. Having too many will become hard to keep track of and can make you lose motivation.
Do at least one of these things each day:
- Post a link to at least one blog post
- Post a picture and add a link to your blog in the caption
- Engage with others – Like, comment, share other posts
- Post a video/reel
- Ask your followers a question – This is a great way to engage with your audience
*Take a break from your blog/social media if you need to. It’s ok to take some time off.*
I loved this list, thank you for sharing! I particularly appreciated your roundup of Facebook groups, I’d never heard of two of them.
What a helpful blog post! I loved learning about your journey, so thanks for sharing. ☺️
Nice post. I didn’t know about a couple of those blogging facebook groups so will join them.