Vital Steps To Complete Before Launching Your Blog
Okay, firstly, just let me apologize for posting so little. It’s really hard at the moment to find time to write posts regularly, although in two weeks time I’m on holidays (:)) so I can kick up the posting to every day or so then.
Anyway, many people new to the blogging industry seem to just jump in after seeing some article or forum post about how they can make a lot of money blogging and they rush together a horrible blog and put no planning into it. For the sake of your blog and your reputation, please don’t do this. When first setting up a blog there are seven main things to consider and plan before jumping in.
They are:
- Choosing the right niche
- Choosing the right theme for that niche (although custom is always best)
- Creating a stylish logo to identify themselves with, for use in the banner, gravatars, advertising banners, or anything else.
- Creating advertising banners of multiple sizes.
- Planning a promotion strategy.
- Setting goals for the blog.
- Setting up a form of tracking your stats and recording your progress of achieving your goals at regular intervals.
1. Choosing the right niche: This should come as an instinct, and you have probably heard it millions of times before. “Your blog will not succeed if you aren’t passionate about what you write about” – and I totally agree with it. Don’t just jump into the insurance niche because there are high paying Adsense clicks if the content you will deliver is poor and unenthusiastic.
2. Choosing the right theme for the niche you chose: This is a mistake I see on so many blogs, and I can see how easy it is to make that mistake. If you have a webmaster blog, don’t choose a theme with really bright colours everywhere and images of fruit everywhere. Choose one that functions well and has good contrasting, but simple colours. I have made the mistake of choosing the wrong theme before. If you have been visiting my blog for a while, you would have noticed that I used a magazine theme. While this can work, it doesn’t really fit in with the feel of the webmaster niche. As I mentioned before though, if you can afford custom or design and code for yourself than that is so much better then using any free themes as it gives you so much more flexibility in customization and so much more control.
3. Creating a stylish logo to identify you and your blog with: This one is pretty self-explanatory. A unique, custom logo will give you a brand on the internet, and will make you a SOMEBODY, not a nobody. A great example of this branding is in JohnCow.com – from his domain name (a parody of JohnChow.com), he has created his blog with the main theme of cows (e.g. a slogan of “Milking The Internet Since 2007, the “Recent Moos” feature for recent comments, and the cow spots on the car and in the title). When you think “cows and internet”, JohnCow springs to mind. This is what it should be.
4. Creating advertising banners of multiple sizes: This one can cost you a lot of free advertising if you don’t do it before you create your blog. The reason I say that is that contests are everywhere, and you are bound to get some free banner spots. Some free banner spots go on a first come, first served basis. Therefore, if you don’t have your banners ready, you can’t get the free advertising. Another reason that you must create them early is if you are going to buy advertising on sites frm the moment your blog kicks off. You will need the banners prepared. Make them look spectacular, because if you don’t, you’re not getting the best return for your investment. if you suck at designing (like me), then outsource them. Just don’t skip over creating banners.
Planning A Promotion Strategy
5. Planning a promotion strategy: If you leave this blog today implementing only one of these tips, please, implement this one – it is THE most crucial. If you wish to launch a successful attack anywhere, you must plan it. Make a daily schedule that incorporates posting, link building, advertising, guest posting, social media, social bookmarking, and any other promotion strategies you can think of. If you stick to this, you will not only be demonstrating the qualities of a great blogger, but will also see great results for your blog, in terms of traffic, web relationships, free links, and revenue.
6. Setting goals for the blog: If you are taking your blog seriously, then setting goals for the blog is vital. Does the quote “you can do anything you put your mind to” spring to mind? That is exactly why you should set goals for your blog. They give you motivation to keep going, to promote more, to continue to get involved with others. Also, when you achieve a goal, you will have a great feeling, and thirst for more. This will push your blog to be bigger, better and stronger. Goals don’t have to be big or complicated. They can be as simple as “reach 100 subscribers” or “get an average of 8 comments on each post”. They just need to be something that will motivate you to do more for your blog.
7. Setting up a form of tracking your stats and recording your progress of achieving your goals: What I mean by this is to have all analytics codes set into your blog before launch or have your Excel spreadsheet set up so that you can easily record your daily progress. This simply help to take the load off your back later on, and gives you a better indication of where your blog stands from day 1.