How to start a kick ass blog people will want to read

An article by Amanda    2 Comments

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Often, what seems an impossible climb is just a staircase without the steps drawn in.

Thus, here are your steps.

Define Success & Have a Vision

How will you know when your blog has reached the point of success unless you first define what a successful blog means to you? The first step in starting a successful blog is to define the end goal. What do you want to accomplish with it? Let’s get specific here, because we want something measurable. It also has to be realistic and obtainable. Here are two examples from my own personal blog goals:

1. I would like to create a blog that allows to me make at least $5,000 per month and allows me to work less than 15 hours per week.
2. I would like at least 5,000 subscribers to my email list.

Seeing the big picture at the beginning gives you something to work toward. From experience, reaching your blogging goals is never the end. By the time you make it there you have built up enough momentum and will have a flurry of places you’ll want to reach.

Be passionate about the topic

This is the most important piece of advice I can give you. Being passionate about the topic of your blog is essential. After spending countless hours writing, marketing, editing, and working with a blog you will get burnt out if you are not truly passionate about the content. Even if your goal is to make money with your blog, LOVE it and LIVE it. Blogging can turn into a dreaded job that feels like nail screeching on a chalkboard so loud your visitors will hear your pain. But it won’t if you love what you are sharing and feel good about it.

How to determine your blogging passion

First brainstorm:

• Write a list of everything you love to do – hobbies, activities, interests.
• If there was no such thing as money, what would you spend your time doing?
• If there was no such thing as money, what are five things you would want to do in the next 12 months?
• What is something you want to learn or become an expert in?
• What do you want to be when you grow up?

Then find the common traits in each answer or list. Are there any themes or common factors in each answer?

Research your target market

Know who you are communicating with. Your desire to have a successful blog probably includes the desire to have people reading/watching/listening to what you have to say. Therefore, you need to know who you are talking to. What do they like/dislike? Where do they go online? What are they looking for? What do they want to buy? Why do they want to buy it? What needs do they have? Get out and talk to them! If you are choosing something you are desperately passionate about, then you have a head start because you already have something in common with your target market.

Tools for researching your target market (Hot damn, I love Google!):

• Google Keyword Research: Find out what words they are using in search engines related to your passion. I prefer the old version, because that’s how I roll.
• Google Search: Find other websites and media related to your niche.
• Google Blog Search: Find other blogs in your niche.
• Google Trends: See what the trends are for keywords related to your niche.
• MSN Demographic Tools: A few fun tools for a quick glimpse.
• Yahoo Site Explorer: See what your competition is up to, who is linking to them and what pages they have on their website.
• Join facebook groups, meetup.com or other online tools for connecting with people in your target: Get out and talk to people.
• Read Magazines or publications in your niche.

Be sure you can continue to write about the topic

Choose a topic that is not too broad and not a tiny niche either. You want to be able to ensure that you will always have something to write about. To be sure, start brainstorming before your blog is installed. Open up a Word document and list as many post topics as you can possibly think of. Then look back at each item in your list and see if you can create a few sub topics for each post. If you are able to come up with a lot of possible posts then you probably have a topic that will last. If you can’t come up with more than 10, then you may want to expand your focus.

Write amazing content and add value to your community

With a blog you are building a community of readers. Make every post nothing short of amazing, every time. If you have to post less often in order to do that, fine. If it takes you 3 hours to write a post, great. You always want to put your best foot forward with everything you publish. Do research, find quotes, be useful, and most of all add value. Try to filter out noise from “internet marketing” professionals that tell you to post 182 times per day or to limit the word count or length of your posts and other strict must follow rules. Sure it may work for a select few or in a certain industry. But I say, do what feels right and what fits your target market. What does your target market like? What is right for the subject of the post?

Bonus: Before you start promoting your blog, have at least 5 posts published. This will give you a better chance at attracting readers and having a successful launch from the start.

Learn from experienced bloggers

Reading other blogs will help generate ideas for your own content and give you information you can use to make your blog more successful. It is important to read blogs that are on the same topic as yours and also blogs outside of your niche. I get a lot of ideas from blogs that have nothing to do with marketing or web design. Blogs about personal development or that cater to one of my hobbies can have content that teaches me something about my own business or self. They also give me great ideas for posts. And it isn’t because they are writing about marketing necessarily, but they inspire me.

Here are a few random recommendations from my seriously long list:

• Sign up for my email list. Sidebar. Now. Go.
• ProBlogger.net: How to make money blogging.
• CopyBlogger.com: How to write fantastic blog posts.
• CrazySexyLife.com: Mental Inspiration.
• ZenHabits.net: Personal Development
• LizzieBTV.com: Video Blogging that isn’t 100% annoying or poorly lit.

Don’t worry what other people will think

Well first off they probably won’t care anyways (unless your website is reallyembarrassingpicturesofmyfriends.com) and if they care they will probably only be happy for you. The biggest hurdle I had to overcome when I first started blogging years ago, was worrying about what other people would think. It caused a lot of grief and took me a lot longer to “find my voice”. For a long time, I kept my online activities separate from my real life because I was too nervous what my friends would think. But that is just silly. This is what I love to do, this is my life’s work. So why would I want to hide it from the people I care about? In fact, once I did show it to them they were amazed and so happy for me. So live it. Do it and apologize later if it doesn’t work out.

On that same note, remember that it will always be your website. Should you feel the need to make changes or go in a different direction you can. That is the beauty of it.

Be patient

Contrary to poplar belief the road to internet success does not happen over night. And in cases where it may have happened, it is like winning the lottery. Real success online comes with consistent hard work, dedication, and continually learning. Start with that in mind and save your self a lot of frustration and probably a lot of money in Get Rich Quick eBooks. This especially applies if the goal of your blog will be to promote and sell products/services. If your using your blog for business, that is just what it is – a business. When was the last time you heard of a legitimate business that costs practically nothing to start and made thousands of dollars overnight? Exactly. Business online is no different. It takes knowledge, learning, time, and dedication.

On the flip side though, if you do things right then there is a lot of freaking money to be made and it is very possible for your blog to make thousands of dollars every month with little effort. Sign up for my email newsletter and I’ll show you how.

Develop a marketing plan

Develop a solid plan on how you will get in front of your target market. Here is a quick brain dump because I plan on an in depth article on this later. Include social media, SEO, social bookmarking, word of mouth, offline events or networking. Have an email sign up form so you can stay in touch with visitors. Leave highly valuable comments on other blogs in your niche. Link to other bloggers in your posts. Put your url in signature of your forum posts and all emails you send. Create a twitter account and actually tweet valuable information. Add the link in your facebook profile and share it with your facebook friends. Submit guest posts to other bloggers with a link back to your website. Tell everyone you know.

Install WordPress & Get er’ Done

My final recommendation is if you are at all serious about this blogging thing, start with full control. Get WordPress installed (the most fantastic blogging software on the market) on your own domain name (yourdomain.com). This will give you full control over the website and plenty of room to expand once things start to grow.

Summing it up

You have your goals, you have started your valuable community by writing your first pieces of brilliant content around something you are extremely passionate about, and now you need to make it happen. Start working on that marketing plan, keep writing amazing content, and be active in your blogging community.

Blogging success can be yours. You can do this!