BEST ADVICE ON STARTING A SUCCESSFUL BLOG

Are you interested in starting a blog and yet you don't know where to start? Let me help you with some true beginner tips on starting a blog. I am newer to blogging myself so I honestly remember a lot of the struggles of starting out quite well and I would love to help you. I may not have all the answers but if you leave me a comment I can at least try to help or guide you in the right direction.

Why did I decide to start a blog?

Starting a blog is something I had always wanted to do and I really get a lot of great energy from. I get to share great things I have learned along my journey and also do what I love which is blogging. Blogging can be anything from a blog you create just to put your thoughts online to a great thriving business like many great bloggers have successfully created. My inspiration into blogging began when I was younger, I started blogs that were not as successful. I wanted to begin a blog but I did not have the knowledge or the correct Niche selected.

What inspired me to start the blog and still encourages me?

My new-found love for blogging and Saving joyfully began when I listened to a podcast on blogging from a rather well-known blogger Darren Rowse. Darren is the blogger who created Problogger and he shares tips on starting a successful blog and growing your blog into a thriving business. His enthusiasm is what really inspired me this time and the wealth of knowledge he shares in this podcast is what has helped me to go about it in the right ways. Blogging is not easy, believe me. Blogging is not a quick way to make tons of money and get famous by any means. Blogging takes a lot of time to gain respect, get noticed, connect with others and most importantly to create your blog and posts each week. If this is of interest to you then you have come to the right place. I really think my tips here can help you on your way as you start not only a great blog, but also one that can become a business if that is your ultimate goal.

Here are my tips to making your blog a success from my own experience.

Do some research

Even before I started my blog I began researching blogging and exploring the possibilities that were available. There are many great books on the topic, blogs, Pinterest advice from other bloggers and best yet podcasts like problogger You want to soak up all the info you can before starting your blog and learn some from others who have had great success.

Discover your Niche

This is an important key to developing a thriving blog but discovering your Niche can be complicated for some. When I mention your Niche I am talking about deciding what you will be blogging about or your blogs topic. This is  important because you need to give people a reason to follow you and also teach them something or bring something of value each time you post. I find this hard myself because there are so many topics I enjoy blogging about all the time and my interests are so diverse. This does not mean that you cannot branch out occasionally or be yourself. It just means be mindful of what your blog goals are and what value you are trying to bring to your readers.

Find a webhost that will benefit your blog as you grow

I chose Bluehost for my blog and have not been sorry that I did. Bluehost offers a lot of great choices on web hosting for a discounted price. You can use my link here BLUEHOST to start out whenever you are ready. My link will offer some great discounted web hosting options that are offered to me to share with my readers as an affiliate. Depending on how many years you pay for in hosting the price does differ. You should decide whether you want to just try it out for one year or go with three years in advance. Three years of hosting is definitely the best discount using my link but you should take into consideration how serious you are about the blog and how much money you have to invest in your blog at this time. The biggest reason you need a self-hosted Wordpress blog through a web hosting provider is to support the monetization aspect of your blog. It makes it easier to monetize and get companies to work with you as a blogger with both advertising and collaboration. I will let you in on a secret my web hosting was completely covered by money I earned through a market research project I did for Inspired opinions. This company is my favorite website to use for market research surveys and projects when you are selected to participate in their projects they pay very well.

Pick a great name for your blog

This can be very hard for some people to decide on their blogs name because a lot of good ones are already taken, and you want to make sure it's catchy and memorable. I struggled a little at first with this one but I knew what I wanted the focus and Niche of my blog to be. I chose to create my blog around the aspects of saving money, finding ways to make extra money and becoming financially free. I venture out a little but for the most part these are the topics I blog about the most. So the name Saving Joyfully was born out of the money-saving aspect, and my middle name Joy which has inspired my desire to spread Joy throughout my life. In this process of deciding on a name you may find many names are already taken so get creative and keep trying different catchy names that you feel fit your blog and goals for your blog.

Set up a separate professional email address

You want to make sure that you have a separate professional email for your blog/business. I would advise an outlook email because these are used by many professional businesses. Steer clear of Hotmail and some providers that are more outdated and less professional sounding.

Watch some YouTube videos on setting up your website

There are some great videos out there on these topics. I found some that helped me choose the template I use which determines the look and layout of your website. I went with Ocean WP and really like the way it has made my blog look and become what I want it to be. There is a wealth of knowledge on You Tube and on Pinterest that can help you do everything from install plugins to creating pages and menus for your blog.

You will need some plugins

Plug ins are so important when creating your blog and can help you do everything on your blog. It can help with everything from setting up email subscription options, to social media share buttons for your blog. I use many different plugins on my blog and without them a lot of these great features would not be possible. If you have questions on specific ones I use feel free to message me and I would be happy to let you know.

Create content that adds value for your readers

Once you have a Niche and are beginning to create content you want to begin creating posts. You want to pay special attention when deciding on a Niche to finding one where you have plenty of knowledge to share with your readers. You also want to make sure you are passionate about what you are writing about. You will quickly burn out and run out of ideas if you do not have a passion for the topic you write about. People will be able to tell the difference if you are not passionate about what you are writing and do you really want to read something where you can tell that the author was not inspired to write it but wrote it to either make money or because they need to just produce content.

Social media and Networking

My biggest advice I can give as you start your blog comes from personal experience. You want to start social media pages and begin to network with other bloggers. Bloggers may not be your target audience but I can guarantee they will be the best support system when starting out and because of the nature of what we do we value and appreciate what other bloggers do so we love to contribute. The best social media site I have found for networking with other bloggers and building my blog has been Twitter. A word of advice though good networking involves developing relationships and giving back to others, these are key to your success. You will get what you invest so if you follow and unfollow on social media to gain followers, you will inspire and connect with no one. You must be active and present with others on social media to gain the same type of following. I wouldn't give up this aspect for anything because it has been a true joy for me and has led me into the path of some great inspiring bloggers who have changed my life already in many ways. It has also brought some excellent opportunities for guest posting on other sites which also helps you get noticed such as my post on A theory of change or my interview on TWOTALL4UFOOL or Danswords

My final thoughts

Start a successful blog

If you are thinking of starting a blog and you think you have what it takes to run a successful and profitable blog just do it. I believe these are some importance aspects to consider as you get started and hopefully you find this advice helpful. Dan from Danswords & Darren from Problogger have been very influential for me and have offered some very helpful advice on their blogs for those starting a new blog. Feel free to check them out and see what I mean for yourself.If you are looking for some other great bloggers to connect with on social media I will suggest that you head over to my Twitter page and follow @savingjoyfully on Twitter.

You can then check out the lists I created on Twitter of my favorite bloggers and most encouraging tweeters. These are the bloggers who have spurred me along every step of the way. They have shared my content connected with me and shared my blog with others. These bloggers are now friends that I could not easily do without in my life because we now have a great connection most cannot relate to. A connection built on encouragement and inspiring others to do what they love and become the best version of themselves.There are so many more I have not mentioned but these are the most supportive bloggers who have encouraged and supported me through my journey. please head over to Twitter and check out the full list of bloggers. Thank you for reading this and good luck with your new blog as you get started.