Next week here on ProBlogger I will be beginning a series of posts with tips for bloggers in the first week (or month) of their blog.
I’m halfway through writing it (I’m hoping it’ll be useful to established bloggers starting second blogs too) already and have a heap of content written but thought it might be good to include a few reader and Twitter follower tips scattered through it as well.
I’m not so much looking for tips on Pre-Launch stuff like getting a domain, choosing a blog platform etc – I’m more looking for short tips on taking a blog that is set up to being an active blog.
So if you have any tips for bloggers starting out – I’d love to see them in comments below. I won’t be able to use them all but those I do I’ll certainly credit back with a link to your blog.
All I’d suggest is that you try to keep your tips relatively short and to the point as I’ll be using these as short snippets at the end of my posts.
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!
Update: this series has been updated and compiled with other similar posts into ProBlogger’s Guide to Your First Week of Blogging – a week long guide into getting your blog going on the right foot.
Start to create a presence on related blogs and forums so that when you start to “promote” specific pages and post of yours you won’t appear to be just a spammer.
Get a big piece of paper, and hand-write your objective on it. Make it big, bold, and in-your-face.
Stick the piece of paper to the back of your bedroom door, or the wall of your office, or the fridge … or the cover of your travel-guide-book (travel bloggers). Somewhere you’ll see it every day, and be continually re-focussed on what you’re trying to achieve.
I started by using a blogging tool to build a (badly needed) public-transport info site for my town. It’s a “real” website, doesn’t look like a blog at all. Learned heaps about the blogging tool, though, and about marketing a website.
And then I formed a goal to “get those annoying email drafts, yellow-stickies and handwritten how-to-fix-that notes into one place” – a blog was the obvious place (since I need all that stuff when I’m in blogger anway), so my goal had nothng to do with readers at all, and everything to do with helping me work better.
Chances are that no one is reading, so take the opportunity to get accustomed to your blogging platform and writing posts. This may be the best time to write selfish posts – who I am, why I’m blogging, why you should read, etc. You’ll need to transition that over time and begin to be more audience focused so they see value in your blog.
If I were to suggest something, I would suggest a “pre week one” where you determine your strategy… what topics will you cover, who are you judging your success with, how will you measure success, what keywords will you target, how will you promote your blog?
Hi Darren,
This is the honest to goodness truth: I went through articles here at ProBlogger, and watched your videos where you show your office and also how you jot down blogs/ideas in a moleskine notebook.
I found that it inspired me to be the highest quality Blogger that I could, to not be afraid to write on topics that no one else seems to be writing about, and to have faith that at some point it will all come together.
Since then (11 months later…yes, it takes a while) I’ve begun to make a few dollars here and there. I know that the best is yet to come! Thanks for the inspiration. :)
Cheers,
Kelly Ann
1. Comment on other blogs in the same niche.
2. Setup accounts for social networking and get indexed by Google.
3. Reach out to other blog owners who are successful in the same niche
Post on leading blogs in your category and leave your blog URL. Establish a brand in your blogosphere.
http://www.mikeventura.wordpress.com
http://www.ventura-company.com
I’d say don’t be afraid to develop and hone YOUR OWN voice. More over, make sure you do so! ;-)
Also, I would have loved to know some kind of editorial calendar would make things so much easier… only implemented that after 2 years blogging. It’s fabulous to have a posting schedule with organized types of posts each week. It makes creating content so much easier.
Saludos from Argentina,
Vicky
Make a schedule and stick to it! Discipline yourself early on.
Make sure things like google analytics, Twitter, RSS readers don’t take up too much of your time.
You’ll probably see plugins / enhancements you’ll want to make to your blog as you go. Make a note of them and set a date for upgrades and enhancements. Concentrate on writing unless the upgrade is major.
Make sure the boring legal stuff is in place (terms of service, disclaimers, and privacy policies)
Guest post on other blogs in your niche.
Write a short, snappy professional bio for your “About Me” page. Be sure to tell your readers why you are interested in the topic, and what you hope they’ll gain from reading your blog.
Learn who your audience is, and what problems they have that your blog can help them solve. Then do it.
Well, my blog is not 7 days-old yet, but here is what I will do:
1. Write 10 post congruence with my blog topic which is making money online for Indonesian people
2. Submit to Google webmaster tool, Google analytics and Feedburner and put social bookmarking link under everypost.
3. Put blogroll links to like-minded bloggers. Read their blogs and write comments (I am doing it right now)
4. Let my friends know that I AM writing a blog via facebook (build a simple yet sophisticated fan page is adviseable – maybe you should include some tips on how to build and promote facebook fan page ^^), twitter, sms and email.
5. Write a rather controversial and intimidating yet educating thread in an active forum. such as http://kaskus.us < largest indonesian online community
5. After do my best, I will continue to put necessary steps into actions.
Thank you
Make a video introduction of yourself! Talk about who you are, why you’re starting this blog, how you’d like to help others, how it’s helped you already. Put the video on your home page. Then if possible, enter your video in a start-up competition, such as those regularly held on vator.tv. Upload your video to youtube and spread it via social media. The exposure is unbelievable and clients love giving projects to people they can see/hear in the flesh–makes it more personal.
I got almost 2000 hits on my first-ever video. I entered it in a competition and won 2nd prize for $1000 – you can view my video here: http://wordpl.net/index.php/2009/11/the-new-way-to-work/
Salma.
As a new blogger, I am not necessarily in the routine that I need to be quite yet. I think of things to write about when I am working, driving or doing any number of other things…but when I have time to write later at night, I am not always in the correct frame of mind to do it right then.
I have found that if I just open the page and insert a title, it is a breeze to go back and capture all that I was thinking about the subject when I am ready. I can then crank out one article after another when it is a good time for me, and save them to post at will. Just a thought that might help other new bloggers who are not quite in the groove yet.
Find something that you are really passionate about. You will have an easier time in creating good content and your mind will easily convert things you see and hear into ideas that relate to your topic. Hope this helps
Two things which I believe really hurt my startup:
1. Used a domain name with like this domainname.com/blog…Google bots don’t like /blogs….you have to write a bot.txt to force the search. Pick a domain name and use that as the title of the blog.
2. Chose ‘reading between the lines’ as my blog title….there are 40 million indexed references to that phrase…it took me six months to get on page one of the Google search.
This thread should be gold!
Write On!
I’ve been up for a month now and the best things I did were:
1. Researched my niche and identified my target a year ago
2. Hired someone to design my logo
3. Hired someone to design/code my blog
4. Commented, posted and created buzz on other blogs, sites and message boards
5. Wrote my “About” page and revised it a bunch of times before I launched
6. Launched with 6 articles written and links active
7. Had a giveaway within my first 10 days
8. I list on blog carnivals every week
9. Hired a VA to do research and moderate SEO
10. Created an editorial calendar
I can’t wait to hear more!
Know why you’re blogging! If you’re blogging as a hobby or to fulfill a personal need, you’re going to take different steps than someone who wants to become a pro blogger.
Assuming you want to become a professional blogger — and why else would you be reading Darren’s blog? — you need
a business plan
great content
some involvement in social media.
After that, it’s pretty much all a matter of sitting down and putting the nuts and bolts together.
Week 1 you should concentrate on your business plan. Who’s your audience, what are their needs, and how will you help them? Then make sure your content responds to those questions.
My first week was horrible. I was more concerned with keyword stuffing and thinking I was going to be #1 on google after only posting a pew articles.
I was a big ‘ol dummy
Hi Darren,
here are my top-10:
1) Post your articles each week in a carnival
2) Post all of your articles in various social bookmarking platforms (digg, delicious, stumbleUpon etc.)
3) Build a network (comment on other blogs!)
4) Guest blog on myblogguest.com
5) Twitter, twitter, twitter
(5 tweets a day keep the doctor away:-))
6) Learn anything you can about SEO
(And find a theme that rocks)
7) Use other social networking platforms like LinkedIn or XING
8) Learn something about SpeedReading, Creative Writing Techniques and Time Management
9) Enter the blogosphere by subscribing to as many rss-feeds as you can (corresponding to your subject)
10) Treat other bloggers and your audience as humans and not as search engines
Before starting your blog, make a plan for the first 2-3 months (about content, frequency, social networking) and be realistic about how much you can do.
Then, after you start — just stick to your plan!
It will take some time before you can look back, assess what you can improve and adjust your blogging ways.
If you work in the field you blog about then I guess the first thing I would do is make a list of websites and blogs of people in your profession that you already know.
These people can pull favors for you and link to your site to help you seo ratings. Plus, the networking and reading of their blogs will connect you to you niche and help build your own enthusiasm for blogging.
Some of the comments here have been great! Thanks everyone!
Try these steps for the first week:
~ Set up Your Blog with a Nice Template.
~ Post 2-3 Times a Day.
~ Place Backlinks on Social Sites: Twitter, Digg
~ Ping your blog.
~ Submit to Search Engines.
~ Add blog to Blog Directories.
~ Make a Blog Business Plan or Set Goals.
~ Submit Articles with link to blog to Article Directories.
~ Submit to Blog Carnival.
I think the most important step is to pick the niche market that you are knowledgable and passionate about. If you focus on a market because other bloggers are making money from it, you’ll end up spending more time on writting a blog because you have to do extra research on it. So, please pick a niche market with knowledge+passion over money.
mikeclevertips.com
I just started my blog in December and I would suggest writing up some extra posts on your topic. I was about 8 wks into my blog when I was surprised by a Fibromyalgia flare-up (like I haven’t had in years) and I wasn’t able to blog for 3 wks. I knew it was “all wrong” to have a long absence like that so soon, but I wasn’t up to posting anything. I didn’t have enough in the archive yet to re-post something and I didn’t have anything written up in advance. So, to prepare for the unexpected, I’d say, get a little ahead of the game and have some posts ready to go.
Well, I’m in my first couple of weeks blogging, and these tips have helped a lot!
(oops, first comment, I clicked too soon!)
Well, I’m in my first couple of weeks blogging, and these tips have helped a lot!
I think planning out content is the most beneficial thing – as well as planning out potential topics and ideas for future content.
Also, if you plan to do link collections, like I do, keep a database, either in a document or through social bookmarking, all the time, so you aren’t scrambling for new links when you want your link roundup to be ready.
Thank you a lot guys for the best advices ever.
I read through the all comments and they were exciting!