This is a guest post by Jane from Problogging Success.
Launching a new blog today is not the same as it was a few years back. Things were a lot easier and diluted in the past decade, but now, the competition is dense, given that thousands of blogs are launched every day. Every niche has become competitive, forcing bloggers to try to rank highly for less-competitive keywords.
How can you stand out in that sea of competition? Authority!
Authority makes you notable and noticeable. Authority can be built over the time, as the blog gets older and gains readership.
But how about new blogs? Can you launch a new blog with authority? Yes, you can.
Launch a second blog
When you already have an established blog, it will not be hard for you to launch your second blog with all authority. A very good example was the launch of FeelGooder. Even though it’s not a second launch, it’s among the most successful launches Darren has done.
We all know how authoritative are ProBlogger, Twitip, and Digital Photography School.
With this mighty empire on hand, Darren didn’t need to do much when he launched FeelGooder! Just a post on ProBlogger about how FeelGooder had come about was fine: people rushed to FeelGooder. Even without worrying about PageRank, and despite the newness of the blog, authors were eager to guest-post on it, myself included.
Well that’s the magic. When you already have one or more established blogs, it’s easy to authoritatively launch a new blog. People will believe you, trust you, and know about your content even before the new blog goes live.
Building your social empire
You don’t have to have an established blog to launch a new blog with authority. You can launch your first blog with authority. The key is simply to make yourself known on the Internet. Create your social empire. Be one of a kind.
Social media
Let’s make one thing clear: building your social empire doesn’t mean creating accounts on every social site out there. Anyone can create multiple accounts in Twitter as long as they provide unique email addresses for all of them. But that will not build your authority.
You have to provide value wherever you are, even without a blog. Share high-quality content in your niche, among your followers and friends. Do not go on an auto-follow or auto-friending campaign. Do not go on a “follow me and I will follow you” campaign. I know that’s tranquilizing, bit it’s important that you don’t lose control. If authority is your goal, you must always aim at quality.
Tweet and share the best of the blog posts you have read on the Internet within your niche. Occasionally be funny, make personal tweets, share and comment on others’ shares, retweet good information, and so on. These are the components of social engagement. This is about building relationships online.
Guest posting
Can you write guest posts without having a blog? Absolutely. If you can write high-quality, unique articles, submit guest posts to blogs you already know. Aim for publication on the blogs whose content you promote to your social networks. They should be able to identify you, and if your post is on-target, they’ll let you in.
In the author bio, include links to your Twitter or Facebook page to gain more followers and friends.
But don’t be impatient and start writing and submitting articles just like that. You have to guest post effectively, even if you don’t have a blog.
Launch with authority
I think there are four essential steps involved in launching a blog with authority.
1. Keep your blog offline until you post enough content
How can a new blog have “enough content”? It’s possible… Depending on how often you post, the time it will take you to develop “enough” content will vary. But if you’re posting every day, you might keep your site a “secret” for, say, about two weeks. Here’s how.
- Do not submit the blog to search engines until you have enough content.
- If you’re using WordPress, go to the Dashboard and click on the Settings tab, then on Privacy. Click on “I would like to block search engines, but allow normal visitors,” and save the setting.
- If you’re using Blogger, go to the Settings tab of the Dashboard and take care of the two items shown in the figure below.
Caution: Don’t forget to change those second and third options once you launch the blog officially, or it will never be found!
2. Remove dates and time stamps while launching
All major blog platforms will allow you to remove dates and times from your posts. Select this option as you launch your blog, and turn it on later, down the track, once your blog is up and running successfully.
3. Launch without comments
One of the factors that decide the authority of a blog is the number of comments the content attracts. And we all know that a newbie blog will most likely not get a good number of comments. Instead of showing a poor number of comments in the early stages of your blog, it may be better to shut down comments altogether. Once your blog gets momentum, you can open up discussions to readers.
You can get more comments at the initial stage while your blog is still not officially “live” (as I explained above). For this, I assume that you have built your social empire already.
- As soon as you launch the blog, let your friends and followers in all social networks know. Ask them to make comments on your blog.
- Join a commenting tribe—a small group of people who share links to their posts. You give and get. For instance, if the group at the tribe has 20 members, you leave comments on those 20 links and you’ll receive 20 comments on your posts. It’s a good thing to do!
- Find a handful of blogging buddies; again this is a give-and-get proposition.
- Register your blog at ComLuv.com and do a search for CommentLuv-enabled blogs in your niche. While leaving comments on those blogs, you can display of the last ten of your posts after your comment (I have given some more details on this at my earlier post on relationship building for bloggers). This will give you good exposure and kills two (or three) birds with one stone—you get backlinks, you make buddies, and you create an online presence.
4. Launch with a premium theme
If you are willing to spend some extra money, I strongly suggest you launch your blog with a premium theme. It’s worth it.
Wait! Don’t rush yet to search Google for “Premium WordPress Themes.” Not all premium themes will do what you expect.
I can suggest two premium themes that makes blogging easy and elegant: Genesis and the Thesis frameworks. I recommend Genesis even though I have not used it—Darren seems to be doing great with it. I recommend Thesis because I use it at my blog and am extremely happy with it.
What will a great premium theme do for you?
- It makes your blog look professional.
- It comes with clean coding.
- It takes care of basic—and some advanced—SEO.
- It comes with elegant skins and designs.
- Professional support is available when something goes wrong—you don’t want your blog to look amateurish, with broken layouts and code. We’re talking about authority here, after all!
These are the basics of launching a new blog with authority. What other tips and advice can you add?
Jane is a blog consultant and the founder of Problogging Success. She has authored two e-books Problogging Action Plan (winner of the Small Business Book Awards, 2012) and Guest Blogging Champion to help bloggers become successful in their blogging business.
I think the most important part of this article is to launch a blog with a premium theme. There is nothing that looks more beginner than seeing the wordpress first template on a blog. How can anyone trust you as an authority if you don’t show that you can build or even find a decent blog template?
I agree, I didn’t want to invest in a premium theme either. When I go to a blog and the theme looks cheesy I want to navigate away from the page even if there is good content.
Took me forever (and many theme changes and alterations) to finally settle with a (premium) theme I finally liked: )
I don’t think you have to have a professional theme. I think if you know “how” to use a free theme and design it to make it look good, then you can get away with a free theme.
John, I partly disagree on that. First impression is important to me on my blog an also on blogs of others. I’d certainly recognize the WP default theme. But that is just me. If you are in a niche with an educated audience knowing all that then you are right.
But I believe that the majority of people simply want to find the content they are looking for and want the tools to be working. While I’d always try to create visually effective sites it might not always be the key to success.
In the past I’ve learned that what you have to communicate on the first impression is the topic you write about or the kind of content that can be found.
I think you can achieve that in lots of ways and choosing the right theme is just one aspect. Taglines, header designs, headlines, sidebar about sections etc. All of those and even more might work…
I can’t agree more with the idea of having a premium theme set up. I spent almost a year going the “freebie” route when I finally broke down and invested in Genesis. It’s been like night and day. My new blog has been up just 8 weeks but I’m up to almost 2900 page views a day. I’m happy with that start.
BTW, I think a lot of us are on the Premium Theme kick this week (must be something in the water). I just posted my Top 10 Premium Sites list at: http://propodder.com/2011/04/top-10-premium-wordpress-theme-sites/
Hi Jane,
Thanks for this interesting post. I think you touch some very important points here. Most people don’t like to see that a blog is “new”, unless they already know the person who has started the blog as a successful blogger, and hence expect the blog to become a success.
Actually, I’m not sure if it is necessary to keep the blog “offline” while you are building content, but at least we should build solid content first and start investing in marketing afterwards.
With my first, German language website, I made the mistake to start marketing when there was hardly any content – not a good idea, the marketing efforts were wasted.
Then, I built more content and relaunched the marketing campaign and things went much better.
I’d like to add that we also shouldn’t wait too long with the marketing, because it is important to get feedback on our content early on.
So I guess it comes down to creating some content, then do some marketing, then create more content based on reader feedback, then do more marketing, etc.
Post Secret does okay without a premium theme.
You can do fine without a premium theme. But I’ll tell you from experience with both free and premium that investing in Thesis was one of the best purchases I’ve made for my blogs. (I’ve used Genesis too, but it’s not my personal favorite.) If you have a subject or gimmick that really draws people in with something new and totally different, like Post Secret, use a free theme and you’ll do fine. If you’re trying to build a new brand, I recommend buying something you can make 100% your own.
Yeah, you might have a point. Can’t afford it at the moment. And I’m not exactly a wizard with the technical side of blogging.
I know the feeling of not being able to afford it! LOL.
Great post! I was looking for some tips on launching my new blog.
I would have a hard time telling the search engines not to find me, but that is just me.
Excellent points to start a second blog.
Also, if we have email list with existing authority blog, we can use it once to inform about the new blog. Even though it can be a different niche, but still readers will like to visit it because of ‘existing authority’.
I wish I’d gotten this advice a month ago. Maybe it will help down the road if I lose my mind completely and start a 3rd blog.
Thanks for good advice.
Thanks for the advice. I definitely need some blogging buddies. I can’t at the moment, but look forward to reading your other article on building blogging relationships.
Your other article is no longer active. Do you have another link you can send me?
Hi Sarah,
I don’t know what is wrong. But here is the working link for the article.
https://problogger.com/don%E2%80%99t-go-it-alone-relationship-building-for-bloggers/
Cheers,
Jane.
I agree that you can succeed faster in a group, at first. It’s good to help one another and move as a pack than to ascend alone. Thanks for the post.
Thank you for sharing. For new bloggers it is important to have supportive groups..
help motivate and give comments and ideas to improve our blogs.
Thanks for the advice and for sharing your knowledge..this is very helpful.
Wow, perfect timing with this post. I have just launched my new blog and there is only one post.
* I have already done my first guest post, on quickonlinetips.com, just yesterday.
*I already have a premium theme.
* I got my first comment the fist day I posted my first post, thanks to my networking. So I think turning off comments isn’t necessary.
*I have hid my dates.
The biggest hurdle I am facing right now is to write articles. I know I want to write about never before seen blogging tips and lessons from my own life, but whenever I sit to type a new post, my mind just goes blank. I know its natural and hence I am not giving up!
Hi Rison,
You seem to be doing a great job already. You are for sure moving in the right direction. It will not be a surprise to hear you succeed very soon.
Good luck.
Cheers,
Jane.
Thanks for the complement. Hope to hear more from you.
Great tips. I liked the idea of getting one blog established first then launching new ones.
Great tips, really useful.
I can hardly agreen with you about Thesis, for me a phrase like “Pixel Perfect Typography” is nothing but a marketing strategy, so didn’t get my trust enough to buy it. I prefer Genesis…
Oh I totally agree about using a premium theme. I actually got 80% of the way on my site on both Typepad, and then a free wordpress theme, and decided they just didnt look good enough. I ended up using a WOO theme – Daily Edition and am thrilled with it, and with their service at the help desk. As a newbie, getting technical help has been a life saver.
Thanks for the great tip about CommentLuv. I have been thinking of installing it but now I will for sure. Do you know though, does it import all existing comments?
Thanks!
Hi Andrea,
Commentluv is a plugin that works on wordpress blogs, it isn’t actually a commenting system itself, it’s an addition to your existing comment system.
it adds links to your commenters last blog post on comments made after it has been installed, it wont retroactively add links to comments that were already made before it was activated.
hope this answers your question
Thanks for the clarification Andy. Much appreciated.
Jane.
Wasted my AwArds budget when is only had a half-dozen posts, and nothing to offer readers (free download).
Lesson learned: create an action plan and have everything ready before attracting visitors.
Great article, I too like the note about CommentLuv, I often neglect the little things. The only issue I see is coming up with quality content for a second blog. If you’re channeling your energy and time into one blog, sometimes I feel trying to run a second one gets less effort and just isn’t the best. Maybe time and experience help but putting forward two really good blogs seem like a challenge at the moment.
Thanks for your advise! Next time I have to remember to keep my blog offline until I post enough content.
I just bought Thesis -theme and I am really glad I did so!
I might go with a premium theme on my next project, seems it can make a big difference.
The StudioPress themes are certainly well worth the investment!
I kinda wish I had this guide before! I plan on launching a new blog this September along with a new product, so this will be very helpful at that time. Thank you!
I love the idea of a “commenting tribe”. Where/how do you join one?
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but here we are: I disagree with everything in this article.
1. Keep your blog offline until you post enough content
While I agree that promoting a new blog that has, say, only one post is not a good idea, I think that keeping it out of search engines for two or more weeks is a huge mistake. Since most search engines only update every few weeks, you’ll be missing out on your initial juice; if you post every day for two weeks, building up all kinds of keywords while locking search bots out, you could potentially be nowhere to be found in the search engines when you do launch. Wouldn’t it be better to launch and almost instantly see relevant search terms in the traffic section of your analytics?
Unless the blog is meant to be anonymous forever, let those bots crawl you from Day One.
2. Remove dates and time stamps while launching
I cannot see any benefit to erasing timestamps before launch. If your goal is to launch with a shiny new blog full of lots of content, wouldn’t you want to show off those dates the whole time? I can get down with removing timestamps if your content is the kind that is never going to go out of date, but why not show off how much work you put into the blog while getting ready for launch?
3. Launch without comments
So, if someone happens to stumble upon your blog before your planned launch date, they can’t comment? That is a huge, huge turnoff to a reader. Even if you put up a notice that says, “Come back and comment in two weeks,” the odds of a reader coming back just to comment are pretty slim (unless they’ve already commented, and someone has replied to their comment). They will just move on to the next blog.
I would much, much rather leave comments open, tell a few select friends and faithful readers about the new blog, and let them comment away, so that when I officially launch, there’s already activity and readers newer to the blog will be that much more enticed to add their two cents.
4. Launch with a premium theme
Plenty of free WordPress themes are customizable. You can create (or hire a designer to create) your own header and background image. Now, I’m not saying that it’s completely acceptable to pick the same theme that everyone else is using, but both bloggers just starting out and bloggers launching a new venture don’t necessarily have the dough to shell out for a premium theme, or even for a custom design. Whether or not you have a premium theme does not guarantee you success in your launch. Rather, the theme should focus on content, whether it is premium or free. A unique design will definitely help boost your authority, but not if it’s the same premium theme that everyone else is using. The Twenty Ten theme is my absolute favorite, for its customization options and clean look. And? It’s free.
With all due respect, I sincerely found the advice in this article to be horrible. I usually enjoy all ProBlogger articles, but this was just strange. I’ve launched dozens of blogs for clients, friends, family, and myself, and I found being visible to search engines and keeping comments open to be integral to those blogs’ success — especially at launch.
I definitely agree with you about the comments. Especially for a new blog, if something sucks I want people to tell me. That initial feedback is extremely important. It’s also a great measurement of how you’re blog is doing in it’s initial stages. It tells you that people are engaged by the topic.
I agree — I definitely want people to tell me when something sucks (and they will). I also want to know right away that someone has read my words. It’s encouraging to read comments that either inspire you to do better or inspire you to keep writing.
Hi Elizabeth,
I just found your comment after I posted mine. Otherwise I’d just posted a reply here. I liked the article as such and had a good time reading it. But, just like you, I disagree on the same point listed by you.
You are not alone!
Thanks Philipp. I almost didn’t want to post my comment, because no one else seemed to feel the same way!
For me use advice about confous seem very helpful. I came across a blogger a couple of months ago and he built authority by TURNING COMMENTS OFF after a while. Now he gets close to 100 comments each time if posts. Scarcity breeds authority.
Hi Emmanuel,
This is an interesting observation. I’d have to test that myself but I don’t believe that turning comments off results in more comments when they are on again. It will mainly depend on your actions (posts, networking etc.) while your comments are off.
Can you share the link to that blogger?
Thanks.
Hi Guys,
Let me join the conversation. Yes it might seem that turning off comments is a big turn off to someone who initially visits your blog. But I am telling this only under the following conditions:
1. Your blog is quite new without much content around.
2. You are quite busy with other things rather than inviting friends to comment on your blog and you are able to do the same thing in return (this is required in most cases).
3. You don’t want a new visitor to think that the blog has no comments: So why should I comment at all? But if the comments are closed, a new visitor will never think that way.
Once you are free from your “setting up” phase you can open up the blog for commenting and invite friends and buddies to leave comments and you can return them too!
Regarding the premium theme, there is no obligation to buy a premium theme. But if you do, you will get the benefits of paying for it. Premium themes are not just about glamorous designs (you can get any free theme and design your blog the way you want). It is also about numerous hidden benefits that include clean coding and SEO.
Removing date and time stamps is to not show your irregularity in updating your blog at the initial stages. It all happens when you are just launching your blog and you do this only if you don’t want your readers to see it.
Keeping your blog offline for search engine bots is not needed if you just want to launch a new blog. But if you want to launch it with *authority*, you would want your blog to have enough content, regularly updated with quite some comments on it.
Cheers,
Jane.
Hi Jane,
Thanks for clarifying. I still don’t think that these are good guidelines for someone to follow when launching a new blog. The majority of these measures are only necessary if you are not planning to launch any time soon, and are spending several months getting it ready before showing anyone. If you are planning to launch within a couple of weeks, it’s going to hurt you rather than help you.
Many premium themes are optimized for SEO, but there are also many free ways to optimize your blog for search engines. The titles you choose for posts, the tags you add to posts, and the subheadings — H2 tags — within posts all optimize your site. One of my favorite things to do after writing a post is to go to the Google Keyword Tool and type in the keyword or phrase I think most fits my post. (It’s kind of my crack, at this point.) I’m always amazed by how off or on my initial choice is. For example, last night I wrote a post for my book review blog, titled “How to Find Time to Read.” At first, I was going to call it “How to Make More Time to Read,” but after using Google’s Keyword Tool, I discovered that “make more time to read” doesn’t get any searches, and “find time to read” does. That is so not what I thought people were searching for, but here we are.
I think I’m going to write my own “how to launch a new blog” post, so that I don’t end up writing a novel here. :D
After rereading this post, I realize it’s for someone completely new to the game. Initially, I thought it was for both new and seasoned bloggers. I still disagree, but I am really glad you jumped in. Being able to talk with the ProBlogger crew after reading an article is one of the reasons I like this site.
Hi Jane, I appreciate much of what you have said.
I too am in the process of launching a new blog on the side. I have had it live and it does get visitors. This really encourages me to spend time on it as when I know people are visiting, even though there is little content, I know it’s easy to find and therefore gives me the push to build it.
Commenting tribes are awesome. They really do help populate your blog with a human presence. I highly recommend that people reach out to others.
I fiddled with ‘themes’ as I used a free on at first. I am on Thesis now and I am pleased that I am. Besides, its only one investment that is very reasonable and I can use it for any of my other blogs too.
Thanks Jane, great encouragement for new bloggers.
Jayne
What a well-written article man. Just Awesome. You touched upon couple of important points like making the blog offline. Adding to the design point, I would say that a premium theme like thesis or genesis isn’t enough. They need to be customized (designed properly) and then the blog must be launched.
Mani: As much as I agree, great design is important but I’d put slightly more emphasis on content. Don’t get me wrong, a solid design speaks volumes. After all, you have 5 – 10 seconds to get a new site visitors attention and a design speaks and indicates authority (to some extent). But I’ve seen some really “empty” well designed blogs and I see that as a missed opportunity just as well.
Hi Mani and Ricardo,
You have made a very good point. Design is a very important aspect for any blog and as Ricardo says you really have a few seconds to convince the reader to read your content. Any premium theme should be touched upon and tweaked for design requirements.
And Ricardo, you are very true. I wouldn’t stay on a blog just because it looks great; it must have some useful stuff in it.
Design and content should go hand in hand.
Cheers,
Jane.
Great Post, I’ve made the decision to re-brand my blog and effectively start fresh in August. I want to attract a more mature demographic as they have debit & credit cards to buy stuff!…
Thanks Jane, keep in touch,
David Edwards
Jane great article. As someone who just launched their blog I think that removing comments is a good idea along with the time stamp. I never though about it. Thank you
Jane: Great list of practical tips to follow. I’m especially fond of the idea on keeping your blog in “stealth” mode until you have a base of good solid content through sift through. I’ve worked with several design clients in the real estate niche and I always encourage 10 posts (at minimum) before we officially launch. This way, the site doesn’t look barren as new site visitors come across the content.
Anyway, great write up!
I really liked this post thanks I am just starting a blog and in the planning process not sure how I want to make it but I had no idea about commenting tribes and blogging buddies great tips. Thanks.
Lisa
Hi Jane!
I really enjoyed reading this post – I’m preparing for the launch of my first blog soon but I’ve made the mistake of publishing test posts with Site Visibility ON in WordPress. I later deleted those test posts and have re-posted them while working out some bugs with Thesis.
Although there’s no traffic to site yet, I’m worried that this might be detrimental to how search engines view my site – I certainly don’t want them to think I’m a spam bot by re-posting entries.
Do you think there’s harm in what I’ve done so far?
Drew
i do not think that is a problem. by deleting some posts while being crawled by robots eventually leads to some 404 errors later but you can deal with them by learning more about wordpress tricks
Hi Drew,
There won’t be a problem. But as Fox says, you will generate 404 errors (broken links). You can get rid of them by properly redirecting those pages to the new corresponding posts or to your blog’s homepage. You can find out the list of broken links in your Google Analytics account, if you had that set up.
Cheers,
jane.
I’m blogging since 2005. I usually open new blogs with commercial intention, and every day is more difficult. This are good tips. I have another blog only for my friends, i just send a newsletter when i write a post.
It’s an authentic blog, and have many visitors! And i don’t work seo or anything for them, only write sincerely.
Well, this is a good post about new blogs :)
Jane, you crushed it! Great points. I totally agree that a premium theme seriously makes a difference. People are conditioned to associate great, pro theme layouts with “good bloggers” or worthy content.
JANE.. I think I like you.
Super original, love the idea of stealth mode before you launch.
You won my vote. I’m retweeting the crap out of this one.
Hi Ryan,
Glad to hear the nice words. Thanks for your support.
Cheers,
Jane.
Just like the offline world, first impressions count. Thus making it look like you’re already an established website is key. This post hits all of those points.
Your first blog will be the hardest, but once that is established then launching the second one with authority is pretty easy.
Nice thoughts. Guest post is i think best idea in it.
Nice post! I’m so used to Blogger that I’m not sure if I even want to switch to word-press?
I’d only recommend switching to wordpress if you know how to back up, save and restore databases and blogs. You also need a good knowledge of security.
I started on wordpress and learned the hard way. I was continuously hacked and lost everything on several occasions!
I’ve been using blogger for a good few years now but I don’t find it as flexible as wordpress.
Hope that helps!
Great tips! I like to build up at least 10 posts before I start actively promoting a new blog. I have to say, I’ve never kept it offline while I was doing this though. I like to try and get my crawled by Google as quickly as possible, and then hope it will continue to come back when it sees updates are regularly being made.
Thanks
Tom Durkin
Thanks for this. I’m currently planning to start a new blog, so am trying to make sure I get all the stuff right the before I start. This was very helpful.
Hey Jane,
I love this artice. It is a great read and very detailed. It even made me check out your site. Still, I’d like to get your take on this:
Why would you keep your blog offline for a while until you have e certain number of posts. Provided that the content is genuine and of value it will hold you back to keep it unpublished. I really believe you don’t show authority by the number of posts but by the quality of those. I personally bookmarked blogs that had very few articles online. They were new but very promising. So you can grow your audience right from the start. Why wait?
I’d always go with comments active from the start. Without them you indicate that you are not open for interaction.
Dates on the posts put the articles in some context. Well, at least for me and in the niches I prefer to read blog on. The dates indicate the currentness of the posts and, even on new blogs, the show how often the blog tends to be updated.
I really agree on the guest posting which can be a great way to market you to a larger audience.
I’m honestly looking forward to your reply.
Thanks for this post – it got my brain working…
Hi Philipp,
Thank you for the interesting questions. I think I have just answered them on my reply to Elizabeth. As far as I can see most people don’t agree with me when I tell them to keep their new blog offline until they have new content. I see their point. There is nothing wrong with the bots crawling over one or two posts. But if they appear in search engines, and if we want our blog to have an authoritative launch (as with the topic of this post), then we would want people to click through a search result page to see only two blog posts and having nothing more to read.
I actually stumbled upon such a blog which appeared on page 5 for a particular keyword and I was so disappointed. Indeed the quality was good, but I could seriously see that it was a brand new blog and it had two posts posted in a 12 day delay.
I will actually expand this post to test some points discussed here with added tips on authoritative launch.
Cheers,
Jane.
Will using a premium theme make a huge difference? I hand coded my English Grammar site. When I launched it WordPress wasn’t all that popular. Sure, that site took a while to take off, but now it is doing reasonably well. Now I use WordPress on all of my blogs except for this HTML site. However, I am yet to try a premium theme although I would like to try it sometime. For the time being, I am content with the free themes I use.
Great post! I’m just launching my blog and I have been keeping it away from search engines until I felt that I had enough content.
Thank you for sharing these nice tips but still after launching there is lot to be done.
Hey, great tips there. :)
We often hear about people telling you that you need to build your blog’s authority, but starting with authority right off the bat is something else.
Cool! Will keep these in mind.
Cheers,
Allen
Great tips. I’m guessing most of us are still working on a successful launching or successful maintenance of that first blog; but good tips for a few years down the line when we’ve finally built ourselves up and can launch a second blog.
is it something wrong if the blog is visible for search eangines without having enough content?
i am not sure why u want to keep the comments hidden and premium theme. well to start with people who don’t have that much money for them it’s always trying the basic stuff. for me a blog should be neat and not classy. classy what he or she is writing and how social it is.I do agree with you on spreading the word in your social media circle. it’s a nice tip to be done so that u create the buzz.
What a great post. Like your content much. Good tips that worth friend. Nice!
For most part launching a blog and making it successful, I find very difficult. I used to maintain a health blog and due to lack of time, sold it. Now I am about to launch a diet product and regret selling my old blog as I could have used it as a launch pad.
Now, if I try to start a new blog, then I will have to rely on guest posting to build authority and credibility. But if you are into blogging, guest posting many times will simply rid you off the valuable contents you could have posted to your blog
gr8 article…I think you are right cause launching a new blog is very tough and I have a personal experience on it…
So would’nt it be best to grab attention quickly when posting anything? I am starting to understand the premium issue, however I agree with having a neat and clean blog. The easier to read the better.
Hi Jane!
Wonderful post with so many great tips. I’ve been thinking of launching another blog in a different niche and I appreciate the suggestions you have shared with us here. Funny thing, I had the search engines blocked accidentally on my blog when I first launched it. I’ve always looked at it as a mistake, but after reading your post, I can see it was a good thing since I didn’t have many posts up yet!
Networking with other bloggers, commenting on other blogs, and engaging in social media really helped me to establish my credibility in the beginning. Also connecting with leaders who’s products I’d purchased and used, sending them a testimonial, helped me to get on their radar and get their support through inviting me to guest post, and helping to share me in social media. :)
My theme wasn’t professional, but it did look pretty clean and uncluttered. There’s a lot to say for starting off with a professional theme though, because now I see how much easier a professional theme is to use, tweak, and make my own. The free themes I had at first required a lot more knowledge to edit.
Great job Jane!
Heather
Great article with effective professional tips. I agree about the authoritative launch and your offline posting. I will use those techniques for my next blog.
Thanks
Robert