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.
In my first week, I’d look for things to write about, select a theme, optimize for SEO, start talking with people expert in the same topic, writing comments in other blogs, making links, and Join-the-conversation, after that, enjoy and write.
Submit to google webmaster and analytics
Have 7 or 8 posts written and scheduled posting for the next 2 wks.
Add a sitemeter http://www.sitemeter.com
Spend time reading other people’s work via Twitter, follow them and generate traffic to your site.
Rachel
A few things I’d recommend:
Install CommentLuv. This allows commenters to automatically link to a recent post of theirs. This is a nice incentive for them to make comments.
Second, for commenters who have blogs, read their blogs. Make comments (if you have something valuable to add). This is how friendships are made.
Third, expect the unexpected. Things will NOT unfold exactly as you expect – but roll with the punches and keep on chugging!
Being a newbie blogger myself I think the biggest piece of advice for other bloggers at my level would be; to stop reading so much and to write your own stuff. Reading too much never gets any work done on YOUR blog. “Read a little, work a lot, rinse and repeat”
-Matt Haughey
http://www.collegiate-preneur.com
i’ll be really looking forward to the series.
i think what you do on the first week is to format your blog and take care of all the necessary settings, you may also want to add all the useful plug ins. that’s what am doing on my new blog which i just setup today
Hi Darren,
We recently launched a new blog, in fact we’re just finishing up our 3rd week today.
What we did right out of the gate was write out a series of post that all went with one theme for our first week, the 2nd weeks theme coat-tailed the 1st weeks theme and the 3rd week coat-tailed the 2nd… Next week we are going to be tying everything together…
We started our Twitter and Social Networks about a month before we launched the blog so we had instant traffic with the blast of our 1st Tweet…
And we launched a Free Product (5 page eBook System) with our Blog too…
If you’re really serious about building a blog for the long term, I think the most important thing to do is create a posting schedule. Be honest with yourself and don’t overestimate what you can do, but do commit to a schedule.
This has helped me through little dips when I lacked motivation.
From your note, Darren, I shall assume they have some of the ‘must have’ plugins like All-in-one-seo-pack and the blog is secure and backups are in place…all that sort of thing.
I would:
1. Add privacy, disclaimer and affiliate disclosure pages.
2. I would add my RSS feed to the RSS directories (for some backlink love).
3. Write at least 10 blog posts – advice, lists, personal, a video – and add each one every day for the first 10 days.
4. Add a RSS subscription feed
5. Add social bookmarks and start socially bookmarking other blogs – at least 10 a day
6. Start adding valuable comments on other blogs – at least 10 a day
7. Write a few guest posts.
That would keep me busy!
Andrew
Don’t go overboard.
It goes for everything blogrelated, but here are 3 examples.
There’s a lot much advise how to start a blog and increase readership. Don’t try to implement all of it in the first week or first month. It’ll wear you out.
Statistics are fun and you can learn a lot from them, but checking them frantically every 10 minutes won’t magically increase your page views.
Social media are fun and handy, but don’t think of it as the magic button that’ll make you instantly famous. Tweeting, Digging and Stumbling too much about yourself will only fire backwards.
These are all little traps I fell in more or less when first starting, and are sometimes still very tempting.
Don’t go overboard with anything, keep breating, and remember, blogging is supposed to be fun.
For this new and second blog, I will send email invites to steady readers from my other blog. I’m also going slowly so as to be ‘ready’ and not rush to invite people in before I’m ready.
Develop a great network of friends within your niche and support their blogs through comments and RTs – they’ll do the same for you.
I think this should be really important for the beginners of the blogosphere because most of them are confused where to start from. This will also help them to follow proper directions for blogging
Bloggers starting out should focus on Content, networking,Design and learning.
They should preset their blogging goals, and by keeping their audience in mind they should be developing better comment. Being consistent, patient, innovative, and learning can be of great worth for New bloggers.
BloggerUser
Two things occur to me – neither particularly original, I’m afraid:
– generate and record as many ideas for posts as possible
– check how the blog looks in different browsers and on different PCs and other devices (phones, games consoles, anything). Sometimes unexpected things happen
1. Dare to talk about your new blog against your friends and other people. It’s not geeky/uncool (anymore) to start a blog…
2. Start from the beginning with learning good habits, for example creating every week/month a personal backup of your database. Also an essential tip for every blogger/website-owner!
first step, of course is to find perfect theme for your site. find some theme and do some research about each of it. next, install all plugin that u think will help ur site. this is 2 important things before we proceed to the next step.
for a first week of your blog, just work on the layout of your blog, make privacy policy, disclaimer policy, logo, favicon and install useful wordpress plugin. After doing all these he has to go for SEO of his blog. And finally focus on the content and build a perfect social network because it helps him to promote his content in shorter period of time.
Start commenting on others blog in his niche
these are the few things which has to be taken in consideration in the first week
Well i am going to start two new blog in the next month. these are the my stratgies which i am going to adopt
After you develop your posting schedule, write out content at least two weeks in advance. That way you can gauge reactions to your content and make adjustments.
Make a list of topics that you want to write about. That way if you’re drawing a blank one day you can go back to that list.
Network with other bloggers in your niche. Make sure to leave value-added comments on their websites.
Get your social networks set up and build a following ASAP.
Look into participating in blog carnivals in your niche. I’ve found they’ve been a great source of traffic, networking and inbound links in my first few months.
My advice would be to launch some kind of Giveaway or Contest in the first 2-3 days.
That will bring some great traffic and it’s a great way to make loyal readers, right from the beginning.
If you find it difficult to hit the publish button, it might be an idea to set up a free WordPress.com blog next to the original one (that is if you use WordPress, might be the same for other platforms) to use to practise.
You can set it up in a way that it will not be found by search engines, but it is still ‘for real’ because it is public.
That way you can also get to know WordPress a bit better (although some things differ from the selfhosted .org version) and get around with pictures, videos and of course the actual writing.
In the first few weeks of a blog, I would suggest you concentrate on creating 10 to 20 awesome posts. Once those posts are published use a service like ping.fm to help distribute your work.
Get your name out there. Begin building authority and personal brand. Follow and comment on the top blogs and forums in your niche. Become part of the communities. Work on building relationships.
I just launched two blogs:
http://www.theskiingexperts.com
and
http://www.thedigitalcameraexperts.com
In order to help fill out the sites and get them off the ground, I turned to Associated Content to purchase syndicated content for really cheap. With 50 pages of syndicated content, my sites look filled out as I begin writing and posting unique content.
Good way to increase your page views/visit right off the bat.
This isn’t a tip, but a request for a tip. I’ve tried to keep up a blog a couple of times, but I have a serious issue with MOTIVATION. The blog gets stagnant/abandoned. I have trouble overcoming that. I don’t know how to motivate myself.
It is never too early to start making friends and creating relationships. Spend just as much time commenting on other related blogs as working on your blog.
But make sure your intention is to create friendships! not to spam
I would make sure that you have a good fully-functioning blog with the following elements:
– Email Subscription button
– RSS Feed Button
– Share Button
– Twitter Account
– Twitterfeed RSS feed to Twitter, Facebook
– Google Adsense for Content and Feeds
– Commenting function
– Google Analytics
This will get you off to a good start. After that, you need to deliver the content and a start building some traffic.
Post to your blog! No matter how excited you’ve made people about the launch of your blog, they’ll stop visiting if new content is too infrequent.
I recommend not closing comments. Yes, it’s a chicken and egg thing, and lots of bloggers come down on the other side, but I hate blogs where comments are locked. I rarely go back and read those, and I remove them from my RSS feed. Take the plunge and deal with those few commentless weeks. It’ll pay off in the long run.
in first week, i will make at least 10 relevant posts
after that submit it on Search Engines
Let your mom do your initial marketing. Friends and family will read your blog just because they love you, so send an e-mail out at the end of the first week letting your nearest and dearest know about your little venture. If you have good things to say, they’ll forward it on to strangers, but either way, you’ve tapped into your first group of “loyal readers”.
Get some family and friends to leave comments on early posts. Nothing looks sadder than a blog with no comments.
Create valuable content at the very beginning. Include several pillar posts and content that engages the reader and creates a impact.
Make goals for your blog.
Leverage what you already have and what you could have.
Be unique and give people a reason to come back to your blog.
Work on SEO and build backlinks to your blog and posts.
Include Social Media Marketing tactics and be SMOptimized too. Rss, and social book mark buttons, etc….
……and don’t try to take on to much at one time.
cheers!
Hi, Darren.
I’m actually going into my second week on a new niche blog. My first site wasn’t quite targeted enough. Before I start publicizing too much, my first goals are to create a solid, informative “About” page. Next I’m trying to create at least 10 strong posts, including a series to add some stickiness.
Thanks for all you do and your willingness to help newbies like myself!
Clay Butler
PracticalMusicMinistry.com
MusicIsMyBiz.com
Nurture your Karma…stay positive and relevant: Use your good interpersonal skill to build a community and don’t get caught up in the negativity of others.
Some of the things I wish I had done was research. Planning and researching PRIOR to that first week is so very important. Your first few weeks of posts should already been outlined. Mind-mapping and goal setting is important foundations to have in place.
Too many of us just start blogging without the road map of where we want to go. Some of the mistakes I made were in not planning the design, the platform, and even the niche. That first actual week, the content should already be in place so that your focus is MARKETING yourself. Much easier to do when the plan is already in place.
This is one the I haven’t seen on the list yet:
No one is going to read your blog if you don’t have any traffic. Get customers really fast by publishing as many articles as possible in your particular niche. The articles exist forever and get sent all over the net with your contact info at the bottom.
That is how I got my start and over 600+ articles later, the traffic is flying in.
Blogging is all about being able to consistantly create content, so if you can blog, you can write an article. It’s the same process.
My biggest tip would be to purchase your blogging e-book. Its done so much for my blog just following the instructions you lay out I can’t imagine anyone starting a blog without that as their guide.
Schedule out your content (such as Mondays is tips, Tuesdays is deals, Wednesday is top ten, etc.) You don’t have to stick with this but it’s a smart way to get content up, be organized and see what works best on your blog.
Like many of the comments above I too am in about my second week on a new blog, it’s actually my third blog.
One thing I usually do is set up a Google alert to track mentions of my blog. This usually is just a side thing I set up and I used to think of it as a little ego stroking, but this time it actually worked out really well. Within the first couple days of going live a popular blogger in my niche noticed one of my posts and put up a whole post recommending my site.
My Google Alert notified me shortly after her post went up and I was able to head on over to her site and leave a quick comment thanking her for the mention. Since then she’s subscribed to my site and invited me to participate in her forum answering questions as well as linked to another of my posts on her site.
Google Alerts succeed! This may be the beginning of a successful blogging relationship.
One thing I’ve learned about writing posts is using imagery, and since I can’t take all the photos I need, I have to get them from somewhere else.
I use Flickr constantly to search for Creative Commons images that I can share on my posts. They add visual interest, and it also exposes people to the photos of others because I ALWAYS give links back to the original.
Install an Anti spam plugin like SI Captcha. Today there are so many auto comment poster bots floating in the web that spam is really a big problem.
Also this will act as a compliment to comment boosting plugins like “comluv” and “keywordluv” which leave easy footprints for bots to trace.
Another thing to do is to remove the Hello World page from WordPress. It looks unprofessional.
If you are using “comluv” and “keywordluv”- please reduce footprints by editing the texts that are showed with these plugins.
Let the pages load fast. Do not put too much stuff on the omepage.
Thats what I can think of right now. Hope you find these useful enough.
Debojyoti from SEO Tips blog
I am less than a year old into blogging and am still learning about it. I have tried all the other commenter’s advise including (but not limited to):-
1. commenting positively on other niche blogs
2. setup a routine schedule of postings
3. setup and analyse stats / analytics
4. beg friends and initial readers to comment
5. enjoy the process of blogging
6. set goals
7. selecting and setting up themes, formats and plugins
8. use social media promotion
9. add and submit RSS feeds
10. Self marketing and promotion
I can’t seem to get loyal or steady traffic into my blog. I am beginning to network (in person) with other bloggers and the community and learning more about SEO (boy, they seem really technical) and more shameless self-marketing.
My stats and analytics are fluctuating and inconsistent majority of the time and it makes me hard to deliver what I think my readers want. Recurring visits are rare.
I am looking forward to your post when it finally comes out. I really wish I can learn something new and helpful that I’m not already doing…
The first of my blogging,
1. List at least 10 blogs that the same niche with mine and start building relation with them
2. Install plug in that can integrate my blog to the social site such as facebook and twitter.
3. Brainstorm ideas for blog post topics for the week.
I think that is from me.
I’d make sure to promote the blog on sites where you are already active – Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, message boards, etc. If you are not active on sites like those, then pick one or two that best fits your blog and start buildind an audience that would appreciate your blog content. Just don’t spam them – be helpful.
I wouldn’t start to promote a blog in the first week. I’d want to ensure that I had a good number of quality posts published before I even started trying to get people to look at it.
I’d make sure I had the blog set up properly, with good anti spam defences, well designed header, sidebars etc.
I’d decide on a good system to use for any categories/tags I’d be using.
I’d decide what I wanted to acheive with my blog (money, friendship, advice etc) and think of a plan to make this possible.
I’d look for ways to integrate with the community of my niche. I wrote a post about ways in which to join the book blogging community (http://www.farmlanebooks.co.uk/?p=3108) but I am sure there are similar community building events for other areas.
I’d enjoy it!
I am still getting my blog formatted for launching, so I have no juicy tips.
But I am very excited for this series – how timely! These are all great tips. It sounds like there is a difference of opinion between starting slowly to get your feet wet, and hitting the pavement full speed. Hmmm.
I’d say in your first few weeks (or perhaps months) don’t even think about SEO, templates, search engines, social networks, AdSense, analytics, or any of that other stuff that matters later.
Just have some fun writing about topics you enjoy writing about.
Find your voice, and don’t worry about whether anyone reads your posts.
If you find that you enjoy writing then maybe you can take it more seriously and start thinking about the other things.
If you don’t enjoy writing, give up the blog and move onto something else.
Here are my 10 cents:
1. Before even you setup blog, create rough drafts of atleast 5-10 original posts you are going to write
2. Read other bloggers’ work and learn from their mistakes
3. Don’t blog every idea you come up with. Think over it and judge whether it is worth posting or not.
4. Go for social media for promoting your blog only when you have at least 10 posts
5. Think about the design of your blog, its personality, its brand and then stick to it
6. Constantly remind yourself you are not blogging for income, you are blogging because you want to.
7. Note down blog ideas that you may get anytime in your day. Those will be helpful when you actually sit down to write.
8. Keep your blog separate from your personal things i.e. your personal email, twitter, facebook etc.
9. Take a break. Being too hard on yourself initially, may kill your passion for blogging
10. Keep high ambitions and low expectations.
Cheers!
@ Harsh… Those 10 cents are worth at least a grand ;)
* Start with a fresh dotcom
* Twitter
* You Tube
* Facebook
* Have a page with clear photographs
That’s a month’s worth of work setting that up! ;]
Reach out to other bloggers in your niche. Most bloggers are friendly and willing to help, and if they link back to your site or send out a tweet about it, your visitor numbers will shoot up in no time.
I set up obrach.com about a month ago as a sort of catch-all for stories and ideas as I write my first book, “I Was a Teen Aged Bank Robber.”
My first post, “Dear Daddy,” was an emotional letter to my deadbeat father. I published the post, created a fb fan page, then put a link to my blog as an update in my status that day. The post was intense and brought a lot of comments and readers to my blog.
Next, I got accounts every where and within one week OB Rach was on the first page of Google.
I’m a novice, but a quick study!
Thank you for your posts for newbies. I look forward to reading this series.