It’s hard to believe that I’ve been blogging at ModlyChic for almost 9 years! If you are thinking about starting a blog in 2018, you’re probably plotting and dreaming now of what you can do and accomplish in a year’s time frame. While I’m not a blog about blogging, I’ve got a few suggestions from all the years I’ve been at this. There are a lot of blogs that try to offer advice on how to blog and how to hit monetization goals, or how many visitors you must receive before you begin to implement money tactics, and how many posts you have to generate each week. They tell you about how to tag, how to market your blog, and how to develop your online presence. This isn’t one of those articles. This one is a little more chill and more real too. So, here are 4 tips for starting a blog in 2018.
It’s Okay To Be A Dork
Most blogs are created because let’s face it, we’re dorks. (All the Sydney White inspiration you can come up with!) We blog about subjects we enjoy, things that motivate us to get up in the morning. That might be makeup, fitness, video games, books, fanfiction or conspiracy theories. For me it is fashion, fitness and food. Whatever you find completely and totally fascinating is what you should blog about. Remember, the monetizataion is a bonus, but you should blog for personal joy.
No, we blog because we adore it and we adore the topic we are writing about. This passion will imbue your articles with a sense of honesty, sincerity, and the ‘extra mile’ mentality. It also helps you stay patient as you grow your platform, so that you can focus on sharing your passion rather than get down on slow growth or not matching up to some other blogger out there. You should treat your blog as a place to polish, curate and public your thoughts. It doesn’t matter if you post reviews, amateur investigative journalism, general thoughts or a diary of your life. This is your corner of the internet, and you have full authorship. Your passion is what will make this a reality and something that has staying power.
Express Yourself Through More Than Words
Your blog is not simply a text file hosted on the internet. While articles might be the bread and butter of your blog, thew value of your blog and even each post is more than just the text. The look, feel and general navigability of your blog could be considered an expression of you. It all contributes to the mis-en-scene of the space you are hosting on the internet.
Consider this well-designed space as the look for your online presence. Just as you dress well in real life to feel confident and beautiful, you should take this mindset and apply it to your blog. Make sure it is easy to navigate, that the images are crisp and clear. You need to look at each individual post but also your blog as a whole. Make sure both have the same look and feel, the same color scheme, the same fonts and style. Your blog, the text, the way it looks is all part of your brand. Consider that before launching and work to keep it consistent across all your social platforms and all corners of your blog.
Variety
While you might decide to explicitly blog about one subject, there are likely many different avenues you can take with it. Variety is content is important to keep as you blog. It keeps people from leaving, and encourages them to stay and witness the constantly renewing content you are providing.
You might decide to adhere to a schedule to keep you routinely organized with this. For example, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday could be considered blogging heavy days, where you publish articles and maybe even bring guests into secondary public writings. Tuesday and Friday might be the days you publish a video or photo essay.
Or you can think of variety in terms of the things you cover. Even if you are sticking with one topic, there are so many different ways to cover a single subject. Get guest posts from others who cover your topic and have an interesting view point. Conduct interviews. Consider a subject from all the different angles and perspectives. I like to have an ongoing list in my phone of potential blog posts and subjects. That way I can add to it whenever and wherever inspiration hits.
Quality Over Quantity
Content is important to have. Of course, it keeps your blog updated, relevant and worthwhile. However, at times having lots of posts pales in comparison to posting actually great content. If you’re trying to hit your weekly post goal with bad or otherwise unpolished content, your site will become less professional by the day.
It’s worthwhile spending an entire day crafting the perfect blog post which is sure to gain thousands of views, rather than twenty 200 word posts which do little to offer anything to the conversation. With the prevalence of social media, it’s important to realize that your blog is not easy or organic for people to find unless they come across it specifically in search of something. Crafting fun to read, well-written pieces is essential to getting and keeping readers. Spell check and grammar check. Don’t just write and post with little thought. Each blog post should be thoughtful and should focus on the quality of the piece.
This increases the need for you to develop a consistent approach to blogging. People need to be able to find something on your blog which they won’t find elsewhere. This isn’t to say you should feel restricted in content but if the passion isn’t imbued into every word you publish, the blog will be cheapened as a result.
With these 4 tips for starting a blog, your idea can take on new life, or your current blog may get a little needed upgrade. As well as being a passive income source, it might just become your most favorite hobby.
