Blogging is a such a wonderful thing, people gets all sorts of different things out of it. Whether it’s a hobby or a job its a great creative outlet and a really good way to share your passions and things you enjoy. Blogs come in many different formats, subjects and types, but the best thing about them, is the freedom to make them whatever you want them to be. But before we begin it’s always worth picking up a few blogging tips and tricks of the trade.
I get asked about blogging a lot. I’ve been writing this blog for over 5 and a half years and when I started out I had so many questions, most of which were answered by my bestie Fay, who’s been blogging since before blogging was even a thing! Now I wanted to share some of the things I’ve learnt along the way with you. Just a few simple blogging tips.
Todays post is all about the very first steps, the things that you need to do before you even start writing your first post. In some ways these are the boring bits, but getting it right on the first day will pay dividends as you start to grow your blog. There are lots of posts with blogging tips online, so this is just my personal advice.
- Think of a name: Have a think about a short snappy name for your blog. Something that reflects the content, or even your own name or nickname can work well. Try to make it memorable, but also something you really like, because you’ll be seeing it a lot.
- Check that the name isn’t taken: Google the name of your new blog and check that it’s not in use. Check social media to make sure that no one else has a page with the same name as your new blog. If they do its time to go back to the drawing board and think of something new.
- Set up an email address: It really helps to have any email address exclusively for your blog. This makes it easy to remember and keeps your blog related emails separate from your other ones. I actually spend more time on emails as a full-time blogger than I do on any other aspect of blogging.
- Find a site to host your blog: The most popular options are WordPress and Blogger. I personally started with WordPress.com and moved on to a self hosted site further down the line. Read up on the pros and cons of each before you decide.
- Set up social media: Set up social accounts with your blog name, even ones you don’t initially want to use. Try to have the same name across all of them. For example I use @vintage_frills for both Twitter and Instagram. It’s also a good idea to follow other people who inspire and interest you.
- Write your About Me page: One of the most looked at parts of your blog will be your About section. Write a brief summary about yourself and your blog and add a nice picture or two. Here’s my About Me page, its changed lots of times along the way, as the blog has evolved.
- Add your contact details: If you want people to be able to contact you, make sure your email address is visible on the blog.
- Add your social channels to your blog: Add your social links to your blog. You can just add logos or even widgets that display your social feeds. The best place for these is in your sidebar.
- Start Planning: Decide what topics you’d like to write about on your blog. Think about how often you want to post and whether you’d like to focus on writing, photographs or both. I like to write a list of all the posts I’d like to write and then work my way through them. I’ll explain more b about my planning process in my next blogging post.
- Publish your first post: After all the hard work setting up your blog, it feel great to finally get that first post written. Make sure you share it on all your social channels.
I hope these tips have been helpful. These are the absolute basics and I’d love to go into a bit more depth about the ins and outs of blogging. If there any particular topics you’d like to see covered, please comment or drop me a message and I’ll see what I can do. Look out for my next blogging tips post in the next few weeks.
Ways to follow Vintage Frills
Instagram – Twitter – Facebook – Pinterest – Youtube – Bloglovin’
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