How to Start and Run a Blog Like A Boss

One of the best tools you’ll have as an author is a blog.  It’s a way to share information, post polls, have giveaways, and most importantly, grow your tribe and get subscribers.

For most authors, it is the main hub of their business. Starting a blog can be a little confusing but it doesn’t have to be. In today’s post, I’m going to show you how to start a blog like a boss.

When you start a blog, there are some things that need to be considered.

What do you want to write about? Some authors write about just one thing, others write about several. I write about childcare and author related things.

One of my favorite authors, Debbie Macomber, writes about the inspiration behind her books, writing, recipes, etc.  One of the most important things to remember is you want to solve a problem that people have and start small. Your passion needs to solve a problem that people have.

Who is your audience? Who are you trying to reach? My audience is parents and daycare teachers since I write a lot about “childcare” related things. I also write about author related things and target independent authors as the other half of my audience.

I recently learned about creating a profile of your audience.  Take some time and sit down and think about who your audience is going to be. Write down a list of the following points and piece together your ideal reader. Things like name, gender, age, life situation, personal problems, etc.

This will help you narrow down who you are writing for and the language style you want to write in. If you’re writing for business owners, you want to be more formal. I strive to write more causal, warm, and friendly for my audience.

What is the name of your blog going to be? Naming your blog is important.  You want to choose something that isn’t hard to pronounce or spell but is memorable. Try keeping it at four syllables or less.  If your blog is on your website, then this isn’t much of a concern.

How often will you post? I once heard someone say, “Post less often than you want to.” which made no sense to me.  If I choose to post once a week and then decide not to, I’m not going to have a blog.

I’m going to have one blank eye sore of a page. In the beginning, I do recommend once a week. This will get you in the flow of writing and discipline for a month or two. From there, up it to as often as you want.

I post on my blog twice a week and on my poetry page once a week.  Mondays are for poetry, Wednesday is my author post, and Friday is my childcare post.

How long will your posts be? In the beginning, the recommended word count for a post was 700-1000 words. The new rule of thumb is 1000-1500. Why? Longer posts provide more value to the reader. Just make sure you don’t make your paragraphs too long and break them up with images.

How to Set Up Your Website

Next, we’ll discuss the logistics of setting up your blog. One thing you don’t want to do is set up a free site on Wix or Weebly. Why?

One, if they don’t like something, they can shut your site down and two, it doesn’t look professional. You want to buy your own domain and hosting so you own your own piece of real estate on the internet.

Domain Names-Your domain name is the name of your web site or blog and they are pretty cheap to buy. However, make sure you don’t buy your domain and host your site with the same company. I will explain this in a minute.

Hosting-The company you host with is the service that your web site runs on. I have been with InMotion Hosting for three years and like them. Another person I follow is with Bluehost and he loves them. You just have to look around at pricing, features, and reviews and choose what is right for you.

Now, I mentioned having your hosting and web site with different companies but why is this? I recently learned that this is important because if something happens and your site gets hacked and someone sends out spam or pornography to your subscribers, your site will get shut down and you’re done.

If you have your site and domain with the same place, you can’t use your domain name somewhere else and have to start from scratch.  However, if you are with different companies, you can still use your domain name with another company and rebuild your site.

Themes-When it comes to themes, buying one is the best option. I recently learned that free themes can possibly have viruses or malware. Not always but sometimes. I recently upgraded my theme to a paid theme when I merged my sites. You can browse and buy paid themes on WordPress.

WordPress-This is the easiest way to get a web site or blog up and running. It’s a very easy interface to use.

Plugins-Having too many plugins can slow your site down. Some plugins that are must haves are Akismet, Sucuri Security, Real Simple SSL, and Yoast SEO.

What Content to Publish

The first thing you’ll do is write your first posts.

Foundational Posts-Foundational posts are the standard posts pertaining to your business and they must be evergreen. Evergreen means that even five or ten years from now, the information will be valuable. For example, last week I wrote a post called How to Find the Right Daycare.

Authority Posts-These posts  are meant to build rapport, trust and engagement with your readers which then turn into sales. Remember to write for your audience.

Focus on putting out good, valuable content at first. The good news is, you can always improve and there is always something new to learn.

LEARN HOW TO USE KEYWORDS AND SEO

Keywords and SEO  are a learning process. I use the plugin Squirrly to write my posts and it is a HUGE help.

ADD SOCIAL SHARE BUTTONS

If you have a WordPress site, you can search for social share button plugins that are compatible with the theme of your site.

SET UP AN OPT IN NEWSLETTER OPTION

If you want to promote your work, you’re going to have to set up an opt in with some sort of freebie or discount to persuade people to give up their email address.

Starting a blog isn’t difficult but there is some planning ahead to do and different things to consider. Don’t worry about having a crap blog when you start, we’ve all been there. It takes time to write posts and get things the way you want them.

BLOG POSTS = RELATIONSHIPS