Many have asked me about blogging and how to start their own successful blog.. So I thought I’d compile all of my best instructions and advice into one post.
I started blogging in 2012 and haven’t stopped since. 🙂 It’s something I truly love to do – sharing my heart in posts and connecting with my amazing community of readers.
First Things First
First of all, I think it’s important to have your own self-hosted site. I’ve always used WordPress and I love it.
The benefit to having a self-hosted site is that it’s yours. You’re not held to certain conditions on things such as links, advertising, etc. that some free sites have.
A domain and hosting can be really affordable.
For a domain, I’ve usually gone with Go Daddy.
And for hosting, Blue Host is a good choice for starting out.
Decorating Your Blog
Though it’s perfectly ok to start out with a free theme – I did – but eventually you will want to get something with more features and customization options that comes with a paid theme. What I use right now is Elegant Themes and I love it. You get access to over 50 premium themes and several plugins. My favorite theme, the one I use, is Divi.
Don’t Forget About Email!
One of the best things your can do for your blog starting out is to create an email opt-in and newsletter! An opt-in is simply a free gift you send subscribers in return for letting you keep in touch with them through email.
An opt-in can be set up to send automatically through email service providers (which you’ll need to stay legal with email marketing.)
To start out, I recommend Mad Mimi. It’s simple and easy to use. Plus, it’s free for your first 100 subscribers. Oh and the customer service is phenomenal. Seriously, they’re great.
A more advanced option that I’m switching to only after several years is Active Campaign. I was sad to be leaving Mad Mimi, but it was time for some more advanced options to better serve my growing list. I don’t recommend switching until you have at least a couple thousand subscribers though and you feel you’ve “outgrown” your first email provider.
Trainings to Invest In
Another thing to eventually invest in is training. The blog and business trainings that have had the biggest impact are Elite Blog Academy, Pinning Perfect, Sticky Blogging and the iBloom Inner Circle.
But keep in mind, these have been over several years of blogging. If you’re going to get a training, just get ONE and work through and implement it before investing in another.
One more note on trainings: I’d personally recommend starting with one that’s more “all-encompassing” such as EBA or the Inner Circle. Then you can identify the areas where you still would like more help and invest in learning more in those areas. Just my two cents. 😉
Some Final Tips
One of the biggest mistakes I see bloggers make, me included, is trying to do too many trainings without implementing what we’ve learned. Doing the work implementing strategies is what will get you ahead!
So pick just a couple things to focus on at a time and you will see far greater success than if you try to do everything at once.
Don’t be afraid to save yourself some time by using apps and tools to help. I schedule my Facebook and Twitter posts right now through Hootsuite to save time.
Best of luck in your blogging journey!
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. This means that if a purchase is made through my link, I may receive a commission (at no extra cost to you, of course). For more information, read my disclosure policy.
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