While this blog is new, I’ve actually been blogging since 2010. I’ve learned a lot in that time and I’m using that knowledge to make this blog better right from the start. These are my top ten tips for new bloggers. It took me ten years to learn these! Take advantage of my experience and use these tips to give your new blog a good start.
Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links (meaning I will get a small commission if you buy through my link). You won’t pay any more if you use this link. And I only promote products I truly believe in!
Know What You Want From Your Blog
Why do you want to have a blog?
Do you love to write and are looking for a way to hone your craft? Do you want to create a blog that will eventually bring in a full-time income? Do you blog about a specific niche topic and you’re looking to connect with others who love the same things you do?
There’s no right or wrong answer. Your blog can be whatever you want it to be! The important thing is that you know what you want to get out of blogging
This blog is my hobby blog. It’s a space to write because I love to write! While I’m laying the foundation to make money off from it, I don’t need it to be a full-time income. I’m a web designer and I’m 100% in love with that job!
What I want from my blog is a space to be creative just for me. My business blog is, well, all about business and the posts are all centered around helping my ideal client. Which is a good thing! But I also need a place to write about other things that I find interesting.
This is that place!
So what do you want from your blog? What are some goals that your blog can help you achieve? Having a clear understanding of what you want from your blog will make it easier to actually get what you want from your blog.
Also, it’s ok if what you want from your blog changes over time. Maybe you start out wanting your blog to be a hobby, but it turns into something more. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s good to change and grow!
Don’t Stress About Niche or Branding
I’ve watched so many bloggers never get started because they spend so much time trying to figure out their niche and branding.
When you’re first starting out, you’re just finding your voice and figuring out what works for you and your blog. Don’t add the extra stress of having to find your niche just because almost everyone tells you that you need to. In time, you will discover it. Or maybe even decide that you don’t need one.
What I’ve found from so many years of lifestyle blogging, is that you are your niche! You are going to attract people that are interested in the same things you are. So write what you love, and you’ll start to find your people. And just so you know, you’ll never find what you love to write about, until you actually get out there and start writing.
And when it comes to branding, don’t spend so much time trying to find the right colors and fonts and creating the perfect logo that you never get started.
First off, there is way more to branding than colors, fonts, and logos. Those are a part of your branding but not all of it.
In simple terms, branding relates to what others think of when they think of your blog or what you want them to think of when they think of your blog. Who is your blog for? What do they get out of your blog?
And if you don’t have the answer to those questions, you know what? It’s ok. The answer to those questions is going to change as you and your blog change and grow over time. So don’t let not being 100% clear keep you from ever starting your blog.
As for the colors, fonts, and logos? Check out The Five Minute Brand! Even though I’ve done all my own branding in the past, it’s what I used for Penned by Paula. Because I didn’t want to spend a ton of time on it, I wanted to get this blog up and running and The Five Minute Brand really helped!
Do Spend Time on SEO
There are so many factors that go into SEO, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Pick the most important ones and focus on those.
Things like…
Keywords
Keywords are the words or phrases that your ideal reader types into a search engine when they want to find an answer to their question.
So it’s your job as a blogger to figure out what questions your ideal reader is asking so you can create content to answer those questions. That content will include those keywords so that you show up in the search engines.
My post How to Use Keywords to Drive Traffic to Your Blog is a great read if you are unsure of how to use keywords in your blog posts.
Be Mobile Friendly
Google uses mobile-first indexing. What does that mean? Well, it means that search rankings are based on the mobile version of your website first.
Search engines know that more and more users are viewing websites via their phones or tablets over desktops. So making sure that your blog delivers a good user experience via mobile is a must.
When choosing a theme, check out the demo on mobile. Or if you are using a page builder like Elementor, always view your pages on mobile so you can go fix any issues.
A couple of things to also check on mobile are your pop-ups or ads, make sure they are easy to close. Ads and pop-ups that are hard to close annoy your readers, and that is definitely something you don’t want to do!
Have a SSL Certificate
An SSL certificate is a form of security for your website. It will create a secure connection between your visitor’s browser and your host’s server. This will protect any information your visitors submit like their email address when they sign up for your newsletter or if you’re selling products it will protect their credit card information.
If you’re not sure if you have one, check to see if you have a padlock next to your URL when you visit your website in a Chrome browser. You should also have an “s” after http in your URL if your website is secure.
If you find out that your website doesn’t have an SSL, get one. This will show that your website is trustworthy.
Plus having a secure website is now a factor in SEO rankings. Google favors websites with HTTPS over HTTP in their search rankings.
If you don’t have an SSL certificate, contact your web host to see how to get one. Many hosts, like my host Lyrical Host, now offer them for free and will install them for you. Also find out, if they will install it for you.
Interlink Your Blog Posts
Interlinking your website’s blog posts and pages is also great for your SEO.
Interlinking means linking posts on related topics to each other. This is helpful to your website visitors by showing them how to get to more related content on your website.
It’s also helpful to search engines as they crawl your website they’re able to see which posts are related to each other. Internal linking is how you tell the search engines which pages and posts are important.
Image Optimization
When you add images to your website, don’t just upload them straight from your phone or camera without editing them! Chances are that photo file size is huge and its dimensions are much larger than what you need for your website.
You can easily resize your images with an app like Canva. The video below shows you how!
Once you have your image resized be sure to rename them. Name the image after what is in the image with dashes between the words. This makes it easier for search engines to know what the image is about. Something like apple-pie-on-kitchen-counter.jpg is better than image234.jpg.
After you resize the images, go to TingPNG or use a similar to optimize it before you upload to WordPress.
Why do you need to do this? Well, too large image files are usually the number one culprit of a slow website. And you want your website to be as fast as you are able to make it for two reasons. 1. It delivers a good user experience. 2. Website speed is now a ranking factor with Google.
So start off by creating good habits for image optimization.
Use Shorter Paragraphs
When I’m reading a book, I can read huge paragraphs no problem But on the web? It’s not appealing at all! If I see a huge block of text, I either skim it or just head to another blog to read. Realizing my own habit, made me start using shorter paragraphs in my own blog posts because I don’t want my readers to leave my blog because of something that is so simple to fix.
Now, I’m not saying to only write paragraphs with two or three sentences in them, but just be aware of how long your paragraphs are. Ask yourself if you would read one that long or if you’d skip it? Then edit accordingly.
Open Outgoing Links in a New Window
It’s always good to link to other blog posts and bloggers, but you want your visitors to stay on your site too right? To do that, you need to open outgoing links in a new tab or window. If you use the Gutenberg editor this is easy! Simply toggle on the “Open in a New Tab” when you create a link!
Your visitors will thank you and it will help your bounce rate too!
Do Have Social Sharing and Follow Buttons
You spent a ton of time writing and crafting your blog post, so make it easy for those who find and enjoy it to share your post! After reading a great post one of the most disappointing things that can happen is finding that I have no way to share it!
Also, whenever I find a new blog that I like, I immediately check out their Twitter and Instagram. And most of the time I follow them. More and more people are more likely to comment on your post on social media than they are the actual blog. So, wherever you are on social media, include those links on your site. Don’t risk losing out on followers by not giving them an opportunity to connect with you where they like to hang out.
Where is the best place to put your social links? The footer! This will ensure they are on every page of your website. You may see many websites also have their social links in their header menu, but I don’t recommend this. The header is the first thing someone sees when they land on your website, you don’t want them to click a link that will immediately take them away from your website!
Another great place is the sidebar of your blog. This will give them an opportunity to check out these links on every blog post on your website. And don’t forget to have your social media links to open in a new window!
Two of my favorite social media sharing plugins are Grow by Mediavine and Social Warfare.
Don’t Clutter Your Sidebar
Your sidebar is valuable real estate on your blog, so use it to draw attention the things you really want your visitors to do. Be picky about what goes here. Some good ideas are links to follow you on social media, read your best or most recent blog posts, sign up for your newsletter, or check out an affiliate. It’s also good to include a search box especially if you have a large blog with a ton of posts.
No need to link to ALL your affiliates or display all your categories and tags. I would also suggest that you don’t add widgets that include your social media feeds from Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest. They aren’t really necessary and tend to slow your website down.
A sidebar is also a good place for a short bio. Think about how most visitors will be finding your blog posts, It’s doubtful they are coming right from your homepage to the post. They probably found it via Pinterest, search engines or social media. So, let them know a little about you and your blog by including an image and bio in the sidebar.
Give Some Time Between Writing and Publishing
Don’t feel that you have to publish a post as soon as you write it. Sometimes it’s a good idea to wait for a few days or longer. Unless it’s time-sensitive post such as an opinion piece on a political event or a new movie review.
Here are two good reasons why you should let a post sit:
The Post Will Be Easier to Edit
There have been many posts that I’ve written and later thought of things that I wanted to add to it, or I realized that there were some sentences that could’ve been left out or reworded to make more sense. Or maybe my tone was a little too harsh when I wrote my post in the heat of the moment, and I needed to tone it down.
My posts always benefit when I have a few more days to think about what I want to write, and exactly how I want to get my point across.
The Post Will Be Easier to Proofread
When you first write something, it’s hard to proofread accurately. You’ll read it as you intended it to be written, often overlooking words that are misspelled or left out. If you wait a few days to go back over it with fresh eyes, the mistakes will be more obvious. It’s ok to have a few typos, everyone misses something, but you want to aim for as few as possible. Writing a post and then going back to proofread two or three days later will help to minimize them.
If I do want to publish a post soon after I’ve written it, I will proofread it on the WordPress app on my phone. Something about reading on a different size screen makes the typos more obvious to my eyes.
Don’t Be Afraid To Invest a Little Money
Think about the money that people spend on their hobbies. If you fish you need fishing poles, reels, bait. The same if you like to knit or paint or quilt. You need tools to do those hobbies and you have to spend money to get those tools. It’s the same with your blog. So, don’t feel guilty if you want to invest money in your blog.
But don’t feel like you have to spend a ton of money either. There are all kinds of free resources out there for bloggers – from themes to stock photos to image editors.
Read All the Advice – But Make Up Your Own Mind
This is probably my most important tip for new bloggers.
Some people will say that shorter posts are best. Others will say that longer posts are the way to go. Some will say to post every day. Others say that that is too much.
There are all kinds of blogging advice out there. It doesn’t hurt to read as much of it as you can, but you don’t have to follow all, or any of it, for that matter. In time, you will discover what works best for you and your blog. Use the advice that feels right for you and your blog and discard the rest.
