7 Steps After Starting A Blog

Blogging requires much more work than just writing and posting. New bloggers must take the first steps after starting a blog carefully to monetize their blog in future.

So, it is important that a new blogger lays the foundation of the blog at the beginning.

7 steps after starting a blog

• Write about me page
• Create social media accounts
• Decide the categories
• Content plan
• Customize the look
• Write three blog posts
• Learn SEO as soon as possible

Write the About Me page

Any person who visits your blog would like to know about the person behind the blog. People are generally curious and as a blog is an extension of your own personality, it should show you in a new light.

The About Me page is the right place write about who you are, why you started a blog and what to expect in the blog.

Now, how to do that?

The first thing you need to do is to edit the About Me page. Every WordPress theme comes with a custom About Me page and all you need to do it is to edit it.

Once you log in to your WordPress dashboard, check the left side of the bar. You will find a tab called Pages. Once you click it, all the pages available on your blog would be displayed. Check the About me page and click edit. If you do not have one, create a new one by clicking the Add New button.

Here are 21 tips you need to know to write an awesome About Me page.

Create social media accounts for the blog

Any blogger you meet would tell you that social media has changed the blogging game totally. It is true that you need to have a good social media presence to get creditability and drive some traffic to your blog.

After you start blogging, create social media accounts for your new blog. I personally have social media accounts on every major social medium.

But you do not need to stretch yourself thin by maintaining presence on every social media. In the beginning, it becomes overwhelming with all the posts, tasks, schedule and writings.

I advise that you take this step carefully and choose any of two major platforms for the first six months.

 Choose the social media channels according to the niche you have chosen for your blog. You cannot ignore the power of Facebook in giving you visibility. Facebook pages and Facebook groups are great way to showcase your blog and start networking. Any blogger who has just started, I would advise to start networking in relevant Facebook groups.

Other than Facebook, choose any other platforms according to your convenience and niche. If you are into a niche your images and videos play a great role (For example, food, travel, Fashion, knitting, DIY etc), choose Instagram and Pinterest. If you blog about aesthetic things like books, finance, or such related niche, choose Twitter and LinkedIn to promote your blog.

Decide the Categories for blog

Categories are meant to keep your blog organized. I have two primary categories- blogging tips, and making money out of blogging and writing. These categories define what type of content a reader can expect on my blog.

Categories also help you to write. Once you decide a niche for your blog, sit down and pour down every idea which comes instantly to your mind. Now divide them according to their relevance. These sets are the categories for your blog.

Now prepare your content plan according to your categories. By choosing the categories and topics related to them would also help you to determine what type of blog post you would be writing for the blog.

Not sure what should be your blog’s niche? Apply these tips to choose a niche for your blog.

Create content plan

Content plans are essential for a new blogger. Most of the bloggers struggle about what to write. A content plan helps to set a calendar and write efficiently.

Now, how to create a content plan?

 As I wrote above, once you define what niche and what categories would be there on your blog, gather the ideas regarding your niche. There is another way to create a content plan.

Google the topic you have in mind. There, you would find other related things people are searching online. Note down all of them. Now check if these extra queries can be made into blog titles. And ta-da! You have 3-4 blog post ideas for your blog.

There is no rule about how frequently you should post on your blog. It can be daily, weekly or only 3-4 times a month. Choose a time frame which suits you and divide your blog posts accordingly.

Customize the look

A blog theme is the design which can be customized according to your personal taste. There are thousands of blogging themes which can be chosen from the WordPress theme library.

When you have just started, I would advise you to go for a free WordPress theme which comes with a primary menu, SEO compatible, light and fits your taste.

I spent my initial 5 years of professional blogging with a free WordPress theme. My theme was a simple one with customizable fonts, lots of white space and a primary menu.

My current theme is a paid one albeit it is a simple one with all the features I mentioned above.

WordPress themes let you customize it even if you have zero technical knowledge. Just click the WordPress Dashboard>Appearance>Themes>Add a new theme to install and activate a new theme.

To customize the theme, click the customize button on the upper left corner of your homepage or Dashboard>Appearance>Customize and edit it according to your personal preferences.

Write three blog posts

Once your blog is ready for the world, launch it with minimum 3 blog posts. Generally, I suggest writing a blog post for each of the major categories from your blog. Write the blog posts with minimum 650 words.

Once you finish writing, creating social media graphics for your blog so that you have content for your social media.

The initial blog posts should carry the message you want to convey through your blog. Make them simple, fun and relatable.

Learn SEO as soon as possible

Traffic or visitors are the lifeline of a blog. Unless the blog gets traffic, you cannot think of monetizing it and make it your online venture. That’s why it is important that you know how to drive traffic to your blog.

The traffic coming from social media is not stable. They can come like a wave and leave quickly too. But they do drive traffic in large quantities.

The real success lies in organic traffic. It is steady and the readers stay on your blog for long time and eventually become regular readers. Optimize your blog for this type of traffic.

Google has a feature called Google Analytics. They provide a code which can be put on your blog and Google analytics offer you the details of what type of traffic is coming to read your blog and how they are coming.

For the first step, sign up for Google Analytics, acquire the code and put it on your blog’s widgets section.

You can do it from Dashboard>Appearance>Widgets. Choose a widget which supports HTML code. Now you can track the traffic and know who is reading your blog from where.

These 7 steps after starting your blog. I hope it will help you to grow your blog stronger and monetise it soon!