I appreciate you for taking the time to know things to consider before starting your blog.

So, are you really planning to start a blog?

Good decision!

Blogging is one best thing you can do in your life, no matter what else you do to make a living. Just like maintaining a personal diary has its own benefits, so does blogging!

Of course, blogging is more than just maintaining a diary!

Well, I’m not going to talk about the benefits of blogging. I assume you already know them and that’s the reason you’ve decided to start a blog. And read this post as well!

This post is not for those whose motive of blogging is limited only to maintaining a rough diary of their daily thoughts and scribbles. This post is prepared considering those aspiring bloggers who want to reach out to more people, teach and help them, and get an identity as a blogger in their chosen field.

If you can put yourself in the second group, read this post carefully.

20 Things To Know Before Starting Your First Blog

Starting a blog is easy. But there are many things you’ll need to consider to run it without throwing yourself into troubled waters.  You should never forget the old saying, “Precaution is better than cure.” I did a mistake by not following this saying in many cases when I started my blog.

Anyways, here are 20 things that you should know right before you start your blog and make your entry into the blogging world.

1. Planning

Running a blog is just like managing your own business project and as such, planning is something you cannot ignore in blogging. Starting a blog without a proper plan will lead you to nowhere. You will be lost somewhere in the blogging world finding no best way to move ahead.

Have you decided what you are going to blog about, whom you are going to write for and how you will reach your readers? Have you set any target and planned how to achieve it?

That’s not all. You will need to plan your own future courses of action too.

If you haven’t made a proper plan for your blog yet, start planning from now. Planning will give you steps to move ahead smoothly!

2. Money

Who says there’s no money involved in blogging? Let me share a truth. There are actually many expenses you will need to incur to run a professional blog. Of course, you can start a Blogspot blog for free but by time you will definitely want to move to a self-hosted WordPress blog where you will pay for hosting and domain name. And then the other expenses follow…

Not convinced? Check out this post: Probable Future Blogging Expenses Newbie Bloggers Must Know

3. Research

Do you think you can blog professionally without research? You are wrong if you think so. Research is an inherent part of professional blogging. Not just for your topics, research is also required to know your audience, know your competitors and to keep track of the happenings in your industry.

Your readers want to see new and unique content in your blog and not the ones that are already available in bulk quantity. Think how you are going to provide them what they want, without any research! Is it possible? Most probably not!

4. Competition

The blogging world has become competitive and you are definitely going to feel the heat. But the good thing about blogging is that you do not have to hammer your competitors to rise up the ladder.

This is one of the best things about blogging that I like. Your competitors are your colleagues and you should understand this from now itself. Bloggers help each other to move ahead!

Perhaps, promoting your blog in your competitors’ blogs is one of the best marketing decisions you can ever make!

5. Niche Driven

Blogging is driven by your niche, the niche that you select to help by writing on different topics within it. Once you lose focus from your niche, the gap between your blog and your blogging success starts broadening.

So, it’s better to select your niche wisely before you start your blog. This is something you must decide before you start the planning process of your blog.

Of course, you may start a general blog with a variety of categories and topics. But having a niche blog will help you build an authority in your subject and become an expert in the future. And this is what most bloggers dream to become after a while!

6. Content Is King

I’m not saying this. The content has been elected as the “King of Blogging” by bloggers. If you cannot give respect to your king, sooner or later, he is definitely going to punish you and your blog.

The blog posts are the basic needs of a blog. Hence, bloggers need to be consistent with writing and providing great content. Your content has more power than anything else in urging a reader to come back to your blog again and again!

It might not be easy for everyone to create great content in the beginning. But as we know that practice makes a man perfect, you only need to focus on it.

So, it’s not a thing to worry about much. Look at me, I’m struggling too!

7. Marketing

If you hate the subject of marketing, start loving it from now. Marketing is what you need to reach your readers and you cannot avoid it in blogging.

How much time do you think you will need to create a blog post? If it takes 4 hours for you to create a great blog post, then add the same duration to promote the post. This is true unless you have thousands of followers already.

8. Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the act of copying someone else’s content, work or idea. Do you want to be accused of such an act?

Avoid plagiarism at all cost. The simplest way to do is to always create original content. It simply means that you should be the owner of whatever you show on your blog. In case you use copyrighted works, make sure you have proper permission from the owner/author.

Try to be well versed with copyright laws and their implications before you start your first blog!

9. Relationship

One of the important things in blogging that I have learnt lately is about building relationship with fellow bloggers. In the beginning, I only felt the need of building relationship with readers/visitors. I was wrong!

Building relationship with other bloggers is as important as it is with your readers. They are guide, friends and your well wishers. Blogging would be a lonely world without them.

Now that you know it, do not forget it when you publish your first post.

10. Personal Issues

Do your parents know about blogging? If not, how are you going to convince them about it as a career?

We are moving with people from many generations who are unaware of the possibilities online. You tell them you are into blogging and they would attack you with – “What the heck blogging is…??”

Many young bloggers face this problem while telling their parents about blogging. Moreover, you might face other personal issues if you are already into a job or business.

Get ready to face them!

11. Continuous Learning

This is another thing I like about blogging. Learning does not stop in blogging. There will always be something new to learn about blogging, about blogging technology and about your blogging niche.

If you are somebody who is always reluctant to update yourself with new skills and knowledge and only like to work with what you already know, blogging is not for you.

12. Domain Name

I was not much aware of the importance of domain name when I started this blog. But it has a lot to do with your blogging since it’s the first thing people come to know about your blog.

So, I just wanted to you to be aware of it.

Choose a domain name which is short, simple and that gives an intuitive meaning to your blog.

13. Technology

Technology plays a great role in blogging and you cannot avoid it too. You should at least make yourself familiar with your blogging software (which normally would be WordPress), hosting, file back-ups and security.

You would also have to work with other aspects of your site such as site loading speed, site optimization, design etc.

14. Experiment

There are thousands of bloggers who give you their own suggestions (like I’m doing here) for many aspects of your blog. But the best ones are those you come up after your own experiments.

Never settle down with what others are shouting. Do your own experiments with them and find out what’s best for you. It’s your duty towards your blogging career.

Nobody knows you better than yourself!

15. Guest Post

With the competition gaining momentum, it’s now almost like a basic rule to also write for other blogs and not just your own blog.

I did not want to include it in this list but I could not ignore it due to its increasing importance.

Sooner or later, you will feel the need of writing for other blogs to gain more popularity

16. Time

Don’t ever think that you can build a successful blog within a few months unless you already have experience in building successful blogs. Of course, exceptions are there but normally blogging needs time. It needs time to get a decent number of visitors and to see a buzz about your blog.

From my personal experience, the biggest time-taker in blogging is your own mind which takes time to settle down with blogging as a career.

17. Patience

Patience is another thing that you will surely need for a blogging career. But sadly, it doesn’t come bundled with domain name and hosting!

Do you have it?

If not, just stop dreaming of having blogging success. Rather, start blogging to provide value to your readers without trying to fulfill your own needs through it. This will teach you to have patience.

Blogging might become a tedious job for you after a while and your downward-moving blog statistics might frustrate you. In such circumstances, only patience can be of help.

Patience is your best supporter who supports you all the way to achieve your dreams! Never lose it!

18. Hard Work

Blogging is not a “sit and relax” kind of job. It looks easy but needs hard work. All the success stories about blogging you find around are the results of hard work of the respective bloggers.

It’s not just about writing great content. Things like SEO (Search Engine Optimization), back-links building, keeping updated with technology and industry, etc. all involves hard work to keep up the rhythm with them.

As you cannot overcome every obstacle easily in blogging, you also cannot forego hard work!

19. Earning Money

With all the things talked above, do you think it’s easy to earn from a blog?

Yes, it is but it takes time.

It’s better to work hard with blogging without expecting any money from it at least for a year.

20. Criticism

Last but not the least, learn to welcome criticisms. If you are shy to accept criticisms, you will lose the chances to improve yourself.

At times, you might be bombarded with questions against your opinions. Take them as opportunities rather than setbacks.

Conclusion

These are enough to know about before you start your first blog. You must be now ready to go with blogging!

Make blogging a habit, have faith in yourself and remember that blogging doesn’t need any super skills to achieve your goals.

If you already have some experience in blogging, would you like to add some more on this topic? And yes, criticisms are also welcome! Please share your views in comments.

Image Courtesy of Nattavut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Mukesh Dutta

Hi, I'm the owner-cum-blogger of this blog. Basically, I write about online business, marketing and online tools! All my writings are based on my ideas, observations, experiments and findings. If you like this blog, why not keep in touch?? Catch me on Twitter or Facebook or Google+

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