5 Things to Think About Before Starting a Blog
I figured I had to start this new Detox on the Rocks journey with a post about blogging. Funny, ya know. Of all things I share – healthy hacks, beauty tips, and simply finding easy ways to look after yourself in your busy lifestyle… one thing I get asked about more than anything is “How do I start a blog”?
Stay tuned for more on this as I’ll be doing kind of a series to help you launch your blogs, but first, let’s start with this…
5 Things to Think About Before Starting a Blog
1. Name
The hardest part. At least for me. (TBH, Tyler came up with my blog name). If you’re struggling in this department, lists are going to be your best friend. Make a list of every word that comes to mind when you think of the following:
+ What topics will I be talking about?
+ How do I want others to describe me?
+ How do I want others to describe my brand?
+ What’s my vibe?
+ How do I want people to feel?
+ What is important to me?
Next, start piecing the words together. For example, when I started my blog, I was a bartender. I knew I wanted to be sharing the odd cocktail recipe, but also, mostly, I wanted to share ways to stay healthy in a lifestyle that typically isn’t so healthy/is really busy. We (or, really, Tyler) started with “On the rocks” because it fit the “errrr not the healthiest lifestyle” vibe I had going on AND bartender/cocktail recipes/etc vibe. Next, we thought “what’s healthy?” or what are things people typically try to do to get healthy? Our minds went to “detox” – think: juice cleanses/ charcoal water /resting and reseting / face masks, etc.
2. Domain + Social Handles
Okay, now that you have a name, we need to grab your domain and social handles. Here’s the thing: You want all of these to be the same. This not only makes it easier for you, but also easier for your readers to find you. You can check for your domain availability by simply going to domain.com or wherever you plan on hosting (godaddy, bluehost, etc). If your name isn’t available, try it with “blog” at the end. Then, check the availability of any platforms you plan on using.
3. Platforms
What platforms do you want to use? It’s easy to fall into the trap of trying to do everything, but honestly, it’s hard to do everything and do it well. I suggest starting with using the platforms you’re already using daily. Maybe you’re consistently posting on Instagram and Facebook as it is.. great! Start there, don’t worry about Twitter and TikTok and all the other things. Pinterest is a platform I suggest for anyone blogging because it’s a great way to simply share your content and works like a search engine to help drive traffic to your blog.
4. Post Ideas
To anyone who ever comes to me asking about starting a blog, the one thing I always suggest is keeping a note in your phone of your blog post ideas. Keep this going. Keeping it in your phone helps to make sure you have this list on you at all times. You never know when an idea might pop into your head for a blog post so make sure to write it down before you forget! Also, once you start doing this, you’ll be blown away by how many ideas start coming to you.
If you’re ever feeling stuck here, ask yourself these:
+ What do people come to me for?
+What is something I learned/discovered recently?
+ What was the last tip/trick/hack/recipe I shared with someone?
+ What is something I’m really excited about right now?
+ What are some things that are second nature to me but might not be to someone else?
+ What am I loving right now? (products, podcasts, food, books, restaurants, activities, etc)
From there, start brain storming what you would write about. You’ll find that for some of these ideas, you could actually break them down into multiple posts.
5. Post Topics
Now that you have your list of post ideas, what are your main categories going to be? What about sub categories? Knowing this will really help when it comes down to building your blog.
TIP: I suggest having a few posts ready for your launch, preferably one in each category. I believe I launched with 3 posts. And then, have a few more prepped and ready to roll out in the following days.
Are you a blogger? If you have any tips/suggestions for new bloggers, leave it in the comments!
Thinking of starting a blog? Ask me all your questions so I can tailor more posts to help you!