If you have or have thought about starting a blog, you’ve probably heard about a million different perspectives and opinions on all of the things you need to do and have to be successful.
You might be feeling like there is a huge to-do list hanging over you that you have to complete before you can get your blog going and before you can make any money.
And when I started my blog, I felt this way too.
When you’re just starting out, this can feel extremely overwhelming.
And if you feel like you don’t have the know-how to do things like branding and social media marketing, etc, it can feel next to impossible.
But I’m here to bring you good news and hopefully take some stuff off of your plate so you can breathe a huge sigh of relief and get to blogging (and making money) faster.
Here are 5 things that actually don’t matter when you’re starting your blog (and what does matter).
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1. Your website doesn’t have to be award-winning
Before starting my blog, I was working towards a career as a web developer. I loved designing websites and had very high expectations for myself. When it came to creating my blog site, this was no different.
I spent weeks (okay months) building my site, because I felt like the appearance of it would directly link to how successful I was. If my site was beautiful, aesthetic, and looked extremely professional, then surely I would find success.
But what I realized was…not quite that.
Spending loads of time making tweaks to my site did NOTHING for my traffic. All it did was take up time that I could have used for stuff that would have made a difference.
This isn’t to say that having a good site isn’t important. There are very important aspects of your site that are crucial for your business success, such as SEO, page load times, accessibility, and readability.
But the aesthetics of it all are not really on this list. There are tons of bloggers making multiple six figures a year whose sites are…underwhelming to say the least. And that’s okay! Because despite what a lot of people think, readers care about your content a heck of a lot more than they care about the look of things or what trendy features your site has.
There’s nothing wrong with having a beautiful site! If you have the time for it, go for it! But if you’re just starting things out, trust me, focus on making a site that is simple, readable, and has great SEO. All the flash can wait until later.
If you don’t know much about creating a website, then this is probably music to your ears! Here is my advice for you:
- Sign up for a WordPress site through a hosting platform like Bluehost (I 150% recommend Bluehost, and you can snag hosting and all the backend stuff you need for less than $3 / month by using this link → Sign up for Bluehost. )
- Pick a simple theme from WordPress’s library. They have a ton of great free options, but there are also options you can buy for a one-time fee. The one I use is the Isla theme by Code and Coconut and I highly recommend it for beginner website creators!
- Limit yourself to a period of time for making your site (1 week is a good amount of time), and don’t let yourself go down a rabbit hole. Keep your design simple and functional, and don’t worry about the flash.
- Dedicate some time to learning about SEO, accessibility, and website speed. (this stuff will matter more than the aesthetics, and the sooner you apply it to your site, the better. Don’t worry- this isn’t as daunting as it seems!)
- Publish your site & shift your focus to creating content that helps your audience.
2. Your personal appearance doesn’t actually matter when building an audience
We live in a world where it seems like the beautiful people always have an edge.
But, in my experience, blogging just isn’t really one of those spaces.
When you create your blogging business, you should have one thing at the forefront: helping your audience solve their problem(s).
And most people just want their problems solved, they don’t care what the person helping them looks like.
When I started blogging, I was constantly comparing myself to others and felt like I wasn’t pretty or cool enough, and no one would care what I said because of that fact.
But I’ve learned that blogging isn’t about appearance, it’s about helping others by sharing your unique story and experience. People want your personality. They want someone they can relate to. And honestly, if you are focused on making your appearance flawless and seeming perfect, you might come off as unrelatable and fake to your potential audience, which can be a huge turn-off.
So if you’re worried that you aren’t cool enough or pretty enough or you don’t have the best wardrobe or the most aesthetic home, let that worry go! Put yourself out there as exactly who you are, however messy that may be.
Focus on showing up and providing value for your audience, let your personality be shown, and trust me- you will find your people.
3. You don’t have to be an expert to help your audience
Most people, including me when I started, had this idea that in order to write blog posts or sell e-books or courses on a topic, I had to be an expert. And that if I didn’t have a degree or decades worth of experience on a topic, then I had no right trying to give others advice on that topic.
But this couldn’t be further from the truth. Think about all of the knowledge that wouldn’t be gained and all the problems that would be left unsolved if we only took advice from the expert of all experts on any given topic.
In order to help someone, through a blog post, a course, or whatever medium, you only need to be one step ahead of your audience. You just need a slight edge.
You may feel like you have no knowledge inside of you that anyone could gain anything from. Whatever you know, everyone else probably already knows too, right?
You’d be surprised. Don’t assume that everyone has the same level of knowledge as you. Everyone knows things at a different level, and everyone is approaching knowledge at a different speed.
If your blog niche is travel, you don’t have to wait until you’ve visited every country to start sharing advice with others. I guarantee you could share your process for packing a suitcase or how you plan your trips, and there are tons of people who would eat up this information. (do you know how many people still use travel agents because they don’t have any idea how to go about planning a vacation?)
If you want to blog about blogging, you don’t have to wait until you’re making $ 1 million/ year to share what you know. Do you have a good strategy for writing blog posts? Share that. Do you know more about on-page SEO than some people? Share that. Someone out there needs this information (trust me)
My point is this: you have knowledge in you & a perspective that is unique. Share that with others. You don’t have to be at the finish line of whatever topic it is. You just need to be one step ahead of your audience.
4. You don’t have to do all the things to be successful
If you’ve watched videos or read blog posts or taken courses about starting a blog, it’s likely that you’ve heard at least one person say that you should put yourself out there on every platform.
Post on every social media platform, have a YouTube channel, run email marketing, share your posts on every site you can, etc etc etc.
But here is the truth: Increasing your to-do list doesn’t equal more success. It can actually have the opposite effect.
When you have a ton of things you’re devoting your time to, you are only giving each of those things a portion of your energy and effort.
Contrary to what you’ve been told, you don’t have to be popular on every platform in order to succeed. If your goal is to make money as a blogger, what matters the most is your website getting high quality readers. Readers that will become the die-hard audience that trust what you have to say. When they trust you, you can sell them books and courses and products, or tell them what products you use so they trust you enough and buy it too, giving you a nice commission!
Spreading yourself too thin can only hurt you.
Everyone’s set up and business goals are different, so what platforms you choose may be different than someone else’s.
If you already have a large Instagram following, it may be easy for you to keep Instagram going while adding in other blog-related platforms. But if you’re starting from scratch on Instagram, now may not be the best time for focusing on that!
My advice is this: If you have a platform you’re already pretty successful at, keep that one in the loop and use it to start driving traffic to your blog.
But if you DO NOT have a platform you’re currently using daily, just start with these two: your blog site and Pinterest.
Your blog site (obviously) is a crucial piece of being a blogger. And Pinterest is the #1 way that most bloggers drive traffic to their blog. Pinterest is a search engine, and is actually quite simple to get the hang of if you’re new to it.
Trust me, with these two things being your main focus, you will see success!
If you’re at all nervous about Pinterest and would like an in-depth guide to finding success on Pinterest, you might like the Pinterest Guide for Bloggers that I am coming out with super soon! This will be a super in-depth course that goes over setting up your Pinterest account, optimizing it for SEO, driving traffic to your blog site, making money, and everything in between. If you’re struggling to see growth on Pinterest, or don’t even know where to begin, this guide is going to be your best friend!
Enter your name & email below and you’ll be the first to know when it comes out!
5. You don’t need to spend a bunch of money to start a blog
When jumping into a new venture, it can feel tempting to get the best of the best gear because we feel like that will help us succeed faster.
When starting a blog, you may feel like you need a top of the line computer, a fancy camera, the best tools and resources, the list goes on and on.
But starting a successful blog does not require a bunch of money to be spent up front.
That’s one of the reasons that blogging is so great! Anyone can start where they are, with what they have, and make it work.
You don’t need to buy a camera- you can take photos on your smartphone or use free sites like Pexels.com for stock photos.
You don’t need a fancy computer- all you need is access to the internet and a way to type up some blog posts (I’ve even done this on my phone in a pinch).
You don’t need expensive monthly subscriptions for making cool graphics- use Canva’s free plan which still gives you access to a ton of amazing things.
If you are worried that being a blogger is going to cost you a lot of money, let me tell you that you can let that worry go! Aside from paying for your website hosting (which can be a once/year thing for less cost), there really isn’t anything you have to pay for to be a successful blogger.
The bloggers who have a lot of monthly fees are typically the ones whose blogs have grown so much that they now can afford to pay for the extra perks and automation while still making a lot of profit.
You CAN run a successful business without paying for tools.
If you do have a little cash to spare each month, here are the two things I feel are definitely worth the spend, but definitely not necessary for beginners.
- Canva Pro – 12.99/month
- While I have used the free membership and still think it is a great deal. But the pro has added benefits such as the option to create a brand kit and additional elements, fonts, etc. that you can use!
- A business email- I pay 6.00/month
- A normal email (example: [email protected]) works fine and there is nothing wrong with it, but I like having a business email (example: [email protected]) to keep things separate and slightly more professional. This is a super small expense that is worth it to me to pay each month.
Both of these monthly subscriptions are things that didn’t really make me a better blogger by any means, but rather just made some stuff a little easier.
The point: start where you are with what you have and don’t feel the need to spend a ton of money on flashy new equipment or software. They aren’t necessary and aren’t likely to make you a better blogger.
———-
When you’re starting a blog, there can be so much information coming at you at once that it’s hard to make sense of what is necessary and what is just noise.
I hope after reading this, you can make more sense of things and that you feel a little weight taken off of your shoulders. Creating a blogging business is hard work, but it doesn’t need to feel impossible and overwhelming.
Start where you are. Use what you have. Try to drown out all of the noise and focus on two things: showing up and creating value for your audience by solving their problems.
What other questions about blogging do you have?
I want to help you in your journey to becoming a blogger, and want to address your questions in my next few posts. Leave a comment or feel free to reach out to me with any questions you may have about blogging!
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