Everything You Need To Know If You Are Considering Starting A Blog

Blogging is a great way to make money and relieve your stress because it opens opportunities that you would not have had without your blog. In the New Year, there are a lot of new blogs to discover and love that but unfortunately, most new bloggers get into it for the wrong reasons and do not know what they are doing and often will do things that are not allowed that can get you in a lot of trouble. In the beginning of my blogging journey I made a lot of mistakes like most bloggers will that could have gotten me in a lot of legal trouble if I didn’t correct them. Blogging is therapeutic but in order to create a successful blog there are things that bloggers must do and rules you must follow to create a successful blog because if you do the wrong things your blog could end up dying or being reported for doing something illegal. In this post, I am going to talk about a few things new bloggers need to know if you are considering starting a new blog this year.

Learn the blogging laws- Blogging is not like posting on Instagram and when you have a blog there are different rules because in the eyes of the IRS, blogging can be considered an online business, and if you don’t follow certain rules you could be doing something very illegal that get you sued. In most cases, bloggers will not go to jail if they unintentionally broke a blogging law but that doesn’t mean you are off the hook, and sometimes you may have to pay a fine or Google will flag it and make it impossible for people to find you. The types of legal statements that every blogger should have will be different for each person because it is dependent on the types of things you do with your blog and bloggers that do not accept sponsored posts will not need that in their policy. If there are only two types of legal statements you have on your blog make sure it’s a privacy policy and disclaimer. A disclaimer is especially important for health bloggers because it will prevent you from getting sued and a privacy policy will let people know how you use their information which important if you collect emails. Everyone’s disclaimer will be different and it all depends on what you talk about but every blogger should have them because you never if someone takes your advice too seriously, hurts themselves and wants to hold you liable for it. If you are blogging on a free site you might not have the same legal statements because the hosting company owns your site but if you are self-hosted and own your site you are required to have them.

Post consistently– Some blogs grow quicker than others and the main reason for that is because some creators are more consistent with their posting schedules. Every blogger will have a different schedule that works for them and some people may write weekly while others may stick to monthly posts. Blogs thrive on content and tend to die when creators abandon their blogs and go years without publishing anything. Experts recommend that you post on the same day and time so readers know when to expect a post from you but for some people that can be really hard and personally I don’t think you need to be that rigid with your posting schedule. The most important thing is that you are consistent because, at the end of the day, people are going to view your posts when it’s convenient for them and that might not necessarily be on the day you published them. I try to post on the same day and time but most weeks that doesn’t happen but that is okay because it’s better to write when it feels good to you than to force yourself and create something that is poorly written just to get a post out.

Try and not compare yourself to others– As a blogger, it is very easy to fall into the comparison trap and compare yourself to someone that writes similar things and has better pictures. When I started my blog I was not confident in the things I created because I was constantly comparing myself to other bloggers that had more experience than I did. Bloggers who have been online for years are going to have more comments and followers than someone who started an hour ago because we have had more time to build our blogs. Learn from bloggers that have more experience than you do instead of comparing yourself to them and wishing you had what they had because when you are too focused on what someone else is doing it makes it hard to see how far you have come.

You don’t have to go self-hosted- Some professional bloggers will say that you will not ever make money if you do not go self-hosted. If you are a new blogger I would not recommend jumping into a self-hosted site right away because it’s a lot more work and can be overwhelming for someone who is just starting. Self-hosted sites are typically recommended for professional bloggers that want to make a living off their content but for most personal bloggers who write for fun, it’s not necessary. Some brands specifically only work with self-hosted sites but you can still get opportunities without being self-hosted because I got opportunities before I went self-hosted.

The looks of your blog matter- Some blogs look amazing while others have a million ads and it looks like an amateur did it. The appearance of your blog matters because blogs that are easy to navigate and look professional generally will get more views than those who don’t take the time to make their content easily accessible for readers. Some people will not even consider browsing your blog if the front page looks bad because if you can’t create a blog that looks presentable then what does that say about your content? Devote a little extra time to the looks of your blog because you have a few seconds to hook someone and a sloppy website could make or break your blog!

Give credit when it is deserved- If you read a blog post from one of your followers and are inspired to write something similar it’s important that you don’t take credit for that idea and to give that person a shout-out. There is nothing wrong with using someone else’s ideas as long as you are not plagiarizing but you should give credit when it is deserved because there is nothing more frustrating than when you have a great idea and someone steals it without crediting you! Bloggers appreciate it when people share their posts but don’t steal something that is not rightfully yours because it makes more work for bloggers than necessary and we already have a million things to do.

You don’t have to use social media- Some people like to use social media to promote their blogs because it does help get you more exposure but it’s not a requirement. Blogs are not required to have social media and some people have them because that is how they chose to promote but you can grow without it. I use social media to promote my blog but it’s the lowest priority for me and I don’t know if I will be using it forever and if my blog ever gets big enough I might decide to delete social media.

It’s okay to take weeks off- Blogs thrive on content because the more you create the more popular you become but you don’t have to write every day and it’s okay if you go a week without publishing anything. In the beginning of my blogging journey, I would not skip any posting days because I thought it would significantly impact my blog but I since then have learned that you don’t have to be super strict with your blogging schedule and it’s okay to skip a week or two. I write when it feels good to me and some weeks I post more often than others and that is okay because I am still growing even though sometimes I don’t publish as often as I should. I personally wouldn’t recommend new bloggers who only have a handful of posts up to take weeks off but the more you create the less your blog will suffer when you do take some time off.

Try to not obsess over stats- When I started my blog I was totally obsessed with stats because I thought the numbers dictated the overall success of my blog. If there is one thing that I wish I would have known when I started it’s that you want to know your numbers but it does not dictate your worth and you don’t have to check them every five minutes because most days it won’t change every hour.

When I started my blog I did it as an experiment because I was bored at home and I thought all you had to do to create a successful blog was write but that is only one job. Bloggers wear many hats and it can be a little overwhelming for new bloggers because a lot of people start with the thinking that all you have to do to create a successful blog is to write. My advice if you are a new blogger is to not try and do everything all at once because it will feel overwhelming if you try to do more things than you can handle. If you are stuck ask someone in the community for help because I can guarantee you that there is someone who has had more experience than you that can help you improve your blog. I have been online for five years and there are still things that I have not mastered yet and need to ask the community for help on but we all do that because even professional bloggers don’t know everything. What things do you think new bloggers new to know when they launch their blogs?

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