What to Know Before Starting a Blog in 2024
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In the ever-evolving digital landscape, blogging has emerged as a timeless powerhouse, captivating audiences worldwide. While some skeptics may proclaim its imminent demise, the truth remains: blogging continues to thrive with an unwavering force. One study found that more than 75% of internet users read at least one blog every single day, debunking any notions of its decline.
Embarking on a blogging journey is an exhilarating endeavor but one that requires careful navigation. The path to success has never been a walk in the park, yet armed with the right knowledge, tools, and an unwavering sense of determination, you can get your blogging career off the ground. Here’s what you need to know for blog success in 2024 and beyond!
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Expertise and Passion are Key
As we just mentioned, building a successful blog is hard work. You can’t expect to have a valuable blog without a lot of hard work and dedication. And you’ll only be willing to put in the effort if you're passionate about the topic you’re writing about.
Passion should only be one part of the equation, however. You’ll also need to have expertise since, well, you’ll have to give your readers something of value. Picking a topic that people are interested in will also help you to attract readers. You’ll find that it’s much easier to find success if you have those three things (expertise, passion, and reader interest).
A Lot of Creativity is Required (And That’s a Good Thing)
It’s a crowded market out there in the digital world. Even if you pick a relatively underserved niche, you’ll still have dozens of competitors who will be equally as determined to attract visitors as you are. And if they’ve been running their blog for a while, then they’ll probably already have a loyal audience. But that doesn’t mean you can’t snag your market share. You will have to put your thinking cap on to make sure that happens. You’ll be much more likely to find blogging success if you do things with your own unique twist. Don’t do what everyone else is doing; it’s already been done!
This will require creativity, as will creating engaging posts. But don’t see that as an obstacle — instead, embrace creativity; it’s one of the fun aspects of running a blog.
You Can (Still) Make Money
Some people run a blog as a passion project, but even if the inner joy you get from creating quality posts may be your primary source of satisfaction, you’ll likely still want to make some money from your website if possible. The good news is that it is very much possible once you’ve built an audience. Displaying advertising, hosting sponsored posts, and selling related products are just a few of the ways that bloggers can monetize their blogs. So how much money do bloggers make? The answer is that it depends. Some make small amounts that fund their coffee habit, and others rake in tens of thousands of dollars each month.
Even bloggers who earn big bucks from their blogs started out small, so don’t be discouraged if you’re not earning too much when you first get underway. Earning a decent sum is a marathon, not a sprint.
Consistency is Key
Building an audience for a blog takes time and requires a consistent posting schedule. In fact, the regularity of posting determines the success of the blog more than the quality of posts.
That’s not to say that quality isn’t important because it absolutely is. However, it’s better to have regular ‘good’ blogs rather than posting a ‘great’ blog every few months. It’s best to brainstorm a host of blog concepts that’ll provide you with enough material for a series of posts.
And Marketing Too
They say that cream will always rise to the top, but that’s not really the case in the blogging world. You could have some excellent blog posts that internet users would resonate with, but if you’re not also investing in marketing, there’s a high chance that those posts are left unread.
Your blog should be search engine optimized to ensure that Google can promote your website, but you can’t expect Google to do all of the work. In any case, it’ll take a few months for search engines to index and rank your website. Finding other ways to market your blog, including building your email subscriber list, will help you get viewers.
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The Tech Side Is Easier Than Ever To Manager
You’ll need some technical knowledge to host and run a blog, but not much. These days, it’s easier than ever to have a well-designed, highly functional blog. Your best bet is to use a widely used platform, such as WordPress, and then make the most of the leading blog-related plugins available for the CMS. You can do just about everything with plugins. It also pays to keep up to date periodically with new plugins that are being released since new ones are coming out all the time.
Quality of Traffic Beats Volume of Traffic
People often think that success is based on the number of visitors that the website receives, but that’s not the case. What counts is having quality visitors. It would be much better to have 50,000 quality visitors a month, rather than 250,000 non-quality visitors. So what makes a visitor ‘quality’? Mostly, it comes down to engagement. The key to long-term success is having people engage with the content. Someone who visits the website but leaves instantly — and doesn’t come back — isn’t going to be of value. This is especially important if you’re planning to monetize your blog, especially via the selling products method. A quality visitor is infinitely more likely to buy than someone just passing through.
It Pays To Connect With Others
The blogging world is competitive, but it’s also supportive. You’ll find your journey much easier if you network with others and join the broader community. There are a host of websites that can connect you with like-minded people who will be more than happy to help you out when you run into problems. Plus, you never know what opportunities those connections may lead to in the future.
Social Media Is Your Supporting Act
It would help if you had a presence on social media. In fact, it’s important to check that your blog name is available as a handle on all the major social media sites before you decide on a name. If done correctly, social media can help you grow your audience. However, remember that while having a lot of followers is good, it’s not the end goal. Your channels should work as funnels to your website, which is what really counts.
Versatility Wins
The blogging world has developed a lot over the past few years. It used to be that having written content was enough, but that’s no longer the case. Having a versatile range of posts is paramount for creating engaging content. While the bulk of your posts may be text-based (with some photographs, of course), there’s a lot of value in having videos, infographics, podcasts, and anything else that diversifies how your visitors can consume your content. After all, people like to experience content in different ways.
If you already have a blog, look at repackaging your existing blogs in new ways. It’s easy enough to create a short podcast based on the content of an old post, for example.
Mistakes Will Happen
In an ideal world, your journey towards blogging success would be smooth and linear. In practice, it’ll be quite different. Everyone makes mistakes, including the most successful bloggers, so don’t beat yourself up if you try something that doesn’t work. In fact, you could argue that if you’re not making mistakes, you’re playing things a little too safe. The key is learning from your mistakes and doing better next time.
It’s a Slow But Worthwhile Journey
Finally, remember that you won’t build a successful blog overnight. It’ll take time. In fact, for the first six to twelve months, it’s best not to even think about the overall success of your blog. During that phase, it’ll be all about doing the things that may lead to success in the future.
Even though the journey is slow, it’s worthwhile. Running a blog is challenging, fun, annoying, and just about everything else, so embrace everything that comes your way.
Final Thoughts
Despite what you may hear, blogging is still highly relevant in 2024. The numbers show that a significant portion of web users read blogs every single day and tell their own stories. With many tools available to prospective and existing bloggers, there’s arguably never been a better time to begin the journey. Armed with the information outlined above, you’ll have everything you need to get started and be well on your way to building your audience.