As a new blogger it’s difficult piecing together all the aspects of your blog because you’re not sure what to anticipate yet and you’re not even sure what needs to get done in the first place! To help build big picture of what you might want your blog to look like I made a list of 5 things to do before creating anything on your blog.
STEP 1: LIST TOPICS YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT AND GET SPECIFIC!
You will likely list more topics than you can actually talk about in reality but that’s okay! Just make a list and start figuring out what catches your attention the most.
However, you must get specific.
If you’re struggling to figure what you want to talk about, try figuring out who you want to talk first. Your ideal viewers make up your target audience, the group of people you will be targeting the most to read your blog.
- Are they older or younger?
- Parents or couples?
- Do they have pets?
- What kind of lifestyle might they have? Fast paced or slow and steady?
Try deciding on what interests your ideal readers have and build a blog topic around that.
STEP 2: GET AN IDEA OF WHAT YOUR WEBSITE WILL LOOK LIKE
When I say this I specifically mean the fonts and color schemes you will use throughout the blog itself. Fonts and colors effect the sub-conscious mind in a way most people aren’t aware of.
For example, Starbucks’ target audience is people between the ages 22 – 60 who are middle class and on the go. If you look at their color scheme of Green, White, and Brown then it makes sense because green represents finances and growth while brown represents warmth. In a sense it’s kind of like you’re trying to welcome your customer in with the warm brown colors and make them feel confident with their growing finances with the green.
This may not be their exact logic behind their color scheme but it does help explain how colors effect the sub-conscious mind.
Have an overall idea what your brand might look like will ease the stress of building your website, which will become very overwhelming very fast. There is a large amount of research that will go into this but remember to keep it clean and simple!
When researching your possible brand design always remember, no pretty design will ever replace quality content; put the quality of your content above all else.
To get a start on this research [read this post about fonts] and [this post about colors]. These posts will do a deep dive on how fonts and color play a major factor on the sub-conscious mind.
PSST Having your target audience already picked out will really help in this area of decision making.
STEP 3: SET YOUR GOALS AND MAKE A PLAN
Set some goals to help you create an overall long-term plan for your blog!
For example, while it took me a while to figure out, I wanted to give some light to others, to encourage them to chase after their dreams also.
I had to figure how to do that sure but after setting some specific goals and creating an overall long term plan it started to become a lot easier to manage.
Figure out what you want long term and set smaller goals to get you there. Eventually you’ll see a whole plan starting to piece itself together!
To help make this plan I provided the same exact template below that I used to plan my blog! You Can Download It Here!
STEP 4: DECIDE WHAT WEBSITE BUILDER & SOCIAL PLATFORM YOU WANT TO USE
There are a lot of website builders to help get you started but I recommend WordPress or HostGator. WordPress is a bit more pricey but can provide a lot to those building an online blog. HostGator will actually provide you with some of the WordPress features if you’re willing to learn a little more on your own to save some more bucks, which is what I prefer.
Also, when starting your blogging journey you should really only stick to one social platform. Otherwise it will begin to get extremely overwhelming extremely fast, which can cause you to burn out and break consistency. Build a simple yet solid system to start on and build up from there with consistency.
STEP 5: START YOUR PLAN WITH CONSISTENCY!
Don’t get me wrong – I struggle with this one. However, there are ways to prevent consistency breaks! If you’re using a social platform for marketing I recommend using the LATER APP which will not only let you schedule your posts but also post them automatically without you needing to do anything.
All posts for your blog and social media should be finished and scheduled weeks or even months before they need to be published to keep things organized.
I hope this helps you all get an idea of what you want to build and most importantly have fun with it! If you don’t enjoy the posts, chances are others wont either.
As always, be motivated enough to build a life by your own design.
-The Unnamed Poet