So, you want to start your own blog in 2022, huh? Great idea! But do you know how to get started and turn your passion into a successful career? The tips in this article can help you figure that out!
Blogging is a very popular activity these days. People found that sharing their thoughts, advice, skills, and knowledge with the right audience is truly fulfilling, both personally and professionally, career. And, the best part is that audiences are really interested in reading everything that their favorite blogger posts.
Your plan to start a blogging career in 2022 means entering a thriving industry. As of 2021, there are over 600 million blogs out there. But, the fact that the blogging industry is thriving these days is both good and bad news for you: you’re entering an arena that can make your career successful, but you’ll also have to work hard to stand out of the crowd in this competitive field.
So, how do you start a successful blogging career? Here are a few tips that can help:
Know your motivation
First things first, when you’re thinking about making a change in your career and becoming a blogger, you need to identify your motifs.
As mentioned above, the blogging industry is highly competitive right now. There are thousands of blogs out there, probably discussing the same topic you’re planning to write about. So, this requires really hard work to stand from the crowd and build your own audience. This means that you shouldn’t go to the trouble of blogging unless you have a powerful motivation to do so. Here are a few reasons why you may want to build a blogging career:
- Share your story – A blog gives you your own voice and the chance to be heard.
- Make money from home (or anywhere in the world) – As a blogger, you can work from home, a cozy cabin in the woods, or a warm beach on an island.
- Find a community – Blogging is all about bringing like-minded people together. It will allow you to build your own community with people that share your passion and opinion about a certain topic.
If you find that your motivation to start blogging is strong, you’ll find it in you to stay focused on finding success despite the challenges in the way.
Choose your topic and niche
Once you know what motivates you, it’s time to start thinking about what direction you want for your blog. The first step towards that direction is to choose a topic and a niche for your blog.
You likely already have an idea of what you want your blog to be about, whether that is travel, parenting, fashion, business, you name it. But, when choosing a topic, make sure that:
- It’s a topic you’re passionate about.
- It’s a topic that you’re good at.
- It’s a topic that is popular and can build an audience.
Besides that, when you’re sure about the topic, it’s time to choose a niche. For example, suppose the topic of your blog will be traveling. In that case, you can choose between niches like solo traveling, traveling on a budget, traveling with kids, or whatever you’re passionate about writing. Or, if you start a business blog, you can choose a niche like tips for starting a business, business finance, marketing tips, and so on.
Having a clear niche in mind will make it easier for you to focus your efforts on attracting a specific audience.
Choose a cool blog name
Choosing a cool blog name is paramount. The name of your blog will be the tool you’ll use for marketing purposes. It can also be the key element that will differentiate you from your industry competitors.
Here are a few tips for choosing a cool name:
- Make sure it’s unique
- Find a good pun for it
- Use humor
- Use your own name or nickname
- Make sure people can spell and pronounce it
- Choose a web-friendly name
- Don’t use numbers or special characters in the name.
Get the right tools
Being a blogger requires you to have some techy skills. From setting up a website for your blog to knowing how to handle a computer/ laptop, you’ll need to earn or improve your tech skills and invest in some tech equipment.
First of all, you’ll need a good computer or laptop which you can use to write your blogs. Don’t worry if you don’t have the funds to invest in the equipment you need. For example, there are lease to own electronics options that you can use to purchase a quality computer or laptop. Or, you can borrow a computer from a friend or family member in the first few months of your blogging journey.
As your blog grows and becomes more successful, you’ll earn more money that you can use to invest in the more technical part of owning a blog.
Learn how to write great content
Finding success with your blog is all about writing great content. If you want to build and retain an audience, you need to be really good at writing compelling pieces of content that will have your readers keep coming back. To create high-quality content:
- Write for your readers
- Make the content easy to read and engaging
- Don’t use too industry-specific terms (unless your target audience is made of professionals)
- Invest time in research to write accurate information
- Use practical advice
- Make your content SEO-appropriate
- Include call-to-action phrases
- Make topics unique by adding a personal touch, like your own perspective.
Promote your blog
Once your blog is up and running and you’ve also already written some great pieces of content to publish, it’s time to tell the world about your blog. In other words, it’s time to put your marketing skills at work.
There are various ways to promote a blog, including sharing your blog on social media, working with influencers relevant to your industry to promote it, or running email campaigns. Make sure to tailor your marketing efforts to your industry, audience, and blog topic.
