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21 Things to Know Before Starting a Blog

So, you want to start a blog and the first thing you do is start researching, things to know before starting a blog.

Smart move! 

Well, what you need to know before starting a blog varies on the blogger that’s posting about it.

Some of these things I’m going to tell you are probably topics you’re not going to hear about until you actually start blogging because it doesn’t sell, it doesn’t make you want to buy and it doesn’t lure you in for a purchase.

Then why am I telling you this?

Because if you have realistic expectations and that’s what you definitely need when starting a blog, you’ll be prepared for what’s ahead.

Now if you’re committed to knowing what you should know before starting a blog and making this thing happen, let’s do this!

And when you’re done here, click the link in Related Posts and head on over to the ulitmate start a blog guide.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. Please see my full disclosure for further information.

For a lot more blogging knowledge, guides, walk-throughs and how-to’s to starting a blog when you have no idea where to start, check out my Etsy shop for The Phases of Starting a Blog eBooks.

  • Phase 1 – starting from the very beginning of blogging
  • Phase 2 – setting up the back end of your WordPress site
  • Phase 3 – the important pages you need on your blog
  • Phase 4 – all about content and everything that leads up to it

What to Consider When Starting a Blog

Ask yourself this:

Are you going to work for it? Are you going to put in the time that this blog is going to take up to get it rolling?

Blogging is HARD!

That’s a plain and simple fact.

Especially if you’re a brand new blogger and have no idea what’s ahead of you.

If you want to make money; you’re going to have to work for it.

There is nothing easy about blogging unless you have a little bit of extra money to invest in other people to create, build, write, promote and maintain your blog for you.

Yes, I know, what about all the posts that say, “easy, start under 20 minutes and 8 easy steps to starting a blog and making money.

Well, how can I say this? Yes, you can start with those basic steps to starting a blog, and that’s what they are basic, so don’t expect too much out of them.

As far as making money, it’s not 8 easy steps, and no matter what you read or where you read it, it doesn’t happen your first night and you should realize that now.

Blogging is not a one-and-done thing and then you just sit back and let the dollars roll in.

It’s far from it.

So, are you willing to work for it? Because you’re about to work hard!

Facts You Should Know About Blogging

Right now, there are over 31 million bloggers in the United States, and over 7 million blog posts are published daily.

This is what you’re up against!!

How many of those blogs will fail?

Statistics say, 80% of blogs will fail within 18 months. That’s 8 out of 10 blogs. You are one of those 10.

Only 5% of bloggers earn a full-time income.

What’s considered a full-time income for a blogger? Whatever your making now and can replace with blogging is a full-time income and a full-time income is different for everyone.

What You Need to Know Before Starting a Blog

1. Blogging is hard.

That’s the first thing you should know before starting a blog.  

If you’re a brand new blogger and you’ve never seen any of this blogging stuff and you’re just starting out, blogging is hard.

If you’ve come across posts saying easy, simple and quick. No, it’s not.

It may be for the person who already knows how to start a blog, the person who has worked on other people’s blogs, or the person who already has a cople of blogs, but for you, no. You’re just getting started and this is only the beginning.

I feel like posts should say, “how to start 1/16’s of a blog”.

Because there is so much more to starting a blog than just signing up and writing a post and I need you to know that now before you go any further into this.

2. Blogging takes time.

You will not find your first night of being a blogger an overnight success with hundreds of dollars in the bank or thousands of followers.

Blogging takes time and if you can’t commit to giving it at least a year and a half to two before calling it quits, then you’re just going to waste your time, and then if you’re looking to make a full-time income, it could be another 3 to 4 years on top of that.

Now there are success stories that I hear of people who have quit their job in years 2 or 3 of blogging to become a full-time blogger.

But those people put 1000% of all their time into it.

And their story is not yours, remember that.

Then you have the people who belieive it’s so easy to make money and just quit their jobs and they either fail or realize how badly they messed up and have no choice but to make this thing happen.

In order for you to get anywhere in blogging, you will need to build up your online authority and that takes time.

3. Blogging is not a get-rich scheme.

It doesn’t happen overnight, no way, not for you, not for anyone.

It can take anywhere from 6 months to a year to make money and it may just be a few dollars.

If you’re looking for fast money, you have a better chance of getting a job and waiting for your first paycheck.

4. Blogging takes up a lot of your time.

It’s very time-consuming, especially when you have to fit it in between all your other daily duties.

But one thing I want to say and this is very important because I’ve seen it happen many times, do not sacrifice your time with your family just to blog.

Your blog is not going anywhere.

It’s going to stay the same no matter what, until you get to it and change something, but days pass and things change every day in life and you don’t want to miss that.

Don’t be that one that looks back and is sorry you missed out on something.

5. You’re going to need to invest in yourself.

I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about making money and you’ve probably heard a lot less about spending money.

Well, you’re going to need to spend money to make money.

The first thing you’ll need is a paid hosting platform with WordPress.Org.

WordPress.Org is free but it’s only available inside of a paid hosting provider, and then if you think about it, that really doesn’t make it free.

Then you’re going to need legal templates, if you want to make money, these are a must.

You will be rejected by companies for not having legal disclosures on your site.

These are the main 2 that you will need to have to start out with.

6. Treat your site like a business.

It’s so easy to quit something when you’re not serious about it.

Set yourself up for success from day one.

If you’re going to start a blog to make money, this is not a hobby, this is a serious biz here.

Hold yourself accountable.

Your blog site is only going to go as far as you take it and you can have all the people you know or strangers in your blogging groups give you all the kind words, and encouragement that you need but at the end of the day how far you got is all on you.

Unless you’re ready to shell out some big bucks, no one is going to hold your hand and no one is going to do your work for you.

Treat it like a business.

7. Have a plan.

You’re trying to get from A to Z and you need a map to get there.

And that is what a strategy is; your roadmap, you’re checkoff list, your guide.

When you start blogging as a beginner, there are a lot of things that you will need to do to get your blog where you want it and to get it to do what you want it to do for you.

And flying by the seat of your pants is not going to cut it.

First, you need to start with a blog strategy, it’s basically a how-to. It takes your blog from one step to the next.

And then there are more strategies, but the point is you need a plan.

You want to become a blogger, what’s the first step to becoming a blogger, then after you’ve done the first step, what do you need to do next?

You want to write content, how are you going to get that content, who are you writing for, what are you going to write about?

You want to make money, how are you going to make money, what are you going to sell, what are you going to do to make that happen?

You want people to come to your blog, how are you going to market your blog to get it out there, what are you going to do for it to get seen?

You see, here’s the order:

  • Start a blog
  • Create content
  • Market your blog
  • Make money

And in between that order are many steps to those steps!

So, what is your plan, your strategy?

Create your plan to go forward and make it happen!

8. Not everyone will support you.

This is true, not everyone will understand what this blogging thing is all about, or how you can make money, or why you spend so much time online.

You may get discouraging words or no encouragement at all.

If you’re committed to this, then you do you and you make it happen.

9. Prepare yourself to become a blogger.

Know what you’re doing before you do it.

Do your research, look up stuff, read all kinds of posts.

Don’t expect someone to just hand you an answer and be good with it.

Know what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and how to do it yourself.

10. Blogging is all about SEO

From the very beginning of your blog start-up, it’s all about SEO.

Everything and I mean everything from the front end to the back end needs to be optimized for your users and search engines and that is something you definitely will not hear about in easy steps to starting a blog.

Doesn’t matter if you’re a knitting, traveling, recipe or review niche, whatever niche you’re in, you’re still going to have to do SEO.

Do yourself a huge favor and learn about it before you start blogging.

There is nothing worse than having to go back and fix everything when it could have been done from the very beginning.

11. Know what you’re going to do to make money.

“I’m going to start a blog”, okay then start your blog.

But if you think you’re just going to put up a post and the dollar bills will start rolling in, you’re in for a surprise.

Despite the fact that you read, “write a post and make money”, it doesn’t work like that.

You have to have something to make money from; your product, someone else’s product, an ad, an affiliate link, sponsored post, something.

New bloggers have the idea to start a blog and they choose a niche and have no idea what to do with it.

As part of your strategies, you need to know how you’re going to make money, so that in everything you do on your blog, the idea of, “how can I make money with this content?”, is always a thought in your mind.

12. Be yourself.

People like genuine real people, there is no reason to be a faker.

People like people they can relate to.

Talk to users like you would talk to your closest friend.

Just be yourself!

13. You will get aggravated, discouraged, and frustrated

It happens, and you are not alone.

Move on!

14. You will not be the first to ask the same question that’s been already been asked over and over again

You will have a ton of questions and that’s okay.

That is part of the beginner stage.

15. You will not be the first to complain that you’ve been blogging for 3 months, haven’t made any money and are going to quit

Since the beginning of the post, I’ve told you that it’s not going to happen quickly, and now that you know that, there’s no reason to complain.

No one really cares what happens to you and your blog. You’ll just be one less blog.

Yea, you might get kind words and keep going you can do this, but that’s all it is, someone being kind, not trying to hurt your feelings.

If your blog is not doing what you want it to and it’s been a while, way way longer than 3 months, then you need to rethink your strategies and keep it movin’.

16. You will need to create great content consistently

Let me just put it this way, without SEO and content, you’re not going anywhere.

17. Most likely the page views you have, are you checking out your own blog

It’s been known for beginner bloggers to get excited about their page views and then come to find out, it’s been them checking out their own sight.

Yes, analytics will read your visits.

18. If you have a job and try to blog, it could take you a little longer

And that’s okay.

We all move at different speeds for different reasons, blogging is not a race and the only time limit on it, is the time limit you set for yourself.

Be flexible with it, have your plans and follow through.

19. Jealousy is not pretty

Worrying about someone else’s business and how much they make, will distract you from your business!!!! Stay in your lane.

21. You will need to have extra thick skin

Here’s the deal, you’ve put yourself out there and you’ve left yourself open for comments.

I mean that is the reason you blog, for people to see your stuff and comment about it.

You’ve put up the most awesome post ever and released it to the world, so someone out there, that you don’t know can tell you how spectacular it is.

And then you get the response you weren’t looking for.

It happens.

If someone is mean, I can’t tell you how to respond because if it were me and based on the comment, I’d respond and I may respond in different ways again based on the comment.

But I can suggest that after, no matter how you treat it with a: delete, block, or response, you should let it go.

It’s going to happen one day or another because we all know that sometimes people have nothing better to do than seek attention with means words.

Brush it off, they don’t know you and you don’t need them.

Now, if someone is telling you something like, “this doesn’t make sense, it’s poorly written and you have no business blogging”.

Then I suggest, you take a step back and try to figure out what they’re talking about instead of getting all up in your feelings.

Because that is something you should use to become a better blogger.

You’re going to need to take criticism, because someone may fill the need to give it.

Use it to tighten up and move on.

Why Do Bloggers Fail?

Remember those statistics up top, 8 out of 10?

Well, I’ve given you 21 reasons in the list and there are plenty more.

But the main reason is, they’re not committed.

And if you want something out of this, then you need to be committed.

Related Posts

How to Start a Blog the Ultimate Beginner’s Guide

Create a Blog Strategy

Conclusion for Things to Know Before Starting a Blog

  • Set your goals and do what works for you
  • Know what blogging is about and why you’re doing it
  • Be prepared to invest in yourself
  • Focus on content and SEO
  • Stick to the plan

Now that you’ve gotten this far, head back up to the Phase ebook links and get Phase 1 for free. Tons of information to get you started in your blogging journey.

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