I am not writing this article to discourage you, am only telling you the things you need to know before you start a blog.
I have 10 friends that started a blog last year, 6 of them already quit while 2 are still contemplating whether to stop or continue.
These are also the things I wish I knew before starting my first blog in 2017, probably my first blog would still be alive if only I knew these things and tackled them.
If you want to create a profitable and professional blog, you will need to get yourself prepared as blogging is not as easy as many aspiring bloggers think it is.
These are the things you need to know before starting your own blog
Things you must know before starting a blog
1. Blogging is hard, it is not for the weak
I am quite sure this will surprise you since you have already been told that blogging is the easiest job on earth.
Lol, those are big lies from motivational speakers.
Blogging requires hard work, consistency, and a perseverance attitude especially now that the blogging industry is already saturated.
You will need to carry out some tasks after starting your blog. This is really necessary like designing your blog, adding posts on your blog, designing blog post images, improving your SEO, getting traffic on your blog, make money from your blog.
SEO and traffic are not something you can achieve in a month, it requires time and effort.
As for developing content, it seems to be hardest if you don’t copy and paste as you have to develop articles, publicize them, and hope your readers like them, and designing your own images can be stressful sometimes.
2. Starting a blog is not free
Many aspiring bloggers do love to start a blog but they don’t know the repercussion, the main excuse aspiring bloggers in Nigeria give is that Lindaikeji started a blog for free then why can’t they also start a free blog?
Yes, that is true, but just that Linda Ikeji started a blog when blogging is less competitive in Nigeria.
She started with a free domain name too, am quite sure you did not know what she faced later on?
She had to buy the domain name at exorbitant rate from resellers who hijacked the domain name related your blog.
If you will still spend the money later on in the future why don’t you spend it now to have peace of mind and avoid transferring your blog from one place to another?
Also note that even after spending money on domain name and hosting you will spend money on WordPress themes or blogger templates, plugins, etc. though they are not necessary
3. You will need a whole lot of data subscription to maintain your blog
This is the major issue many bloggers in Nigeria are currently battling, we need to stay online to monitor our blogs.
Apart from blogging, we have to surf the internet to entertain ourselves on other platforms like Facebook, Nairaland, Instagram, etc.
And the worst part is that we use pc to carry out some of these tasks—all these will increase our internet subscriptions monthly.
Just imagine a large amount of data we use to submit backlinks to 1000blogs, search for blogging guides, read extensively on topics you want to write on, download your blog backup, add browser extensions, etc. compared to the money you will make from your blog as a beginner, this can be challenging if you don’t have a plan
4. Blogging with your phone will be very difficult
I have done this before and it can be so challenging especially when you want to design the blog yourself.
There are some tasks you will not be able to perform effectively with the use of phone like drag and drop, Grammarly won’t be available if you want to be a wordpress blogger local server like xampp, wamp and mamp will not be available to test your themes and plugins.
Typing with a phone could be a mountain to climb, designing a proffesional logo and favicon yourself will be out of it, etc.
5. DotCom (.com) is still the best anyday anytime
Don’t be deceived by all those free domains like .tl, .xyz, .free etc. They are annoying and unprofessional domain names, try and get a .com.ng, .co.za if you can’t afford .com.
But if you have money for the .com domain name and it is available please buy it because if you don’t you may regret it later on in the future as they may hack your blog down by stealing your traffic or auction it for you at a higher price, they can even sell it to your competitors. .com domain names are easier to remember.
6. Copy and paste won’t work
So you want to start a blog to copy and paste?
Forget it, it won’t work! This illegal hack is no longer working, only your family will be reading your blog if you continue with it (sorry to say).
There are legal steps the real owner of the articles will take on your blog that will be damaging and you will even risk the chances of getting your blog deleted on search engines, disabling your AdSense In the future.
The only thing you can do to avoid this is to add the link which will damage your blog’s reputation. However, writing articles is easier said than done–at first writing articles yourself can be so challenging as you will waste a whole lot of time writing one article
7. Blogging is not a “get rich quick scheme”
You won’t start making millions the first month you start a blog, you will have to work very hard and wait for months before you can earn reasonable income online.
Many aspiring bloggers do think bloggers make money from the number of views they have on their blog No we don’t and even if it is so in rare cases it may be 1000views for $1-2 for some ad networks. We make our money from Adnetworks, direct adverts, selling digital products, etc.
You must have seen some bloggers you know offline telling you they make multi-millions from blogging, don’t be deceived they may not be making that much!
8. You need connections before you start a blog
When am talking of connections, am not talking of politicians know me I know you here, you need to connect yourself with popular bloggers and celebrities for the sake of your blog.
Your social media followers should also be something to write home about.
9. You don’t need to be a pro writer before you start a blog
Hmm… this looks hard to explain for me, If you can’t read and write you can still be a blogger but your chances may be limited.
You will need to get a writer or write in your local dialect then use google translator to translate them or better still hire writers and pay them, we can write for you too.
If you can very well but not as fascinating as it should be, let me put it to you now that it doesn’t mean.
Blogging doesn’t involve sweet or fiction writing, blogging involves technical writing.
You can write interesting articles and no one will read them simply because you are not doing it the right way.
You just need to know how to express yourself in your official Language, readers don’t really dispute grammatical blunders, as long as you can give them what they want they will always read your posts.
10. Blogging is not all about writing
Many beginners do believe that as long as they can write grammar-free and interesting articles yeah! they can take on the world.
If you have this mindset then it won’t be late before you will quit blogging, an ordinary poor headlines can make you lose thousands of visitors.
Blogging involves special techniques that will get you readers and help gain more audiences like SEO, content marketing, etc.
Without learning these techniques you won’t be a pro blogger.
If you can write interesting articles and there is no one to read them then what is the essence?
After knowing these things what next? Start your blog now!
Finally, I hope I haven’t discouraged you from starting a blog with the tips you just read? am sorry it had to come this way but if you are very serious about blogging you will surely make it from blogging no matter the problems you face.
If you work hard you will surely make it, Blogging will become easier as time goes on but most of the new bloggers give up too early.
Also, you will surely get to the point when you will feel like quitting please don’t quit because quitters never win and winners never quit.
You will regret quitting later on. Let the success stories of other top bloggers in your niche inspire you to move on.
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