Simple Tips For Amateur Bloggers Just Starting Out

I don’t for a second think i’m super successful or claim to know it all. These are just a few blogger tips I wish I had known when I first created my UK lifestyle blog. They would’ve made my life so much simpler when i was an amateur blogger. So, i hope you find them useful too.

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I thought it would be such a breeze when I first started thinking about creating a blog. To be honest I didn’t really think about it too much at all, I just went for it. In hindsight, this probably wasn’t the best idea as now i’m finding myself facing un-necessary obstacles.

So, I’ve written a few pointers below for you to think about when you first start up your blog.

Do Your Research & Plan Ahead

Think about what you’d like to do with your blog before you go buying anything. It might not seem important right now but believe me, it really is!

For example, if you decide you want to have advertising on your website, keep in mind there are a few platforms that don’t have advertising capabilities on them. So you really need to think and check this out beforehand.

Once you are all set up, changing domains/platforms is so much work and effort. Do the thinking now to save yourself loads of time and energy later. Just because you’re an amateur blogger right now, you won’t be forever!

Also, you may decide you want to turn it into a business and set up a shop on your website. Again, this isn’t possible with some platforms so be careful what you choose.

What Platform To Host Your Blog?

This should be a lot easier once you’ve gone through the above planning. I went with a proper website builder as I wanted to have more say in how my blog looked. I also knew I wanted to have an e-commerce part to my blog. So, for me, this was the best option.

Depending on what you go for, a website will be more expensive than most blog templates. The one I went for was through Website Builder to begin with. I then switched to WordPress as website builder is RUBBISH! Or there is also Go Daddy who are meant to be very good. On the other hand, if you’d rather have a blog template, there are so many to choose from. I’ve heard a lot of good things about a company called PipDig though so maybe check them out too. They offer both free and paid for templates. 

What Type Of Blog Do You Want?

You probably have an idea of the type of blogger you want to be and the subjects you plan to write about. Some people say you should keep your options open and keep it varied – as i did. However, these days, the blogs that seem to do the best are the niche ones. Find your passion and write about that as much as you can with quality content.

I’ve Set Up My Website – Then What?

Once you have your blog set up how you want it to look and feel, the next part is all about creating an online presence. What I mean by this is you basically want to give yourself the biggest digital footprint you can to enable other people to find your blog and read it/follow it. You want to sign up to lots of different platforms to be able to spread the word about your amazing UK blog to others. 

Here is a list of all the platforms I would get yourself signed up with…

• Bloglovin
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• YouTube
• Pinterest

By signing up to these you are giving yourself a bigger platform to promote your amateur blog.

What Equipment Will I Need To Start A Blog?

To be honest you really don’t need to go out and buy the best camera or the best laptop or anything like that. As long as you have a half decent camera…a smartphone camera will do and a computer/laptop that works, that’s all you really need to bother with for blogging.

Blogger Hours

What are blogger hours you might ask…well, there are tonnes of them at all times of the day but they are great for getting to know other bloggers and building up relationships. As an amateur blogger, relationships with other bloggers is really important.

Not only do you get to meet some fantastic people, they can you help you with any questions you might have, you can do collaborations with other bloggers that have similar tastes to you and it’s just a great place to learn new things. Almost every time I join one I learn something new!

SEO & Link Building For Blogs

This really isn’t as scary as it sounds. Once you get a good understanding of what you need to do, it’s just a case of maintaining it really. A really important part of signing up to the above platforms is to create more links going back to your website.

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The more links you have pointing to your website from trusted sights, the more Google will recognise it as being an important website and show it higher in search rankings (very important when trying to promote yourself). There are many other ways to do this as well.

For instance, when you comment on someone else’s blog post, ensure you put a link to your website under the comment. I wouldn’t advise going around and doing this on everyone’s posts as you can be marked down as spam and banned from doing so. But if you have a genuine comment, make sure you leave your link too. Not only does this help with link building, it will also encourage other people to take a look at your page and you may well get more readers though doing so.

Related Post – No Follow Links Are Good Too

To have a look at this try – Check Page Rank. Another really good one to take a look at is MOZ. This is really expensive though so just do the 30 day free trial and then cancel it before the 30 days are up. This will give you a really good idea on how your website is being perceived by Google, any errors that are occurring, duplicate page content and bits that you don’t want on your website. It might be worth bearing this in mind and using it later on down the line when you can probably get more out of it to be honest though. 

I hope these tips help you with your amateur blog.

FAQ’s

Should I Start A Blog In 2022?

Blogging is still very relevant in 2022, and you really can make a good living from it. However, you do need to have the passion and drive behind it to make it successful.

How Do Beginner Bloggers Make Money?

There are actually many ways for amateur blogs to make money – affiliate links, eBooks, online courses, freelance writing…etc