Blogging For Beginners To Get Started (24 Tips & Hacks To Start Now)

A Detailed Step-By-Step Guide To Start A Blog In 2024

Are you ready to launch your blog but feeling overwhelmed by the process? Starting a blog can be daunting, especially if you're new to the blogging world. From selecting a niche to optimizing your content for search engines and your audience, there's much to consider. Fortunately, this article will guide you through the essentials of blogging for beginners. Whether you're an aspiring blogger or a seasoned writer, this article will offer valuable insights and practical tips on how to start a successful blog.

Introducing Feather's solution, Notion to blog, a valuable tool that can help you achieve your blogging goals. Utilizing Notion for blogging allows you to streamline your writing process, collaborate with your team, and optimize your content to reach a wider audience. Get ready to embark on your blogging journey confidently as you learn tips for beginners starting a blog and elevate your writing experience. Let's dive in!

What Is A Blog?

A blog is a type of website that’s centered around “posts,” which are individual entries that may include text, images, and videos. Each blog post has its title and exists as its piece of media, though bloggers will sometimes write a series of blog posts where each post is a continuation of the last. When a blog post is published on a website, readers from all over the world can check out the blog post and leave a comment.

You might wonder why somebody would want to share information about their lives, their hobbies, or their business with strangers on the internet. The truth is that people love to read blogs, and their massive popularity has made them one of the very best marketing tools and a great means to build a community.

Should You Start A Blog?

A blog allows you to have a voice and be heard. You can share your story with the entire world if you so choose. One of the most common ways blogs are used are as a diary where the blogger writes about their daily experiences so that friends, family, and others can all be a part of their lives.

Make money from home

Blogging can be quite lucrative if done correctly. The top bloggers in the world obviously earn quite a bit, but even a part-time blogger can expect to make a nice profit if things are done correctly. The best part about it is that blogging is a form of passive income, since you can spend just a few hours a week writing a piece of content and then continue to profit from it long after the the writing is finished. I go into much more detail on how to blog for money later in this guide.

Recognition for yourself or your business

No, you probably won’t have paparazzi following you around because of your latest post. But a successful blog makes your idea into a reality, and can gain you a ton of recognition in your respective field. Many bloggers are known as experts just because of their blogs, and some have even gotten book and movie deals based on their blogs.

Find a community

Blogging at its heart is interactive. You write a post and people comment on it. This is a good way to connect with people who are interested in the same things as you are. Blogging allows you to teach these people based on your experience, and it allows you to learn from your readers as well.

Manage Your Blog and CRM Within One Platform

Feather is an SEO-friendly blog which allows you to publish blog content through Notion, and it requires no coding or design skills. Feather allows companies to write blog content on Notion and automatically publish it to their Feather blog. Feather allows you to setup a Subfolder blog (domain.com/blog instead of blog.domain.com, because subfolder is better for SEO).

Feather enables companies to get the HubSpot experience through Notion by allowing them to manage all of their CRM and website blog management through Notion. We also offer options to change design with custom CSS, collect Emails, and much more. Write on Notion, and automatically get that published to SEO-friendly blog – Collaborate with the entire team easily during the publishing process.

Try Feather’s notion to blog software for free today — create a new account and go from notion to blog in minutes!

Start A Blog In 2024

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Is It Possible To Make Money From Blogging?

Making money from blogging involves multiple monetization strategies. These include ad revenue from platforms like Google AdSense, affiliate marketing, sponsored content, and selling products or services. As your blog grows and gains more traffic, these revenue streams can become more substantial. A mix of monetization strategies provides a diversified income stream, making your blog more stable and profitable in the long run.

Blogging For Beginners: 24 Tips & Hacks To Get Started

1. Choose a blog niche

As you start a blog, choosing a niche is one of the most important decisions you'll have to make. A niche is a particular area of expertise or interest that will define your blog. This could be something you're passionate about, or a subject that you're knowledgeable in. You can choose from various niches, such as business, finance, tech, marketing, travel, food, lifestyle, personal, fashion, health, food, craft, teacher, and mom blogs.

Selecting a niche is crucial because it helps you attract a specific audience that's interested in what you have to say. Your niche also helps you stand out from the competition and establish yourself as an authority in your field.

2. Choose a blogging platform

The blogging platform you choose will determine how you write and publish content, upload images, and interact with your readers. Popular self-hosted platforms include WordPress, Feather, Ghost, Drupal, and Joomla. If you're looking for a user-friendly platform, consider Feather, which lets you get your blog up and running quickly.

3. Research your audience

Understanding your target audience is essential for creating content that resonates with your readers. Identify who your audience is, what their interests are, and what problems they're facing. Knowing your audience can tailor your content to meet their needs and provide value. Keep your audience in mind when brainstorming blog topics and writing content. Make sure each article you create offers value and addresses your audience's interests or pain points.

4. Cover popular search topics

Optimizing your content for search engines can help you attract organic traffic to your blog. By focusing on popular search topics, you can increase your chances of ranking high on Google and other search engines. Use tools like Answer the Public, Ubersuggest, Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and Ahrefs to identify popular keywords and phrases. Incorporate these keywords strategically into your content to improve your search engine visibility.

5. Draw inspiration online

Keeping up with industry trends and competitor strategies can help you generate fresh ideas for your blog. Researching competitor blogs and analyzing their top-performing articles can give you insights into what topics are popular in your niche. Tools like BuzzSumo can help you identify trending topics and social media shares. By monitoring your competitors' content, you can discover new topics to cover and find inspiration for your own blog posts.

6. Create a Blog Name and Get the Domain

Choosing a catchy and relevant blog name is crucial for brand recognition and SEO. Your blog name should be related to your niche, easy to remember, and no longer than 2-3 words. Avoid using numbers or special characters in your blog name for optimal brandability. Once you've finalized your blog name, register a domain name that matches it. This will help establish your brand identity and make it easier for readers to find your blog online.

7. Create compelling headlines

Crafting engaging headlines is essential for attracting readers to your blog posts. Use the ABC formula to create clickable headlines that include an adjective, a benefit, and a confidence booster. Your headline should entice readers to click on your post and learn more about your topic. A compelling headline can distinguish between someone scrolling past your content and clicking to read more.

8. Learn what people are searching for

Keyword research is valuable for understanding your audience's search intent and tailoring your content to meet their needs. By targeting specific keywords in your articles, you can improve your SEO and increase your chances of ranking higher in search results. Tools like Answer the Public, Ubersuggest, Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and Ahrefs, can help you identify relevant keywords to incorporate into your content. Using keywords strategically can attract more organic traffic to your blog and improve your search engine visibility.

9. Use keywords strategically

Incorporating keywords into your content is essential for improving your SEO and helping search engines understand the relevance of your articles. Add keywords to your title, body, URL, meta title, meta description, and alt text to optimize your content for search engines. Avoid keyword stuffing, which can harm your SEO and make your content appear spammy. Using keywords naturally in your text and metadata can improve your chances of ranking higher in search results.

10. Create a detailed outline

An outline is a critical tool for bloggers that helps keep their thoughts organized. There are 3 main parts to include in your outline.

Introduction

Use the introduction to hook your readers so they’ll want to continue reading. If you’re using the PAS formula from blogging tip 6, then jot down some details for your problem, agitating point, and solution.

Body

This is where you’ll go into details and deliver on any promises made in your introduction. Start by jotting down the ideas you have. Then, they are categorized and ordered to create a well-structured article. If you’re struggling with subtopics, go to Google and search for your main topic. Then look at some of the competing articles and look for common subtopics they talk about.

Conclusion

Wrap up your main points and bring closure to any problems you stated in your introduction.

Social media is a great way to promote your blog and give it a broader online presence. Today's most popular social media include Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. LinkedIn can be a good place to share your articles if your blog post is centered around a professional or educational topic.

You can use your social media accounts to promote your small business blog posts. When you make a new post on your blog, simply copy the link for that blog post and share it with a quick blurb. You can easily share links to your blog posts on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. On Instagram, you’ll need to direct users to click the link in your bio and include a link to your blog there

12. Create an editorial calendar

When it comes to blogging for beginners, consistency is key. To build a successful blog, you’ll need to churn out content regularly. Continuous publishing is a sign that your blog is a voice of authority in your field, and that your content is fresh and up-to-date. On top of that, Google’s algorithm rewards blogs that publish frequently. Ideally, you’ll be able to publish an article at least 2-3 times per week. If that’s unrealistic for you now, start with just one a week, and take it from there. When getting started, The most important thing is committing to a realistic, achievable publishing schedule.

To hold yourself accountable, create an editorial calendar. Open up a file on Excel or Google Sheets, and add a few columns to help you keep track of your schedule. On our own editorial calendar, we like to include separate columns for the topic idea, publishing date, keyword, and progress status.

13. Cover your competitors’ popular topics

One of the best places to find proven blog post ideas is on your competitors’ sites. They’ve already done the keyword research, content writing and ranking using SEO. So all you have to do is find which topics send them the most traffic, and then write your own piece of content on the topic.

14. Decide on post length & posting frequency

Actually writing blog posts is one of the most important parts of running a blog. Before you get started, you should figure out how long you want your blog posts to be and how often you want to post. This helps you keep your blog consistent, with regular posts of about the same length. If you want even more consistency, you can create a blog post template to use when creating new blog posts.

15. Incorporate different content types

Images aren’t the only type of alternative content to add to your articles. In the world of blogging, mixed media posts outperform words-only posts. Once you’ve gotten the hang of writing articles, enhance them by embedding a podcast or video within the post. Adding a link to a webinar or downloadable e-book on the same topic can provide even more value to readers.

On top of that, try repurposing some of your articles altogether into different formats so you can share them on different platforms. For example, you may want to start a YouTube channel with videos inspired by your blog content. Similarly, you could create a podcast of your own based on your articles, or write an e-book to share with your audience.

16. Use a variety of visuals

Your writing is the core of your blog posts, but it’s not the only element to include. It also helps to add visual elements to your articles. In fact, articles get shared twice as much when they have one image per every 75-100 words. With that in mind, break up large blocks of text by incorporating images and videos. This keeps your readers’ attention on the page for longer and prevents them from getting bored or intimidated by so much text.

Be sure to use unique, high-quality images to create a polished and professional piece. If you cannot use your own photographs, you can get free stock photos from sites like Unsplash and Pexels. Once you upload the images to your blog, add alt text to optimize them for SEO. Essentially, this just means adding a short description to each image - ideally using keywords - explaining what it depicts to search engines and screen readers. This is an easy process available on nearly every blogging platform.

17. Get feedback on your content

It’s easy to make mistakes and miss things when you’re writing blog posts. So it’s worth getting a second pair of eyes on your content before you hit “publish.”

18. Include clickable CTAs

Do you ultimately want your readers to become clients? This may be the case if you’re blogging for your business, or if you’re selling items or services related to your personal brand. If this is your goal, you can design blog posts in a way that points readers to your products. Sprinkle call to action throughout your post, especially toward the beginning of your article where you know readers will see them.

CTAs are short, actionable phrases that get readers to buy or move them closer toward making a purchase - for instance, “Start my free trial” or “Book a 15-minute call.” You’ll want to add a hyperlink to your CTAs that takes readers to a registration, sign-up, or product page. Even if you aren’t selling products, you can still use CTAs to build engagement among readers and encourage them to explore your blog. For example, you can add CTAs that link out to other blog posts, or that encourage readers to subscribe to your blog newsletter.

19. Build your email list

Many newbie bloggers put email marketing on the back burner because it might seem complicated or not worth the effort. But this is a huge beginner blogging mistake. Building an email list is one of the best ways to grow a loyal following.

Think about it like this:

Someone who opts into an email newsletter is asking to be contacted with more content from you. If you don’t offer a way for people to join your email list, you’re doing your readers a disservice.

Here’s how you can get started.

Add an opt-in form on your website.

20. Use analytics

Using analytics to see how your blog is doing is a good way to ensure you’re on track to meet your small business blog goals. Perhaps you want a certain number of readers to sign up for your business’s newsletter, or maybe you want to gain a certain number of new readers each month. Using analytics, you can monitor the success of individual blog posts and your blog as a whole.

Analytics are also important because they help you determine what’s working for your blog. If a particular type of blog post does very well, you may want to make more posts like that one.

21. Expand your online presence

Social media isn’t the only way to gain exposure. There are several other creative ways to establish your presence as a blogger and become known in your field.

These include:

Networking with other bloggers in your niche, online or in-person meetups, and inquiring about cross-promotion opportunities.

Being active in online communities, such as a social media page or forum about your industry.

Writing guest posts on external sites increases blog traffic, gains backlinks, and expands your reach.

Your readers are out there somewhere; you only need to find them. An effective way to start is to reach out to others within your field and post on external sites relevant to your niche.

22. Take advantage of monetization opportunities

As a beginner, you may not be thinking of monetizing your blog just yet. But we’ll leave you with one final tip that you can let marinate in your mind. After all, who wouldn’t want to earn some extra cash - not to mention a full-time income - through their blog?

To make money blogging, you need to turn your traffic into revenue. Here are some suggestions for how you might go about it:

Offer paid subscriptions with members-only access to exclusive content.

Add affiliate links to a product (these let you earn a commission every time a reader clicks and buys).

Sell merchandise related to your brand.

Get paid by companies to write sponsored content.

Provide consulting services to clients, using your blog as your resume.

Add ads to your blog.

23. Refresh older content

Your thoughts, opinions, and knowledge will improve with time. You’ll be doing your audience a disservice if you don’t update your older content to reflect your newfound knowledge and ideas. Even better, refreshing your content can often boost your page’s traffic too.

24. Optimize for search intent

Search intent is the why behind a search query. Google aims to understand that so it can serve the most relevant results.

You want to match search intent to stand a higher chance of ranking. To figure out search intent, simply Google your target keyword and look at the top-ranking results.

How Much Does it Cost to Start a Blog?

When it comes to launching a blog, it’s important to consider the costs involved. Here's a breakdown of the expenses you may encounter when starting a blog:

1. Feather Subscription

Feather offers a blog subscription at $39/month, which is suitable for blogs with up to 10,000 monthly views. This subscription provides a managed WordPress site, a great starting point for beginner bloggers.

2. SSL Certificate

An SSL certificate is essential since it ensures readers can access your blog securely. With Feather, you get a free SSL certificate, but if you want to upgrade to a more advanced version, you can expect to pay around $10 per year.

3. Domain Name

A domain name is the address for your blog, and it typically costs around $9.99 for a .com domain. Remember that you'll need to renew this domain annually, with a typical renewal cost of around $13.99.

4. Marketing and SEO

Marketing your blog is crucial for attracting readers, and costs associated with this can vary. Luckily, there are free tools available that can help with marketing and SEO. Examples include MailChimp for email marketing and Google Trends for tracking keyword popularity.

The total cost of starting a blog can vary significantly depending on the kind of blog you want to create, the tools you plan to use, and other factors. It's possible to spend just a few dollars in your first year of blogging, but costs can also reach into the thousands if you're investing heavily in your blog.

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Do I Need Experience To Start My Blog?

Starting a blog does not require prior experience and can be accessible to anyone. This is due to the easy-to-use blogging platforms available, including Feather, Blogger, and Medium. These platforms are beginner-friendly and guide users through the process of setting up a blog with templates and tools. There is a wealth of free resources online that offer tutorials, courses, and forums to help individuals learn the basics of blogging, content creation, SEO, and marketing. Blogging is a skill that improves with practice, so the more you write and engage with your audience, the better you will become.

The supportive blogging community offers tips and advice to newcomers, which can provide valuable insights and encouragement. If you are passionate about a specific topic, your enthusiasm will shine through in your writing, and your interest can motivate you to learn and grow in the blogging world. While prior experience can benefit beginners don't need to start a successful blog. With the right resources, dedication, and willingness to learn, anyone can experience success in blogging.

Go From Notion to Blog With Ease Today with Feather

Feather is a revolutionary SEO-friendly blogging platform that allows individuals to effortlessly publish blog content through Notion without having any prior coding or design skills. With Feather, users can create engaging blog content on Notion and have it automatically published to their Feather blog. This platform is a game-changer for companies looking to streamline their blogging process and enhance their online presence.

Subfolder Blog Setup - A Better Choice for SEO

Feather offers the option to set up a Subfolder blog (domain.com/blog) instead of a subdomain blog (blog.domain.com). This is a crucial feature as having a subfolder blog structure is better for SEO purposes. With Feather, users can leverage this setup to enhance their blog's visibility and improve their search engine rankings.

The HubSpot Experience via Notion

One of Feather's most exciting aspects is that it enables companies to enjoy the HubSpot experience through Notion. Users can easily manage their CRM and website blog management tasks within Notion, eliminating the need to switch between multiple platforms. This seamless integration offers users a comprehensive blogging solution that enhances efficiency and productivity.

Custom CSS, Email Collection, and More

Feather goes the extra mile by allowing users to customize their blog's design using custom CSS. This feature allows users to create a unique and visually appealing blog that aligns with their brand identity. Feather lets users collect emails from their blog visitors, facilitating lead generation and audience engagement.

Notion to Blog - Seamless Collaboration

Feather's Notion to Blog integration streamlines the content creation and publishing process. Users can collaborate seamlessly with their team during the publishing process, ensuring their blog content meets the desired quality standards. With Feather, transitioning from Notion to a fully functional SEO-friendly blog has never been easier.

Try Feather Today

If you're ready to take your blogging game to the next level, why not try Feather? With a user-friendly interface, powerful features, and a seamless integration with Notion, Feather empowers individuals and companies to create impactful blog content that drives results.

Create a free account today and experience the magic of turning your Notion ideas into a professional blog in minutes!