This article will breakdown the most common responses to the question – What do you wish you had done when you started blogging on WordPress?
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How Did I Do It?
So how can the average guy get in contact with 1000’s of bloggers?
For this I used Facebook groups. Posting questions on targeted Facebook groups is a great way to get useful information from real people.
I posted the following message on these Facebook groups.
👋 hello!
I’m new to WordPress blogging, so I thought I’d jump in with a question.
What do you wish you had done when you first started blogging on WordPress?
Can’t wait to see your responses!
Top Responses
- Started Sooner
- Picked a niche (You like, know about and would have fun writing about)
- Protected The Blog (security)
- More Seo and Keyword Research
- Wrote what people are searching for!
- Focused less on design and more on content.
- Shared Your Posts
- Optimized Images
- Been realistic
- Got More Traffic
- Start earning money with affiliate marketing
- Start earning money with AdWords
- Had close friends review posts for errors
- Posted consistently
- Spent more time researching the competition
- Done keyword research before buying a domain
- Built an email list
- Connected with other bloggers
- Started Helping People
- Created an audience
- Had a realistic timeline for results
- Giving up too early
- Focused on one specific niche
Starting Your Blog
Putting off starting you blog only distances you from your goal of starting a blog! You won’t get betting at blogging by research along. It takes action and that action is actually writing blog posts. I person told me they wished they had started their blog years before.
Starting your WordPress blog is easy and there is a free option. You can sign up through my affiliate link here. This link pays commission for referring paying customers at no extra cost to you.
Start Now
To get started you can sign up for WordPress through my affiliate link here.
Picking A Niche
If you are in this blog game for the long haul, I suggest you pick a niche you are passionate about. Don’t worry about if the niche is super popular. Writing a successful blog requires writing A LOT about the niche you choose. Do you want to spend all that time writing about something you don’t care about?
Security
WordPress itself is quite secure. Where most of the problems start is with weak usernames and passwords, themes, plugins, hosting server hacks and access you give to someone else.
User Name and Password
The most common hacker attack on WordPress blogs is called a Brute Force attack. This is where a computer program tries usernames and passwords over and over until it figures them out.
Having a hard to guess user name and password well help defend you from this type of attack.
WordPress now offers a simple way to generate strong password.
You can set this up by going into your profile account settings and selecting security. Password will be the first tab. Just click on the generate strong password button and then the save password button.
Updates
Making sure everything is up to date on your WordPress blog goes a long way to protecting it, as most patches are to fix security problems. Check for updates often.
Backups
Backing up your website is always a good idea especially before updating your theme or plugins. If something goes wrong all would not be lost.
Comments
You can go into your comments setting so that you have to manually approve comments to reduce spam
Plugins
There are security plugins for WordPress. Adding these can be a trade for of website loading speed for security. From what I have heard Ithemes security is a good plugin. I have yet to test it.
Many people told me they with they had used Yoast SEO earlier, which is also a plugin.
SSL
SSL or Secure Sockets Layers changes a website from http to https. This is a standard security for your website. You should get your SSL certificate because it increase trust and security on your site.
Hosting
Going with a lowing cost hosting plan can open you up to security problems. Higher cost plans offer more to protect you website. There are so many places to get hosting. You will want to do some research to find what is best for you.
Virtual Assistants
I heard from more than one person that their blog was hacked because they came admin authority to a stranger. If you are going to have someone take control of you website, your investment, make sure they are trustworthy. There are low cost virtual assistants on places like Fiverr that, from what I heard, hack and hold your website hostage.
Stop this before it happens.
Keyword and Seo Research
(write what people are looking for)
In the past gaming keywords could get you to rank, but these days it just doesn’t work the same. Focusing more on answering questions and sharing your experience about your niche on your blog with passion will work much better that trying to find the right words.
Google does a lot of user testing when they suggest search results. If you want to rise in these results you need to care about what google cares about. What does google care about?
People finding the answer to their question.
So write question answering posts. Lots of them.
If you still feel the need to do keyword research or just want some inspiration on what to write about, here is what you should do.
Type your niche into the google search bar, hit space bar and type a after it. This will bring up the top asked queries that start with the letter a. You can go through the whole alphabet like this to get real world data for free about what people what to know.
Somethings I do think are important as for as keywords are your blogs SEO title and description
Site Design vs Content
As I said above, I think great content should be your main focus. A few of the people I talked to regretted spending so much time obsessing over how good their website looked. I think picking a simple theme and writing the best blogs you can is much better than having a great looking website with subpar content.
Shared Posts
Creating social media accounts to share you blog posts is a good idea. The earlier you create your accounts the faster they will grow. Also asking for others to like or share within your blog posts is not going to hurt.
Optimized Images
Large images slow down your websites loading speed. If you reduce the file size before uploading it to your website it will reduce the drag.
Also adding proper captions and alt text to your images helps rank them in search results.
Be Realistic
This can mean different things for different people. I think the key is to focus on small achievements instead of your grand endgame. Knowing where you what to go is good, but focusing on means you could be missing the small stuff.
Take it one day at a time. Don’t beat yourself up. Have fun and be helpful.
Got More Traffic
If you don’t know yet traffic is kind of a slang term for visitors to your website. There are a few ways to get traffic, some free and some paid.
Free traffic often is derived from your site ranking for a search result on a search engine like google. This type of traffic is very focused because they ar literally searching for what you wrote about. You can also get free traffic from social media by linking to your website.
Paid traffic is pretty much just ads you buy to get more visitors. Don’t spend more than you can afford to lose.
I use a mix of these to to get people to check out my blog. I try to focus more on free traffic because if people are willing finding and enjoying my content I know it is good.
Started Earning Money With Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is one way people make money blogging. Bloggers earn commissions by referring paying customers to a sales page through their affiliate link.
There are many affiliate programs and affiliate networks out there. On this blog I write about a few of them. By adding affiliate links to my blog I create the possibility of generating income from them and so can you!
You should read up on your countries laws about sharing affiliate links before you start sharing them.
Started Earning Money With AdWords
On some WordPress plans AdWords is unlocked and can be activated. Once active you can add ads to your website and earn money from them.
Had Close Friends Review Posts For Errors
I think this is a great idea, even if you can only find one person to proof read you blog post. A second pair of eyes often finds things you would miss.
Posted Consistently
Everybody likes new stuff, even Google. Posting often is one of the best things you can do to grow your blog. Post at least once a week is the lowest amount I recommend, anything more is awesome.
Spent More Time Researching Competition
Knowing what others are doing right in your niche won’t hurt you, but do not out right copy others work. You need to find your own voice, image and content.
Done Keyword Research Before Buying A Domain
Picking a domain should not be rushed. In fact you can start a WordPress blog and they give you a filler url. You can use this until you find a domain that suits your blog. After writing a few blog posts you may get a better idea of what you should name your website.
Doing keyword research on your niche before buying your domain is not bad but you may get hung up trying to find the perfect one. Try and remember it is all about the content and user experience. So do not procrastinate at this step because this is just the beginning and you need to get to work.
When you do pick a domain make sure to get a .com.
Built An Email List
Email lists have become the must have tool for marketers and bloggers alike. Being able to get in touch with your follower is very powerful. Just think, you could have a group of people you can tell every time you post a new blog.
Asking people to follow your blog on WordPress is another way to create a list.
Your social media followers can be used as a list as well.
Connected With Other Bloggers
Could there be a better way to learn about what works and what does not than connecting with other bloggers. I have started my personal out reach to other bloggers for this article. One of them were kind enough to let me share some of their content with you.
Joy Healey let me share her blog posts about WordPress security.
Part1 – https://joyhealey.com/managed-wordpress-hosting-to-fix-wp-security-problems/
Part 2 – https://joyhealey.com/protect-your-blog-from-hackers/
Started Helping People
When most people think they want to get it blogging they have one thing on their minds, making money. If you can hold on to that goal with out it blinding you from what you need to do to achieve it, you will do well.
What do you need to do?
Help People!
Answer questions you know they will ask.
Be thorough, clear and in good spirits.
Created An Audience
An audience is much like an email list. It the people love what you have written and want to know what you are going to write next. Speak to them. Encourage them. Let them grow with you and your blog.
There is nothing better than a good support network.
Had A Realistic Timeline For Results
Blog timelines can be hard to understand. It can take a long time for google to rank blogs you write. I think the best way to combat this is to write as much great blogs as fast as I can. By the time one thing ranks the rest will soon follow. This also keeps me focused on the blog I need to write instead of how the blogs I wrote are doing.
Do not expect to quit your job in two weeks from blogging.
Giving Up Too Early
Blogging is a long term game. You are going to work many hours on your blog. Do not waste that time and hard work by quitting too early. In fact do not quit at all. Stick it out, you will be glad you did.
Focused On One Specific Niche
Niches range in size and scope. Having a laser focused blog will do you wonders. If you write about everything under the sun search engines and people won’t take you seriously.
Find your passion. Answer common questions people in that niche have.
Many have failed to niche down their blog and suffered from it. Do not make this mistake. Stay focused and be helpful and your blog should be great.
Conclusion
Starting a WordPress blog can be scary and there are lots of ways to get tripped up. I hope that by going over some of the most common mistakes I have helped prevent you from making them.
Now to sum up most of what I learned writing this blog.
You need to get started.
You need to protect your blog.
You need to find a niche you can passionately write about for a long time.
You need to write blog posts often.
You need to answer questions people have involving your niche.
You need to focus on small achievable goals.
You need to monetize your blog with either affiliate links or AdWords if you want to make money.
You need to hang in there and not quit. You’ve got this!
Start Now
To get started you can sign up for WordPress through my affiliate link here.