Beginning of a new journey in a way which I have never thought before

 

I am a typical Indian who belongs to a lower-middle-class Bengali family carrying an age-old idea of getting a Government job that may settle you in life like no other jobs in the world. So, I followed rather had to follow that idea and spent 25 long springs like a bookworm to gather enough knowledge to achieve that so-called "life settled job" overlooking my passion and hobbies. Now, after getting that Laddu in my hand I realised that what I have done in those 25 years is nothing but gatherings of a bunch of papers that tell you how educated I am. Is it the purpose of education? After realizing it I thought to open the almirah of my mind and follow the hobbies that I overlooked for years. Before starting this feed, I had no previous blogging experience. In other words, I am kind of a self-taught, beginner blogger.

Likewise, I didn’t prep my blog for months before launching, nor did I have any previous social media followers or a pre-existing email list.

Having no prior experience before starting a blog makes a huge difference in your initial success. It is very slow going when you’re starting from scratch, as you may already know.

As you read to understand the starting of my blogging journey in the hopes to fine-tune yours, it is important to remember the following:

• I have no previous experience blogging before starting my blog.
• I have a full-time job outside of blogging and blog in my free time only.
• Blogging is not just a hobby for me; I am blogging for income and am working to make a business out of it.
• My earnings and rank continually change with time – and yours will too!

Beginning of My Blogging Journey: 9 lessons I learned as a content writer in digital media

Though I am a newcomer blogger but in this field, there is nothing new to me as I have several years of experience in content writing in digital media. As a content writer, the following are 9 lessons that I have found to be essential in my blogging journey which will make my way to success.

1. Brainstorm before diving in

Think long and hard when choosing your blogging niche and potential content before you dive into blogging.

Quite frankly, if you don’t truly love the topic that you’re choosing to base your blog around, you will eventually lose momentum in producing interesting content.

In other words, for a blog to flourish you need to have a strong passion for what you choose to write about. Week after week. Day after day.

Likewise, if you’re planning on blogging for the long run, you need to ask yourself, “Can I write about my niche for ten straight years?”

By brainstorming your potential content before diving in, you will best be able to formulate a plan, build an audience, and more quickly be able to earn an income from blogging.

2. Identify blogging as a ‘business vs. hobby’

An essential component of your blogging journey is to determine your blog’s long term purpose.

Though it can be a difficult decision to make when you are first starting, identifying if your blog is a business or hobby is one of the most important things to do when starting a new blog.

If you ever hope to earn some extra income from your blog, it’s best to establish this right at the get-go.

By thinking of your blog as a business from the start, you will ensure that your blog and its posts are structured, marketed, and branded appropriately. All of these are key elements of blogging success in the first year and beyond.

3. Learn and understand blogging terminology

It is essential to learn and understand blogging terminology if you’d like success, growth, and monetization to be part of your blogging journey.

Though it is impossible to comprehend the full meaning of each and every blogging term before you’ve had experience with them, I recommend starting here.

Once you’ve learned to ‘speak the language’ you can successfully interact with others (more successful) bloggers on social media and present yourself as a true professional.

4. Don’t give in to comparison

Not only in your blogging journey but in life generally, I have always believed that comparison kills contentment.

What I mean by this is that if you are constantly comparing yourself to other bloggers, you will never be able to appreciate what you ownself can bring to the table.

5. Build a social media following

Like it or not, you must build a social media following in order to find success as a blogger and be recognized by brands throughout your blogging journey.

For the sake of growing your business, it is not only necessary to share your perspective in a blog post but to build your audience and encourage discussion on your topics to foster reader engagement, show authority and grow your traffic.

In addition, brands and destinations will always imply your social media following numbers when determining if they want to sponsor/host you or not.

Simply stated, the more readers and followers you have, the more exposure a brand will get in working with you and in having their name mentioned in your content.

When choosing what social media platforms to focus on, your task is to identify your target reader and then identify the social networks that your reader prefers.

If you are limited on time and resources focus on a couple of social networks or even just one social network.

6. Invest in a keyword research tool

The main focus of my blogging journey within the first year will be growth.

When I say the word ‘growth’ I am referring to producing consistently good content, attracting blog traffic, earning income, and appealing to brands.

The only way to achieve all of these things is through the organic blog traffic that results from doing keyword research.

By definition, keyword research involves identifying popular words and phrases that people are entering into search engines.

7. Commit to proven SEO strategies

One of the most important things you can do to enhance your blogging journey to one of success is to understand and implement both on-page and off-page SEO.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is the practice of increasing the quantity of traffic to your website through organic search engine results.

While you can increase traffic to your blog in several ways, you cannot overlook the value of organic traffic and in showing up organically on the first page of a search engine result.

Once an article is published, move on to building its rank through off-page SEO.

8. Study your analytics

Keyword research and content writing for SEO is a huge investment of time.

In order to know if your investment is paying off and to determine if you are accomplishing your goals, you must learn how to study your blog analytics.

Studying your analytics shows how much traffic you are getting to your blog, who your audience is, and which posts are the most popular.

Likewise, you can determine what keywords you are and are not raking for as well as where on your website people are most likely to click.

By learning how to study your blog analytics, you can tweak your blogging strategies to get the traffic you want.

9. Set your expectations low and your goals high

I cannot say this enough…blogging is hard work.

Not only is blogging incredibly time-consuming but there is very little monetary return that results from your efforts during the initial months of starting a blog.

In other words, success is hard to come by and does not happen overnight definitely.

If you align your expectations with these mantras, however, and commit to working hard on your blog for one full year, you will start to see a light at the end of the tunnel and find ways to stay motivated as a blogger/content writer.

Set your goals high by remembering the key lessons related to:

• Brainstorming
• Identifying your blog as a business and keeping a business mentality
• Continuing to learn and understand blogging terminology
• Never compare yourself to anyone else
• Committing yourself to social media and other forms of reader engagement
• Investing time in keyword research and SEO strategies
• And studying your blog analytics and adapting accordingly