7 Things You Shouldn’t Worry About If You’re New To Blogging
Blogging can be an intimidating thought especially if you’re just starting out with your plans. There’s always that foreboding fear at the back of your head which can cripple your progress. However, you’ll find that most of the things you worry about when you’re new to blogging are just you, overthinking too much.
SEO, comments, and reception, these are just some of the few worries a newbie blogger usually has. More often than not, they’re unfounded and can easily be dealt with– more so if you have a helping hand. So, in order to speed up your progress and to lay your blogging worries to rest, we’ve come up with a list of things you shouldn’t be agonize over if you’re new to blogging.
These are quite common and most bloggers have experienced this at one point or another in their careers. Sit back, relax, take it slow, and cross these out of your worry list.
Lack of SEO knowledge
The thing about search engine optimization (SEO) is that it is never constant. Rather, it’s on a constant evolution (or mutation) and can abruptly change depending on the search engine’s whims. That’s why you really shouldn’t think or overanalyze too much about SEO when you’re new to blogging.
More often than not, any information you obtain about SEO will either be replaced or go obsolete next year, probably sooner, probably later. In reality, if you’re new to blogging, you’re just a few SEO articles away from being on the same level as a lot of the “experts” of the blogging community; they’re not exactly hard to remember and neither are they too technical for a layman to perform.
What you need to do then, is to find the latest in SEO tools or guidelines and you’re good to go. You’ll want to keep checking periodically, though; it’s a constantly changing ruleset.
Lack of experience
Similar to your lack of SEO knowledge, your blogging experience– or lack thereof isn’t something you want holding you back. You’ll have to remember that back in the internet’s infancy days, most bloggers relied on trial-and-error, and even so, most of what they learned don’t apply these days anymore because of the rapid changes brought about by new tech.
If you want to be on the safe side of things, do ask for advice or do some research on blogging do’s and don’ts but also take your own leap of faith as trial-and-error can be the best teacher when it comes to blogging. In any case, you can learn to blog along the way and undoing some wrong things isn’t exactly that difficult when it comes to the blogging industry.
The reception
Perhaps you’ve thought too much ahead and worried about how your content or blog will be received? If so, take a breather and consider whatever kind of reception you receive from your audience as part of the learning process. How your blog is received will be the end result of the actual things you should worry about when new to blogging.
Those would be the content, your niche, and your website’s appearance among a few other things. After that, how your intended audience reacts should be worth monitoring yet also shouldn’t dishearten you. Take their criticism, filter out the constructive ones, and build upon those.
If there’s no reception at all, don’t be shocked; beginner blogs which were made from scratch usually don’t get traction at first. Worry about your content first, the reception will come later as a reward.
Gaining audience
As we stated earlier, a new blog is most likely an unknown blog; that is, unless you’re already a known blogger or the website you made was for a popular brand. Hence, don’t stress out too much about your initially low views. Unless you bought your website’s domain name or bought the website altogether, then your views will be reasonably low.
You’ll amass your audience once you start getting consistent with your content and implement some simple SEO rules along the way such as using keywords or links. Often, however, it’s the content’s quality and frequency of posting that can dictate how many will visit your website and stay. Just focus on making at least decent content and the readers or viewers will come.
Your writing style
Now, for blogs with written content, your writing style is both something you should and shouldn’t worry about. As a rule of thumb, remember that your readers should have a smooth time understanding your content. That means writing that is too technical or lacks a conversational tone usually puts many people to sleep. Such is the case these days.
Hence, if you’re writing is like that, then perhaps it’s time to worry and start changing your tone to something more friendly and less encyclopedic. Meanwhile, those who write in a conversational tone and use simple terms should find no trouble encouraging reader discussion or interaction, even shares.
Either way, almost all people know how to talk, meaning writing conversationally shouldn’t be too hard a method to apply. Don’t worry as long as you get your point across and your readers understand what you’re saying.
The blogging community
Finding friendly faces in the blogging community isn’t something you’ll lose sleep over. There are many bloggers just like you who have just started out and might even be willing to collaborate. Meanwhile, veterans, at least some of them, can be rather friendly and might even give you a free boost or a shoutout.
All you need to do is reach out to the blogosphere and become a member. Most of the time, people will welcome you with open arms. Interaction is mostly online anyway so being introverted or antisocial isn’t an issue. Don’t be too shy to ask for help and give help back as well. You’ll find that the blogging industry has one of the friendliest communities ever.
Making money
Here’s the thing about making money with a website, if you want fast returns right way, then you’re better off establishing an eCommerce blog or website instead of one whose bread and butter is content. Assuming you’re starting your blog from scratch (no bought domains or second-hand websites), then you first have to deal with a lack of audience.
As such, making money immediately with your very first blog shouldn’t be your main concern. Again, focus on the content and build and audience-base first before being a bit more aggressive with website or content monetization (unless you sell affiliate products and are a merchant blog from the get-go).
Once you’ve gained enough popularity (at least 100 visitors per day), then you can start exploring your options. Don’t worry, those monetization options are always there, waiting for you.