Bootstrapping Your Blog: All The Little Things You Need To Know
Blogging
can be very fun and also rewarding. It can give you a voice to talk about
things that only your readers understand, it can create a community and it can
even make you a living.
To
make all of these happen, you have to know how to do a lot of things since you
will pretty much be building it yourself. We have done some posts with tips on blogging before, but in
this article I will go over the little things nobody really talks about.
To
make sure your blog is successful it will pay to learn how to do some of the
things I will explain in this article.
Learn design
These
days, a blog needs to look very professional. You’ll need to make sure that you
are using good design practices so your colors look right and the overall
aesthetic of the blog works.
And
it doesn’t stop there. You will also be making your own social media posts so
those also have to look appealing and professionally done. Each platform uses a
different size image, so make sure to learn how to best size for each.
Then,
you’ll also want to be making your own products like an ebook or even some
apparel. To make extra money, many bloggers are having shirts and accessories
customized for them to sell on their sites.
You
don’t have to know a thing about t-shirt photo printing except to
make sure any images you send to the print company are the right size and
resolution to make sure the shirts look good enough for people to buy.
Understand copywriting
Content
is king. Everybody knows that is the case for successful blogs. Yet, many
people don’t know what good content is.
Look
up some courses online and learn about how to write a compelling blog post.
Good content keeps your readers engaged and then makes them take a certain
action after they’re read. If your content resonated with them they will sign
up for your newsletter, buy your product or share your post on their social
media. Whatever you need them to do.
When
you use certain writing techniques that copywriters use, then your blog will
grow very quickly. What is copywriting? Essentially it
is sales copy. Now, your blog is not supposed to be salesy, but the process you
learn will help you write better.
Market yourself
You’re
pretty much going to be a one woman machine that also has to market the blog
and yourself to see it grow. One of the first things to do is make a media kit
so that you can have a system for brands to work with you to get you paid.
You
should also have an outreach system to look for other bloggers to collaborate
with. Then, have all of your social media posts organized and scheduled to
publish at certain times so you can free up your time to do the other thousand
things that need to be done for your blog.